Making a book of grandma’s recipes
Grandma’s recipe notebook is often stained, dog-eared and full of loose sheets slipped between the pages. It is also one of a family’s most precious belongings. Turning it into a printed book protects it, makes it easy to read and lets everyone have a copy.
Create grandma’s bookStart while there is still time
Many of grandma’s recipes were never written down: she makes them by eye, with a pinch of this and a glass of that. If she can still tell you them, write them down with her, asking for the quantities she really uses and the gestures she no longer even thinks to explain.
It often leads to long conversations: where the dish comes from, which celebration it was made for, who taught it to her. These stories deserve a place in the book.
Photographing the notebook without damaging it
- Lay the notebook flat near a window, in daylight and without flash.
- Take one photo per page, straight on, avoiding your phone’s shadow.
- For a recipe spread over several pages or on the back of a card, keep the photos in order: COOQ lets you group them into a single recipe.
- Don’t unstick newspaper cuttings: photograph them as they are.
Deciphering difficult handwriting
Old handwriting, faded ink, abbreviations: some pages are hard to read. COOQ transcribes the photo, then you read through each recipe and correct anything misread. Keep her wording: “a bowl of flour” or “a good hot oven” are part of the book’s charm.
A book for the whole family
Once the book is ready, you can order several copies for your parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Everyone finds the dishes of family meals again, and the birthday cake recipe no longer depends on a single fragile notebook.
Choose a title that suits her, such as “Granny Jane’s kitchen”, and if you like, add a photo of the dish or of the original recipe on the page.