A recipe (or sometimes receipt in Commonwealth countries) is a set of instructions, usually for cooking a specific food. It is generally but not always found in a written format, frequently as one of a collection of many such in book form. Many recipes, however, are handed down orally, especially through families. Some recipes, particularly for exotic cocktails, are closely guarded secrets, kept by their creators. It is also common for someone to take an existing recipe and modify it to suit their own personal tastes.
A recipe typically lists the ingredients needed to prepare a dish and their proportions, instructions on how to combine the ingredients, gives the cooking time, and, less often, the total preparation time. It also generally indicates how many people the recipe will serve and tells the cook of any specialized utensils that are needed.
Recipes can be very simple—"place all ingredients in a large bowl, stir, and serve"— or extremely complex, having many pages of text and including other sub-recipes that must first be incorporated into the principal one in order to complete it.
The word recipe can also be used as a figure of speech, as in, "That is a recipe for disaster."
The Citizendium list of recipes will be indexed below in two separate ways:
Many recipes, therefore, will be found twice: first under their own name, and secondly within the appropriate ethnic or geographical group. An example is Bolognese sauce, which will be listed first under the Bs and then under Italian cuisine.
Beverages, such as wines, spirits, and cocktails will also be included on both lists.
Some articles, such as Hamburger, which do not yet include a specific recipe, will also be included within both lists. It is hoped that eventually typical recipes will be included in all such articles.