You know how you’re standing in front of the cookbook shelves at the store, leafing through cookbooks and trying to figure out which one to take home, and you feel paralyzed and uncertain, and you question yourself, and then when you finally make up your mind you’re sure you made the wrong choice? That’s my life as a cookbook reviewer. The subjective nature of choosing the best cookbooks can be overwhelming. Sometimes I question myself into oblivion. (It doesn’t help knowing that my picks will move the market. They always do. No pressure or anything!)
But this time, I paid very close attention to my questions, and I realized that they basically boiled down to a manageable number. In fact, just seven. I was so happy to realize that these could be named that I printed up little cards to score the books and stuck them to all my shortlisted candidates. Here’s my questions–who knows, maybe they’ll help you the next time you’re having brain freeze in the Cookbooks section.
Question 1: Is it useful? This means, would an enthusiastic home cook (anyone ranging from a fast weeknight cook to a thoughtful gourmand) be able to find recipes in this book that would satisfy them for a week straight of cooking?
Question 2: Is it thoughtful? This means, has the author thought of the reader’s needs? Are there hard-to-find ingredients and if so, is there guidance as to where to find them? Are there multiple sub-recipes you have to hunt around for? Are there clarifying tips in the instructions? Are there side essays, helpful sidebars and charts? Do the headnotes help you cook the recipe?
Question 3: Is it new? Are at least a majority of the recipes really new?–i.e. not just another recipe for roast chicken or meatballs or insalata caprese with the exact ingredients you’ve always made them with in more or less the same proportions.
If I can’t say at least a partial yes to all three of those first questions, I don’t get to choose it for the shortlist. After that we get into the refinements.
Question 4: Does it tell a story? Not everyone likes a story in their cookbooks, but I do. I like colorful headnotes, reminiscences, and anecdotes–they show me that the author has really put their heart and soul into the book.
Question 5: Is it well-designed? Design is so important that a lack of it can ruin a cookbook that is otherwise useful, thoughtful and new. Cookbooks are working books, and they should look like they’re meant to help you, not like a postmodern art installation.
Question 6: Is it focused? A lot of cookbooks are simply collections of everything the author has ever cooked, or cooked in the last year. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and this concern can be overridden by awesome design or thoughtfulness or usefulness. But in such an overcrowded market, focus is important.
Question 7: Is it the best of its kind? Or at least, the best that I’ve seen. What a hard question this is to answer! The answer is almost never Yes. But asking it helps me sort out my thinking. If the answer is, “It just might be…” that’s a huge endorsem*nt right there.
I also have known biases, which I have to be on rigorous watch for: 1) I’m a total sucker for great design, even in a bad cookbook. 2) I get annoyed when there are 2 systems of measurement in a book. 3) I am happiest when I see a wide variety of publishers, including underdogs. These I consider unreasonable biases, and much of my time goes into re-weighting my judgements to counter those biases.
I have this grandiose sort of suspicion that the publishers are paying attention to my preferences, because the cookbooks just keep getting better and better with each year. They may be paying attention, or they may not be, but it’s still a win for everyone.
FAQs
Keep in mind that the average size of a cookbook is about 75 to 200 pages. On average, a typical cookbook will have around 150 recipes, but that varies as well, from small cookbooks with just 15 recipes to more than 300.
What is the average page count for a cookbook? ›
Keep in mind that the average size of a cookbook is about 75 to 200 pages. On average, a typical cookbook will have around 150 recipes, but that varies as well, from small cookbooks with just 15 recipes to more than 300.
How do you analyze a cookbook? ›
Themes to consider
- Why is the author writing this book?
- Who is the intended audience? ...
- What kind of assumptions does the author(s) make about cooking/cuisine/food?
- What kinds of ingredients are used? ...
- How precise are the recipes?
Here are 5 tips on how to ace cookbook reviews:
- Describe the author's background and authority. Introduce the author to readers and comment on his or her experience and expertise. ...
- Identify the intended audience. ...
- Write in the style appropriate to the publication. ...
- Be honest in your cookbook reviews.
The only required front matter is really a simple title page and a copyright page. We give descriptions of the various pieces and provide basic examples below, but we highly recommend pulling a few of your favorite cookbooks off the shelf and looking at how they handle the front matter.
