A headnote is the paragraph after the title of the recipe and before the ingredient list starts. It can be as little as one sentence or as much as a few paragraphs. I think the best headnotes strike a balance somewhere in between. Headnotes can be quirky, fun, personal, instructional, or even mostly be a quote--for example if you have taken down someone else's recipe and are just recounting what they have said. You can also make the headnote into a tiny article with some narrative and a quote if it serves your purpose well.
To recap: there are several reasons to write a headnote:
1) You are telling a little story or history about the dish or the person who prepared it
2) It is a good place for substitutions suggestions or general uses: "Basic chicken stock is great, not just for soup, but for sauces and stews. I also use it instead of water to make a flavorful rice."
3) The headnote is a good place to put in the "mundane" details like prep time suggestions or buying suggestions "You'll want to make this stew 1 day ahead for best flavor" or "the curry leaves, tamarind, and asfoetida may all be found in an Indian market. I like Kalustyan's in New York."
Read as many headnotes as you can...try and dissect them. What is that little paragraph doing? How much info did you get out of those few lines? Enough? Did you want more? Did it give you the details you felt you needed or wanted to be successful at the recipe?
Can you think of other reasons you'd write a headnote?
Can you post headnotes you've read and loved here?
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I'm a fan of Ina Garten's approach and I like the headnotes in "Barefoot in Paris". They all sound as though it's her talking, which makes the book feel interactive.
ReplyDeleteHere is an example from her Lemon Chicken with Croutons recipe:
"I don't know how authentically French this is, but a friend made it for us in Provence and to me it's the essence of French country cooking. A simple roast chicken is sliced onto a bed of warm croutons so they soak up all those delicious juices. How good is that? In Paris I use Poilane bread for the croutons, but you can use any flavorful French bread."