Are you bursting with ideas like an overripe tomato? In this article, we’ll tell you how to write a temptingly good cookery book.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a cookery book and oeuvre of French cuisine, influenced the cooking style of entire generations. Julia Child, who published the book in the early 1960s, not only became famous for her Boeuf Bourguignon, but was also awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the United States. If you want to write a cookery book, you should take a leaf out of the US American’s book.
The cook and author’s famous cookery book is still being published today. Julia Child is long gone, but her delicate apple tart still smells tempting from ovens around the world and her coq au vin is still swirled in wine by millions.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is the best proof that cookery books can establish themselves not only as bestsellers, but as true classics of literature. Together with works such as La Cucina Italiana or The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, this classic has been as much a part of every kitchen’s basic equipment as a whisk since its publication. But what is the secret of a successful cookery book? How do you write a cookery book and how do you develop dishes that melt in the mouth like a poem by Verlaine?
In this article, we reveal how to write a cookery book that you won’t want to miss in any kitchen.
How wot write a cookbook: Seven tips for a temptingly good cookery book
Choice of topic
Every cookery book needs a theme that defines its culinary boundaries. The chances of success of a cookery book that randomly compiles recipes are as slim as those of a chocolate soufflé without beaten egg whites. Sift and sort your recipes according to the one theme that connects them all before you get your pen and spoon out. The theme can be an ingredient, a style of cooking, a culture or even a philosophy. Perhaps all your dishes are vegan or vegetarian, or they can be prepared in an exceptionally short time. If sustainability is important to you, you could create a cookery book based on seasonal ingredients, or your cultural background could be the secret ingredient in all your dishes.
If you find it difficult to define a topic for yourself, why not consult artificial intelligence? ChatGPT & Co. often prove to be valuable partners in the search for ideas. If you don’t have a preference yourself, you can also respond to specific market demand with your cookery book. Use the Google Keywords Planner to research the specific interests of your target group – cookery enthusiasts – and perhaps the ghost in the machine will give you new ideas.
Target group
Know your target group! When planning a cookery book, you should always keep your target group in mind. Become the chef de rang of your cookery book and match your dishes to the preferences of your audience like a restaurant manager. Julia Child’s career as a cookery book author was so successful partly because she knew better than anyone how to adapt her cookery book recipes to the requirements of her target group. Complicated French dishes should also succeed in an American kitchen, where the basic equipment was completely different. Julia Child put herself in the shoes of an American cook and considered, among other things, how a hollandaise sauce could be made with a blender. Julia Child also reduced the level of difficulty of her dishes by simplifying them. This meant that even non-professionals were able to prepare grandiose dishes to the level of an award-winning chef.
Structure and layout
The amount of text in a cookery book is obviously less than in a novel or a book from another genre. Nevertheless, you should always stick to a certain pattern when writing so that the book remains clear, concise and structured. Cookery books are usually read in stressful situations. The information must be compact and quickly available if you want to prevent the onions from caramelising instead of just turning translucent. For this reason, think carefully about the layout of your cookery book. The classic layout is as follows:
- Name of the dish
- List of all ingredients
- Preparation
- Information on preparation and preparation time, portion size, intolerances and level of difficulty
- Cooking and serving tips, comments, background stories on the creation of the dish
If you know in advance which text elements are required, you can easily prepare your book according to this scheme for subsequent editing.
Recipes
The recipes are the soul of the cookery book. As a budding cookery book author, you probably already have a treasure trove of exquisite recipes. If you are still missing recipes, take inspiration from other authors and enrich their recipes so that they match the theme of your own cookery book. As a vegan cook, for example, you could think about what a vegan version of mac and cheese might look like. Or you could prepare variations of classic dishes that can be enjoyed by everyone, even those with food intolerances. You are sure to find inspiration in a cookery course, the menus of unusual restaurants or even in novels. Jane Austen, for example, always described her protagonists’ teatimes with soul and accuracy.
Find out even more about Jane Austen’s individual writing style in this article!
Storytelling
In the UK alone, around 5,000 cookery books are published every year. But none of them are like yours. Just as a person can only sing a song with their voice, a cookery book author can only create their cookery book in their own style. Don’t be intimidated by the multitude of cookery books on the market and tell your story. Spice up your recipes with your own insider tips, tell who or what inspired you to create a dish and give your book a dash of personality. It’s the stories behind the dishes that bring a cookery book to life. Julia Child’s cookery book, for example, was recreated by an ambitious amateur cook in the early 2000s. Julia Powell, a young American author, set up a blog in which she described her attempt to cook all the recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. The blog did not present a single new recipe, but Julia Powell’s personal experiences during this time inspired the public so much that the blog not only gained a huge following, but also earned Julia Powell a book contract. The story, which was made into a film worth seeing, Julie & Julia, proves that the story behind the dishes is often more important than the dish itself.
Visual worlds
Let us not forget: Food is also a feast for the eyes! In times of social media, images are more important than ever. Since the advent of cookery blogs at the latest, the standard of food photography has risen steadily. So when it comes to taking pictures of your dishes, you should either let professionals do the work or attend a photography course beforehand. Food styling is not as easy as it looks. To market a cookery book, your dishes need to look attractive and appetising. Graphic design elements should not be underestimated either. Modern cookery books feature delicate illustrations and interesting colours and designs. The layout of a cookery book should not be underestimated either, as the reader must be able to find what they are looking for immediately. A long, monotonous scrolling text is rather counterproductive when cooking. A professional graphic designer is therefore essential for the design of a cookery book.
Marketing
Share and market extracts from your cookery book on any platform you can think of. For example, produce a YouTube video in which you prepare one of your dishes step by step or offer newspapers and magazines some of your recipes for publication. The photos you produce for your cookery book can easily be used for marketing on social media afterwards. Food content is still one of the most popular types of content on social media and reaches a significant audience even without a large community.
We are always looking for bright new cookery book authors. Get in touch with us today!
And let us know in the comments which cookery books were to your taste.
Let your fingers roam freely over your keyboard!
Your team at novum publishing
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