We had cookies at a family birthday gathering 2 weeks ago. One daughter suggested my niece make a particular recipe for chocolate chip cookies - one that my other daughter found and has made a number of times.
I’m sorry but I don’t get the possessiveness of recipes, unless you plan to monetize it in some business sense.
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I'm sorry but I don't get the possessiveness of recipes, unless you plan to monetize it in some business sense <<
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I agree. It seems petty and small to me.
I agree. It is petty and small.
I make Oatmeal Carmelitas, and so many people ask me for the recipe. I give it to them, but I often wonder what happens when they make it. You see, my mother made these, and every time, and I mean every time, I make these, they do not turn out like my mother’s. I’ve tried doing different adjustments, but I just can’t seem to get it right. One time I even forgot to pour the caramel sauce on the baked bottom crust until after it was back in the oven. But each time I make them, people still love them. My husband says it’s a recipe that you just can’t mess up.
If I wanted to be petty and small, I would “forget” to pass the recipe on.
I can see instances where people would want to keep a recipe secret-like if you are “known” in your community for a certain type of dish. For instance, “Ask Aunt May to bring her Coconut Delight pie to church brunch this week”-Aunt May is known for that dish, people associate her with that dish, and to her it’s an accomplishment. If anyone could bring that dish to church brunch, she loses that.
So I respect the idea of people wanting to keep a recipe secret, because it’s special to them, and they like to be needed, even if it’s only for the yummy pie.
As a sort of parallel, there are some techniques artists use that they don’t like to share. I had a professor who used to paint with tape, and he brought in one of his works, but wouldn’t show us how he did it. I get what he’s doing-he’s trying to protect his brand and his accomplishment, but it’s the age of the internet-I spent about 10 minutes googling and found it (because if you’ve thought of it, chances are one of the other 8 billion people on the planet has, too). He was SO pissed that it was on the internet, he thought somehow somebody had “stolen” “his” idea.
IMHO sloppy Joes need to go in a barbecue direction, with Worcestershire sauce.
And cole slaw.
@lookingforward that reminds me of the time my grandmother and her sister got into a screaming fight over whether cole slaw should have sugar in it or not. I still remember standing there, my mouth hanging open, as spatulas and bowls flew back and forth (I think I was about 6).
I’m “known” for several dishes and friends rely on me to bring them, but I share freely – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? My identify is not tied up with my recipes. I am not somehow diminished because others can produce the same delicious dish, even if they bring it to the same party. The more the merrier (fatter). 
Ditto, @ChoatieMom. I’m considered a good cook but it’s beyond one or two dishes. Part of the fun coming to my house is being a guinea pig for some new recipe.
“the time my grandmother and her sister got into a screaming fight over whether cole slaw should have sugar in it or not”
Yes, it should. 
“I’m sorry but I don’t get the possessiveness of recipes, unless you plan to monetize it in some business sense.”
Tough to do that if the recipe only has some simple secret ingredient! As The Old Country Buffets found out, courts do not consider common recipes trade secret-able (or maybe that judge was not a fan of cheap buffet food 
).
For a long time, I was the only one who had DH’s grandmother’s beloved sour cream cookie recipe. I was the only one who had asked, then she got ill and it was too late.
But it was really that side’s memory. As soon as the cousins asked, I sent it. Unfortunately, Grandma hadn’t told me the baking temp or how long to bake them. DH (and later, the cousins,) said it was never like she made them.
I don’t mind sharing, in general. But at the same time, I don’t see the crime in feeling some ownership, when you crafted something to your own likes. And usually, I don’t really have a record of exactly how I modify. It’s sort of culinary artsy-fartsy. If I do share, they’re on their own to figure out their changes to their likes.
I made recipe books ( using Shutterfly) for relatives filled with “special” family recipes including recipes of those who passed. They books are cherished by my kids and nice legacy to those who are no longer here.
I don’t understand “secret” recipes
After going through some of my mother’s papers tonight, I have to say that there are some recipes that should be kept secret!
2D was not really serious - she was mostly annoyed that her sister passed on the recipe and then the cookies didn't turn out quite like she makes them. All points that have been brought up previously.
My paternal grandmother didn’t like to have help cooking; she’d shoo us out of the kitchen and never tried to teach us any recipes.
So when I tried to make kreplach after she died, I turned to the 1956 classic “Love and Knishes.” They came out exactly like my grandmother’s. It was time travel on a plate. The author did an incredible job recording Ashkenazi tradition. I consider everything I make out of that book to be a family recipe, even if I don’t remember eating it at grandma’s house. The only difference I’ve found is that my grandmother and I put parsnips in our chicken soup.
My other grandmother had lots of cookbooks and gave them to me before she died. They have lots of sentimental treasures in them, like recipes bookmarked via a page ripped out of a 1981 TV Guide. I keep all of those where she left them.
Finding the recipe book is sweet, Hanna.
I wish I could remember how my ggm and great aunts made pierogies.
@Consolation, I have made the Sherry cake twice in the last week- I used the 15.25oz cake mix, the larger instant pudding mix, a bundt pan, and baked exactly 1 hour at 325, as stated on my friend’s recipe. It came out perfectly and was delicious! So, no need to go to the trouble of adding the extra cake mix…
I used this 10 cup Bundt pan - it gives a beautiful higher cake with lots of nice exterior edges and perfectly spaced lines for portioning!
P.S. Did not use the nutmeg or mace as my recipe did not have it listed and I totally forgot about you using it! 
But I did sift a little powdered sugar over the cake…
@Sdgal2, good to know! Of course, I now have a partial box of cake mix on hand, so I’ll have to make the cake again to use it up.
Oh, and I have been in CT for a couple weeks, and am happy to have scored some real dried beef in the ShopRite on the Post Road in Norwalk. I bought 10 packages–almost cleaned them out–and put them in the freezer, ready for the trip back to Maine. Most of them are destined for a belated Christmas present for my S’s godfather. He and I share fond memories of creamed chipped beef made by our late friend. (S’s other godfather.)
For those looking for it, it is at the far end of the hot dog section, next to dairy. Even the meat department person I asked didn’t know where it was or what it was!