How to collect your grandparents' recipes
Updated
To collect your grandparents' recipes, start with their favorite dishes: ask them to cook with you, write down the quantities and the gestures, and photograph the pages of their notebook if they have one. Then file each recipe in a Grammage notebook, along with its story.
Many family recipes aren't written down anywhere. They're made "by eye". That's exactly why they're worth writing down.
Where to start
- The dishes everyone asks for: the birthday cake, the holiday dish, the Sunday soup.
- The notebook, if there is one: ask them if they have a notebook or recipe cards. Photograph the pages; they'll be read and filed in Grammage.
- The recipes that were never written down: these are the most precious. Cook them together.
The questions to ask
- "Where did you learn this recipe? Who gave it to you?"
- "What occasion did you make it for?"
- "How many people does it feed?"
- "When you say 'a pinch' or 'a glass', how much is that?"
- "What's the one thing you must not get wrong?"
- "Have you changed anything over the years?"
The answers can go into the recipe itself: the story in the description, the tips in "Notes & tips".
Cook together
The simplest way is to make the dish together. While they cook:
- Write down the quantities, even rough ones.
- Write down the order of the steps and the gestures: "stir until it coats the spoon".
- Take a photo of the finished dish and add it to the recipe.
Keep and share
Once the recipe is in Grammage, you can invite the rest of the family. Grandparents can see their recipes kept safe with the reading link, without creating an account.
Frequently asked questions
My grandparents don't have a notebook. What can I do?
Write down the recipe while they make it or tell it to you, then type it into Grammage by hand. You can add a photo of the dish and its story.
How do I write down a recipe made "by eye"?
Make the recipe with them and measure what they use. Also keep their expressions, like "a good pinch", in the notes: they're part of the recipe.
Can they see the recipes afterwards?
Yes. Send them the notebook's reading link: it opens without an account, on a phone, a tablet or a computer.