Not sharing recipes?

Simple1

Thu, May 03 2012, 11:42 pm

agreer wrote:

There was an article about this in the Jewish Press magazine!

It was awful - a woman enjoyed her hostess's cheesecake and asked for the recipe.
The hostess purposely gave her the wrong recipe and the cake was a disaster.

How horrible... I don't know why people aren't more generous with things that don't take away from them... It's not money or clothing or furniture, etc... It's a recipe...

It's like not telling someone where you bought an outfit or a nice sheital... just selfish

My mother was once falsely accused of doing this. She honestly feels flattered when friends ask her to share recipes. She once gave over the requested recipe and the women somehow messed up and flopped the recipe and accused my mother of giving her the wrong recipe on purpose.

Rubber Ducky

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:22 am

agreer wrote:

Even if you give out a recipe accurately, it may not come out the same when someone else makes it -- there are differences in technique, in quality of ingredients, in equipment. But to intentionally sabotage a recipe... I wonder whether the person making the disaster cheesecake remembered to credit that hostess for sharing the recipe when she served it!

Raisin

Fri, May 04 2012, 4:05 am

chanamiriam wrote:

sleepwalking wrote:

chanamiriam wrote:

I have no doubt that it was my post you saw and if you read my full post, you will understand that it is a matter of parnossa. I regularly share my challah recipe which is something I do NOT sell.

Yes it was your post and I'm sorry that I didnt understand that its a matter of parnassa ( as you can see English is not my mother language.) But I was wondering for a long time already, because I called my friend a few weeks ago for a recipe and she wouldn't share it with me!!! (and no she is not selling it)

actually this topic started me thinking that I do have one recipe I don't share but also dont sell. my great grandmother's hamantashen. I have never seen another recipe like it and it is the best recipe I have ever seen. it is a juicy pastry with honey nut spice filling. I do share with family members, but its too much of a pain to sell them because they are so time consuming to make and the market won't bear it.. but I don't share it because it is special to me and the fact that I have researched it and tried to find others similar to it makes me feel like the recipe is incredibly special to me, and like I don't want just anyone to make it. I made 22 dozen this year and gave them out for free as a labour of love, plus a bit of ego because, hey, they ARE the best hamantashen ever and only a few people on the planet know the recipe. but you 'd have to be a descendant of Bubby Goldberg for me to share it!

Do you think your bubby would be proud of you for boasting about her wonderful hamantashen recipe and then refusing to share it?

I hope if MY grandchildren are still making my recipes they will share them happily with friends and strangers alike.

(this attitude must be especially hurtful to people who don't have grandparents who could pass down recipes, eg holocaust survivor children, grandparents died young.)

ora_43

Fri, May 04 2012, 5:36 am

Even for caterers and restaurants I think it's usually good to share some recipes. Just look at the Moosewood restaurant. IIRC they didn't want their recipes published, but it was the publication that brought them from being well-known for a small town restaurant to being well known all over.

Not that restaurants or caterers should publish all of their recipes. It's good to have some trade secrets.

For everyone else - don't they feel bad not sharing? I wouldn't like the thought of my friends eating salad that is less delicious than the salad they'd like to be eating just because I wouldn't share a recipe. It's not actively taking their enjoyment, but still, the end result is them having a little less fun in life. Sad

Life is tough enough already. At least make the deliciousness of food more easily attainable.

People have shared recipes with me, and several are now recipes I use all the time. Isn't that a good thing? Several shabbat meals and sheva brachas and family get-togethers have been made more delicious thanks to their willingness to share. It's a gift that keeps on giving.

sunny90

Fri, May 04 2012, 6:52 am

I can understand that people have reasons for not sharing recipes, but I personally don't understand the attitude--I LOVE giving out recipes and thinking that people will enjoy them! And whenever I make recipes that other people give me, I always mention (at the table or whatever) that this is X's recipe, isn't it amazing?

americangirl wrote:

I don't hesitate to give out a recipe, but I had an experience that made me almost wish I did!

I have a recipe that was my mom's signature Friday night dessert. A close friend once asked me for it, and makes and enjoys it frequently. We were both at a third party's house for Shabbat lunch and my friend brought the dessert. Everyone at the table was full of rave reviews (as they should have been, cause it's freakin awesome!) and my friend just sat there taking the compliments. She never acknowledged that she got the recipe from me, (who was sitting right there) and that it was my mom's original to begin with!!

Yes, she was not obligated to pass the accolades onto me - or my mom - but it would have been nice!

