Thank- you! That's really interesting.

I rarely use recipes that would fit on index cards, but I don't stick to a rigid format either. I can't imagine using this system myself, but it's so interesting seeing how other people think. It's been decades since I've seen a new way to present a recipe, and this one makes sense for a recipe like this where the steps are sequential so can be matched up with the ingredients. Very coool.

Interesting. I think we'll find who here has an engineer leaning brain and who doesn't. I don't and find the linear, horizontal format not user friendly for me. Maybe too many years of reading recipes and cookbooks with the vertical orientation for my brain to want to switch!

I like it…thanks, TV!

That’s cool. I’d want to see a continuation of the shaded box, perhaps as a bar, connecting the dry goods blend at the bottom to the wet.

What's a recipe?

"I think we'll find who here has an engineer leaning brain and who doesn't.:

🙋‍♀️

I like the format. I also had an engineering career.

For a neophite making a simple recipe, this may be helpful. For someone who understands recipes, or a longer list of ingredients it’a lot of wasted space.

Looks like a simplified process flow chart - minus the arrows & decision points…..

I quite like that format. I have written recips the vertical way with all the ingredients & use a bracket to group them as one with instructions for thqt grouping. Not sure that made sense!!

No engineering, but retired nurse......??

I like this format in my 1980s Joy of Cooking. Similar, in that it is easy to see the list of ingredients, and they are grouped with their instructions, but still in texty format. The drawback is that if an ingredient is used again (more butter!), make sure you know so you don’t put it away before you’ve mise-en-placed it again. (yeah, it’s now a verb, you’re welcome)

I like it! Thanks. And yes, i’m an engineer. I think it is good for an inexperienced cook or for those times you’re making a new recipe. I almost always start with taking out all the dry ingredients I’ll need to use first.

Now i want some peanut butter cookies.

I’d need to see how it works on a more complex recipe. I’m always trying to find a better way to write things, especially when I’ve got several dishes going at once that need active attention and I’m trying to nail a serving time for all.

I also rewrite recipes to put ingredients in order. If it calls for say butter in two places , I will write 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons, so I know to mip two separate amounts. I also simplify the instructions.

::giggle:: Sherry, I'm always adding details to my recipes because the people who ask for them inevitably don't know the "obvious" stuff. ;) Then, if I want to share with y'all, I have this monster of verbiage.

But looking at the vertical recipe, what strikes me besides the graphic, more than linear, match-up between ingredients and method, is that it works so well because the entries are very brief. That's what gives it its clean, see the whole together, appearance. I was given a recipe box when I was very young. It was really pretty, but even then, while it worked for basic cookies, most of the recipes I wanted to gather and save took several cards, which was impractical, so I started using typing paper. Most fit on a single side, and using them stapled together isn't bad. For a long recipe, I'll do an annotated ingredients list, then repeat the ingredients interleaved with the instructions. A few years later, I went to sheet protectors in binders, and still use those for paper (though my binders are overstuffed and my printer doesn't work, so I mostly use Mealboard now, on my half broken old iPad and e-mail recipes to their phones ;) ). I would need blueprints or bigger to use the vertical format, or endless scrolling on screen. What makes it work is all the blank space and that it can fit on one page, which is more for recipe card sized recipes,

I don't care for the format myself. I would find it harder to process things in this format.

However, like Sherry, I often re-write recipes to put things in order, combine ingredient totals like her example, and simplify to text to make the instructions more succinct and to clarify if needed.

I like a vertical ingredient list in order of use so I can gather all my ingredients before I start. DH wanders back and forth for ages as he has never learned to do this.

I will write it out using brackets grouping things that go in together. If an ingredient is used more once I will probably write it in twice with appropriate amounts per inclusion. Since I know how to cook I dont usually include much descriptive stuff unless it is something unusual. I dont often use recipes though.

If you read really old recipes it is a wonder anything ever worked but cooks were taught to cook. It wasn't until ordinary mortals had to do their own cooking that cook books became such a thing. Really old cookbooks might just give an outline of what might be in something and expect you to figure out how much and what to do with it. I was actually taught this old fashioned method based on the principle of "some".

I’ve worked with engineers and engineer-adjacents for 30+ years.

I much prefer the orignal layout. Easier to read and more intuitive.

“Then, if I want to share with y'all, I have this monster of verbiage.”

@plllog, coming from you I’d feel shortchanged if it were anything but! 😉

“I was actually taught this old fashioned method based on the principle of ’some’.”

@Patriciae - Back in the day this used to drive me nuts with German recipes from my mom. ”Etwas.” That and I’d google to estimate grams to volume conversions. Confidence helped resolve one issue, a scale, the other!

I do remember when they were still sometimes called "receipts" and were just lists of ingredients. ;) When I use a recipe for something simple, I'm often looking for an ingredient, not a full recipe or directions.

ROTFLOLTIWMP!!!! FOAS.

Brevity is not my long suit...

Nope, I definitely do not have the engineer brain type and I don't find that format particularly convenient or usable, mostly because I'm jumping from side to side instead of reading straight down. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how it was even supposed to work. Perhaps a lifetime of cooking has just ingrained the original recipe format into my psyche, but it works for me and I don't need updates, improvements, upgrades, or adjustments.

Annie

I like both. I enjoy charts. I even loved to diagram sentences in school which is a type of charting. But still, being an analog clock and paper calendar person, the standard text recipe is easier for me to read over quickly.

"I even loved to diagram sentences in school..."

Me, too! Was (am) darn good at it, too!

I saw an online recipe that gave a both a shortened and full version of the recipe. The shortened version would say brown beef, remove then saute vegetables.

The full recipe of course said to heat pot over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp oil, and brown beef 5-7 minutes, flip and brown the other side. Remove to a plate and in the remaining fat add onions and celery, etc etc etc

Very nice option

Jasdip, that is a nice option too. When I explain to people why I rarely use recipes to cook (vs. baking), I explain that I understand the basic techniques (like saute, braise, deglaze, brown, poach, etc) and I don't need them explained again.