What to put in a family cookbook
A family cookbook is more than a pile of recipes. Here is what to include, how to choose, and how to put it in an order people will actually cook from.
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The recipes: how to choose them
Start with the recipes people ask for by name. Then fill in around them. A good family cookbook usually has some of each of these:
- The ones people ask for: the dish someone always brings, the birthday cake, the dinner everyone requests when they come home.
- The holiday recipes, the ones that only come out once a year and are easiest to lose.
- The everyday dinners. They are less exciting, and they are what people really cook from the book.
- The recipes only one person makes. These matter most, because nobody else has them written down.
- A few from each branch of the family, so everyone finds their own kitchen in it.
How many recipes?
There is no right number. Twenty to thirty recipes makes a small, thoughtful gift that is quick to finish. A full family collection often runs to a hundred or more. If you are not sure, start small: you can always make a second volume, and a finished small book beats an unfinished big one.
Chapters: four ways to sort them
By course. Breakfast, mains, sides, desserts. The most familiar, and the easiest to cook from.
By person. A chapter for each cook: Grandma's recipes, Uncle Ray's, Mom's. Lovely as a keepsake.
By occasion. Weeknights, Sunday dinners, holidays, birthdays.
By season. Summer from the garden, winter soups, holiday baking.
Pick one and stick with it. If a recipe could go in two chapters, put it where someone would look for it first.
The stories that make it yours
The recipes are the reason for the book. The stories are why people keep it. Under each recipe, a few lines are enough:
- Who made it, and where it came from.
- When it came out: Christmas Eve, the first warm Saturday, every sick day.
- What they always said about it, or the step they did differently.
- A tip you learned the hard way: “the dough looks wrong, keep going.”
The front pages
- A title page, with a title and an optional subtitle such as “Recipes from three generations.”
- A dedication: one or two lines for the person the book is for or about.
- An introduction: a page about the family, the cooks and how the book came together.
- A contents page, so people can find the chapter they want.
Need help with the words? See dedication ideas and examples and how to write a cookbook introduction.
Extras worth adding
- Photos of the dishes, and of the cooks if you have them.
- A photo of a handwritten card or two, so the handwriting travels with the book.
- Notes on old measurements: what “a teacup of flour” or “butter the size of an egg” meant in that kitchen.
- Blank space or a notes page at the back for the next generation to add to.
Putting it together in Snap and Simmer
Save the recipes from wherever they live: photograph the handwritten cards, paste links, or film someone cooking. Then start a cookbook, sort the recipes into chapters, write the dedication, the introduction and a note on each recipe, and download a print-ready PDF. We can draft the introduction and notes from your own recipes, ratings and comments, never from anything made up, so you start from something instead of a blank page.
Questions
What should be in a family cookbook?
The recipes people ask for by name, the holiday recipes, the everyday dinners and the ones only one person makes, plus a few lines of story with each, a dedication, an introduction and a contents page.
How many recipes should a family cookbook have?
There is no set number. Twenty to thirty makes a small gift that is quick to finish; a full family collection can run to a hundred or more.
How do I organize a family cookbook?
Pick one way and keep to it: by course, by person, by occasion or by season. Put each recipe where someone would look for it first.
Should I include photos?
Yes, where you have them. Photos of the dishes help people cook, and photos of the cooks and their handwritten cards are what make the book a keepsake.
Keep going
Make a family cookbook
Chapters, a dedication, an introduction and a print-ready PDF.
See how ›💐Cookbook dedication ideas
Examples to borrow for a family cookbook, and how to write your own.
See how ›📝Write a cookbook introduction
What to say on the first page of a family cookbook, with an example.
See how ›Good food is better shared.
Start your kitchen, save your first recipe and invite the people you cook with.
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