The 6 Ways to Know a Recipe Is Bad Before Making It

This is hugely important, especially if you’re not getting your recipe from a single trusted source like, say, Ben Mims or J. Kenji López-Alt.

Professional websites like The Kitchn have cross testers, and so when I wrote a recipe for that publication, I feel supremely confident that the recipe works. Cross testers take the recipe’s copy and stick to it pretty literally, since that’s how the reader’s going to take it, too. Not only does the cross tester check to see if the recipe tastes good, but they’re also analyzing the instructions for clarity.

In addition to being a cross tester, The Kitchn also has an editor. Next, the food gets shoved off to a food stylist. That’s four people involved in the process of publishing my recipe. That collaboration is super rad, and it already makes an excellent recipe that is much more airtight.

in the aforementioned Ben Mims article, he suggests that your average person doesn’t really stop to consider the source of the recipe itself. “New cooks just want a recipe, period, and they don’t really care if it’s tested well or comes from a trusted source,” he writes.

I’ll say it: You should absolutely give a shit about the source your recipe is coming from. Use trusted websites, and trust collaborative efforts.