This may not be in the spirit of the thread, but now I'm really curious as to what this dessert is!
Can I have the recipe? Wink

Seriously though, I've gotten so many recipes from Imamother and they're in my computer as pinktichel's x, ra_mom's y, shopaholic's z etc. I promise to name it "Americangirl's mom's dessert" if you'll send me the recipe! I'm assuming by your username that you don't live in Israel (unless you're a chutznik like me?) so the odds are that we probably won't run into each other, ever.

Sorry for hijacking. I'm a foodie and am ALWAYS looking for more and better recipes!

imaima

Fri, May 04 2012, 7:08 am

Raisin wrote:

chanamiriam wrote:

How unique are my recipes? Unique enough. There is another internet of recipes out there why do u need mine which is my parnossa?

Also pet peeve. I dOnt get bins, ami or mishap ha. I don't pay for them.. I don't have spice and spirit, or gatherings. People sell these mags and books for money but they get shared on here all the time. That is so wrong.

I wonder if the cookbooks mind? After all, when I see people constantly referancing S&S or KBD I might start thinking maybe I should buy it, it must be a good cookbook.

I always wondered,how is it halachically permittable to share recipes from cookbooks on imamother when there is a problem to copy and distribute parts of a book IRL without author's consent..

anonymrs

Fri, May 04 2012, 7:20 am

imaima wrote:

Raisin wrote:

chanamiriam wrote:

I wonder if the cookbooks mind? After all, when I see people constantly referancing S&S or KBD I might start thinking maybe I should buy it, it must be a good cookbook.

I always wondered,how is it halachically permittable to share recipes from cookbooks on imamother when there is a problem to copy and distribute parts of a book IRL without author's consent..

Recipes can not be copyrighted, only the instructions part should not be shared word for word.

sarahd

Fri, May 04 2012, 9:06 am

americangirl wrote:

You are probably nicer than I, but I would have said something like, "Wow, this is great, can I have the recipe for the dessert?", or "Wow, where did you get the recipe for this?", just to see how she'd react.

americangirl

Sun, May 06 2012, 7:13 pm

sunny90 wrote:

americangirl wrote:

This may not be in the spirit of the thread, but now I'm really curious as to what this dessert is!
Can I have the recipe? Wink

Certainly! No, I don't live in Israel, but I'm sure it's wonderful on any continent Smile

Apple "Thing" - we never knew what to call it, so it became Mom's Apple Thing.

2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter/margarine (2 sticks)
2 beaten egg yolks - reserve the whites for later use
6 cups peeled, quartered and thinly sliced Granny Smith apples
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
lightly beaten egg white - the leftovers from the yolks above

Combine first set of dry ingredients. Cut in butter/margarine then stir in egg yolks. Work together with your fingers to make a soft dough. Wrap well and refrigerate an hour or two or twelve. I often do this part Thursday night and refrigerate the dough until Friday.

Peel, quarter and thinly slice apples. (I use the slicing side of a box grater to slice them, that gets them nice and thin). Combine apples with second set of dry ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Press 1/2 of dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 x 13 baking dish - I like to use Pyrex. However, this also works beautifully in a tart pan with removable bottom and I sometimes do it that way, in the interest of presentation. Arrange apples over dough. Using remaining dough, form flat little 'pancakes' of dough, and arrange them over the top of the apples, covering as much apple as possible. Don't worry about getting every little spot.

Using a pastry brush, or your (clean) fingers, which gets it done more easily, brush egg white over the entire top of the dough. You'll be able to sort of smear the little pancakes together once they're moistened with the egg white to get more complete coverage over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees. I'm sorry, I don't know how long, maybe 45 minutes or so(?) but it's until the apples are very, very, very bubbly and the dough is a rich golden brown. I just do it by how it looks, I don't time it, sorry!! Seriously, the apples should be like apple sauce. If they are undercooked, its not nearly as good. Serve warm.

Eat.

americangirl

Sun, May 06 2012, 7:41 pm

sarahd wrote:

americangirl wrote:

Ha! That would have been great, right?! I'm one of those who think of the zinger comebacks a little too late Confused

Fabulous

Mon, May 28 2012, 9:41 pm

americangirl wrote:

Just wanted to tell you thanks so much! I made it on y't and it was a hit!!! Just one question, it didn't turn into a soft dough, no matter how I much I worked it (which I figured wasn't a good thing to continue, so I stopped) . It was a bit crumbly but still oh so yum!!! What do you think I did wrong? it didn't seem like it had enough liquid to make a real dough with just the two egg yolks.