Are you an up-and-coming foodie or a recipe lover? Have you got a recipe that’s been passed down the generations? We’re always on the lookout for new recipes that you’ve created using our condensed soups.
To make it easier for you to submit a recipe, we’ve created a guide to writing, photographing and creating the perfect one.
Creating Your Recipe
The first step to a perfect recipe is the dish itself. If you’ve got a dish in mind already, all the better. If you tend to cook with all the ingredients in varying amounts each time, then it’s better to plan the dish before you submit your recipe!
Once you’ve got the dish perfected, then think about your recipe. You may have never written it down before, or perhaps you inherited the recipe, either way it’s important to get it written down and planned properly.
Choosing Your Ingredients
Ingredients are the core of any recipe. Without them, a recipe would be a list of steps on a page.
When it comes to ingredients however, its important to make sure you’ve thought about certain aspects. Make sure you consider:
- Specific brands. Does a recipe require a specific brand of food, or can it be any brand? Aside from Campbell’s Soup, think about the other ingredients used.
- Are you including oz, cups or grams? Please do use metric if possible, as it’s the current system in the UK!
- Additional seasonings. If you tend to throw in a pinch of paprika, or a sprinkle of siracha, then include this, even if it is to taste.
- Does a specific ingredient require preparation ahead of time? If so, either include this in the recipe steps, or write it as part of the ingredient. Consider soaking times, certain chop style or similar.
Writing Out Your Recipe
When it comes to writing out a recipe, there’s some key considerations, aside from the obvious spelling and grammar checks.
Recipes are deceptively hard to write sometimes, so here’s our best advice on how to write a recipe.
Overwrite It
When writing a recipe that you know off by heart, it’s easy to write the steps down without a thought for the process that guides you.
With recipe writing, over explain every step you take.
For example, instead of writing:
Add the chicken soup and dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Once combined, set aside.
Write to include details:
In a large mixing bowl, add the chicken soup. Then, add the rice, salt, pepper and cornflour before gently folding together.
When the rice is fully coated in the chicken soup, and there are no cornflour lumps, cover and set aside for at least an hour.
The over explaining removes any uncertainty and specifies techniques, as well as providing timescales and visual description.
Precision is Key
Be precise with your steps. If only a certain percentage of each ingredient needs to be added, then define the exact amount.
It’s best to be exact when cooking, so don’t leave any measurements up to the imagination.
Food Photographs
Photos to complement your dish can make or break your recipe. Food photographers train for ages to learn the art of perfecting appearance, and we certainly don’t expect that from everyone!
However, good quality photos can be taken, even with a smartphone camera. Here’s how:
- Set your plate up near a window on a sunny or bright day. Rainy days aren’t always good for photos.
- Clear the background of anything unnecessary. Props are great, but only if you have them. Simple is best.
- Make sure it’s the right orientation. Landscape is much better for websites, social media and more
- Use your own photos! Copyrighted photos won’t be accepted, so take your own.
- Before you upload the image, run it through tinyjpg.com. This reduces the image size, making it website friendly.
Read our blog on good food photos for more.
Submit a recipe
Now you know how the experts write recipes, why not try and submit your own to our website?