A Day in the life of a recipe developer. and rain.
It’s Tuesday Morning. June 2nd. At last rain. Rain to revive the seedlings I’ve dug up from my garden and potted. Rain to deeply soak the mulch and pony poo I’ve layered in my vege gardens and under my fruit trees. Rain to wash away the worries of the world… If only.
Today is a teacher only day (for two-thirds of my children!). I’ve dropped one babe at the bus stop. One is sitting next to me at the table reading while the other slumbers. I have been reflecting on my work recently. I am an incredibly lucky woman. I work from home around my kids school routine and, as I am my own boss, I can be flexible. This means I am there for sports days and assemblies, field trips and school hangi. I am also there when my kids are sick. For this I am deeply grateful.
On the flip side, those days when it is just me, my dog, 3 chickens and 2 ducks I have work to do! I’m lucky, my work is varied. One day I might be organising a shoot; the backgrounds and props, the willing friends whose hands might make it into a magazine spread! I might be on-location in someone’s workplace, photographing them and their business, sharing their unique story with the world. I might be shooting a new product for a client or processing out their photos. Or I might be in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up testing a new recipe or two.
I find people are most curious about this part of my work. They might ask where the direction for what kind of recipe I create comes. Or how I get inspiration for the recipes I write. Or they might simply be curious about how I write a recipe. So I figured I’d write it all down and share it with you all!
where does the direction for my recipe development work come from?
Generally speaking that comes down to how much, or little, direction the client gives. Some will have a specific ingredient that the recipe is then built around. One of my wonderful clients is Green Meadows Beef, a Taranaki-based company delivering premium 100% grass-fed beef directly to families across New Zealand. Amongst other things they send out monthly beef boxes which include a recipe show-casing a specific cut of meat. So when I write recipes for them I will start with the cut, be it beef cheek or sirloin steak, and build a recipe from there. Mostly seasonally focussed and always accessible and tasty. Another fantastic local client is Marcel’s Pancakes who manufacture pancakes right here in Taranaki that are sold throughout NZ and Australia. They often provide me with a theme, like Mother’s Day or Easter, and for them that is the starting point. So I get to be wildly creative and have a lot of fun along the way!
How do i get inspiration for the recipes I write?
Inspiration for recipes can come from the wildest, and most simple of places! It might be that I have an abundance of say, feijoas!, in my garden and that will be the starting point. Other times I might be out at a restaurant and try an amazing dish that I then want to go away and re-create. Some clients will ask me to write a specific recipe, be it tiramisu or tomato salad. I have been making nut milk recently and instead of feeding the pulp to the chickens I turned it into delicious cheese and chilli crackers. Sourdough bread is on my mind a LOT at the moment so I have been experimenting with new sourdough recipes. And weeds! I love picking the weeds in my garden (they are high in phytonutrients and are so wonderfully good for us - if they come from a spray-free location of course!) and turning them into tea blends or salads. Really inspiration can come from the most unexpected of places!
Pull-Apart Garlic Sourdough. For Life & Leisure Magazine.
How do I write a recipe?
Writing a recipe is now second nature to me. I was fortunate enough to really hone my recipe writing skills when I first went out on my own and started writing recipes for Cuisine Magazine and Stuff Newspapers. The team at Cuisine were wonderful at sharpening my skills and to this day I still write my recipes using their format. I am careful to list the ingredients in the order in which they are used in the recipe. I write tablespoons and teaspoons long form, not abbreviated (who is to say which way is better?!) And I always write a little intro to my recipes explaining what is delicious about them, where the inspiration for the dish might have come from, I might muse on something else related to the recipe.
If anyone out there reading this is curious about any of the other aspects of my work and would like to know more then please leave a comment and let me know! In the meantime enjoy the rest of your week - may it be filled with lots of lovely nourishing tiny moments, smiles, hugs and good company. Emma x
