Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish. It is also used in medicine or in information technology (user acceptance). A doctor will usually begin a prescription with recipe, usually abbreviated to Rx or an equivalent symbol.

History

Early examples

The earliest known recipes date from approximately 1600 BC and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia. There are also ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting the preparation of food.

Many ancient Greek recipes are known. Mithaecus's cookbook was an early one, but most of it has been lost; Athenaeus quotes one short recipe in his Deipnosophistae. Athenaeus mentions many other cookbooks, all of them lost.

Roman recipes are known starting in the 2nd century BCE with Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura. Many other authors of this period described eastern Mediterranean cooking in Greek and in Latin. Some Punic recipes are known in Greek and Latin translation.

The large collection of recipes conventionally entitled 'Apicius' appeared in the 4th or 5th century and is the only more or less complete surviving cookbook from the classical world. It lists the courses served in a meal as 'Gustatio' (appetizer), 'Primae Mensae' (main course) and 'Secundae Mensae' (dessert).

1080 recetas de cocina

1080 recetas de cocina (English title: 1080 Recipes) is a 1972 Spanish cookbook written by Spanish food writer Simone Ortega and published by Alianza Editorial; it has since been updated and maintained by Ortega and her daughter Inés. Originally published in Spanish, the book was translated into English and republished in 2007 by British publisher Phaidon Press with the assistance of both Ortegas and artwork by Javier Mariscal. Though the original Spanish editions were sparsely illustrated, Alianza later adopted the Phaidon cover and artwork for newer editions.

The book is written as a general kitchen reference for Spanish home cooks and therefore focuses heavily but not exclusively on Spanish cuisine; it therefore also lacks background material such as technical or historical commentary on many of the recipes.