Recipe creation and testing – a behind the curtain look

I try to bring you several recipes a month.  Usually these are for healthy and nutritious meals (although sometimes there is a little indulgence thrown in).  Some are recipes I have been cooking for years, others are based on a recent spark of inspiration. Many are the result of my own recipe creation, others are adaptations from others recipes – tweaked to be healthier or eliminate wheat and dairy.  

When I am putting together a recipe I have cooked over and over, it is a fairly simple process, I write up the recipe, follow along and cook it up, taking photos at each step and making any notes on areas I need to clarify or edit.  However, when the recipe is something new where I am working from inspiration that lives only in my head, the process is a little different.  Every time I mention my process to friends and family they are fascinated to learn the “behind the food” story, so I thought you might be interested in learning about what goes on behind the curtain as I create these recipes for you!

Where a recipe starts

It could be a memory of a meal or dish I ate at some point in the past.  I might be inspired by something I saw in a magazine or book which sounded delicious but included several key ingredients I would want to switch out.  Sometimes I see a recipe or eat something and think – hmm – I wonder how else I can use this technique, then I totally change the components of the dish to create something original (this is what happened when I applied a sheet pan pancake technique to my chickpea pancakes).

These are the working pages for the Cajun Quinoa recipe – rough draft on the right. The notes at the top were other recipes I was thinking about while writing this down.

Regardless of the inspiration, the first step is to write down my first draft recipe in a notebook I reserve just for recipe testing.  The first draft is often just a list of ingredients, sometimes an oven temperature or cook time, and maybe a list of cooking techniques I think might work with the recipe.

How does that idea become a meal?

Once I have a list of ingredients I hit the store and pick up what I need to cook the rough draft of the recipe.  As a general rule, this rough draft meal is a little weird. Sometimes it is undercooked, other times overcooked. It might be under or over seasoned or spiced.  The texture or consistency might be off (especially for a baked good).  

Regardless of how it turns out, Adam, the perennial good sport, will help me eat this experiment.  We will sit down and talk through the dish – does it need more salt (almost always), maybe it needs to cook longer or at a higher temperature.  Perhaps something is missing from the flavor profile, or there is an ingredient which is not sitting well with the others. I take notes right after we eat and create a second draft of the recipe.

Since my recipes usually make enough for leftovers, I am sometimes eating these strange meals for a few days.  It does allow me to see how the dish continues to evolve after a day or two in the fridge. Once I have eaten all the leftovers, it is time to start on round two.

Round two (and 3, and 4, and more)

Incorporating everything I’ve learned, I head back to the grocery store and pick up another round of ingredients.  I repeat the process above, subjecting Adam to yet another tasting of a dish which is better, but still not quite right.  Taking notes again I revise the recipe. This continues until I have it pretty close to perfect.

Depending on how close the first draft of the recipe was to what I imagined usually determines the number of rounds a dish needs to go through before reaching the penultimate stage.  The more modifications called for, the more likely it will miss the mark on the next round.

It finally tastes just right!

Once I get the recipe where I want it, I make any minor adjustments (adding a tiny bit more salt or an extra minute or two on the cook time).  Then I write up the recipe in the format it will actually come to you. I use that write-up to make one final cook, following along with the recipe to ensure I have everything in the correct order and it is clearly written.

I take plenty of pictures along the way when making the final cook.  The photos you see in the post are edited down. I try to photograph each stage of the meal preparation.  Frequently there are several photos of each step as I try to capture them at the best angle or between bursts of steam off a hot pot.  

Then I serve the ever patient Adam the final dish.  He gives it a final thumbs up.  And then he request we not have it again for a very long time.  Because that is the real dirty little secret of recipe testing. After we have eaten the same (often not-so-successful) meal a few times a week for several weeks in a row, we are both so very tired of it we can’t imagine actually wanting to eat it again.  Those recipes you see on the blog that were the result of a difficult process of creation are ones which I am unlikely to cook again anytime soon!

Hopefully they will shine in other kitchens

Even though we won’t be eating some of those dishes for a long time, I hope they will have their moment to shine in your kitchen.  Since I went through all the strange versions, it means you get to enjoy the recipe at its best! I hope that many of the recipes on NourishNestBreathe become favorites in your house.  When you are seeking to build a life you love, ensuring you are bringing healthy nourishment to your body is a key component.

I hope you enjoy my recipes knowing that I cooked all the weird versions so you can enjoy the delicious one!