How many pages is 100,000 words? ›
A 100,000 word count will create about 200 pages with single spacing or 400 pages double-spaced when using normal 1-inch margins, 12 pt. Arial font, and a standard A4 (letter size) page size.
How many pages is 50,000 words? ›
50,000 words is 100 pages single-spaced or 200 pages double-spaced. Typical documents that are 50,000 words or more include full-length novels. It will take approximately 167 minutes to read 50,000 words.
What are the 7 questions of a cookbook reviewer? ›
Here's my questions–who knows, maybe they'll help you the next time you're having brain freeze in the Cookbooks section.
- Question 1: Is it useful? ...
- Question 2: Is it thoughtful? ...
- Question 3: Is it new? ...
- Question 4: Does it tell a story? ...
- Question 5: Is it well-designed? ...
- Question 6: Is it focused?
Consistency is key. It's important that the measurement abbreviations, ingredients, and recipe sections are the same throughout your book so your readers know what to expect with each recipe.
How do you analyze a book book? ›
When analyzing a novel or short story, you'll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes. Remember that a literary analysis isn't merely a summary or review, but rather an interpretation of the work and an argument about it based on the text.
These are the key steps to take when writing a cookbook.
- Choose Your Concept. As mentioned above, owning your concept is a vital stage of the process. ...
- Plan Your Structure. ...
- Create A Proposal. ...
- Write Your Recipes. ...
- Test Your Recipes. ...
- Edit The Text. ...
- Finalise The Design. ...
- Proofread And Index.
Keep your design simple, neat, and appealing for a great cookbook cover design. The image should align with your cookbook title, connect your potential readers emotionally and make them drool over the pages. Choose bright and vibrant colors to reflect your dish's freshness and deliciousness.
What order should a cookbook be in? ›
Organize your recipes by course
Appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, desserts. If your recipes span these familiar categories, grouping them by their place in a full meal could be the right approach. It might sound straightforward, but it's an organizational cookbook tradition that works.
What to put at the end of a cookbook? ›
There are several pieces of the book that go after the main body of the cookbook, these are called "back matter". They include content like an index, glossary, appendixes, bibliography, or resources. All of this content is optional, though an index and resources section are very common in cookbooks.
What is the average number of recipes in a cookbook? ›
The average cookbook contains 300-400 recipes. Q: What is the Starter Material? The Starter Material contains items to help you assemble and create your cookbook, such as Recipe Collection Sheets, Category Envelopes, a Cover Information Sheet, and Personal Page Sheets.
How long does it take to write a cookbook? ›
Give It Time
Plan on at least two years from the moment you start your quest until you see something tangible. Most books have a one year lead time, which means you generally have a year to write the book. Then it can take another year to edit, re-test recipes, design and photograph the book.
What is the standard cookbook page size? ›
A traditional cookbook is going to be 8.5×11, but that may not work for what you have envisioned. We have. Great range of sizes available for our books, as small as 5.5 x 8.5 and as large as 12 x 12. We also offer custom sizes; in case you don't see the size that works for you.
What is the most popular cookbook size? ›
The commonly used square cookbook size is 12 × 12 inches, but there are other print sizes available such as 8 × 8 inches and 6 × 6 inches. What Font Size Should a Cookbook Be? Whether you create professional cookbooks or a kids' book for cooking, cookbook recipe texts usually follow the 10–13-point type.
How many recipes make a good cookbook? ›
The standard expectation is that a cookbook should have between 70 and 100 recipes, but larger compendiums have at least 200.
Is a 100 page book too short? ›
A manuscript with fewer than 100 pages is considered a novella. Nothing is stopping you from publishing a 100-page novella; they can be highly successful. For example, Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is 30,191 words, George Orwell's Animal Farm is 29,966 words, and Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is only 22,009 words.
You know how you’re standing in front of the cookbook shelves at the store, leafing through cookbooks and trying to figure out which one to take home, and you feel paralyzed and uncertain, and you question yourself, and then when you finally make up your mind you’re sure you made the wrong choice? That’s my life as a cookbook reviewer. The subjective nature of choosing the best cookbooks can be overwhelming. Sometimes I question myself into oblivion. (It doesn’t help knowing that my picks will move the market. They always do. No pressure or anything!)