Kitchenlore

Product

A real cookbook, made from the box in the cupboard.

Kitchenlore reads the cards, hears the memos and sorts the group chat, then gives you back a family book: every recipe structured, illustrated and still in the words of the person who cooked it.

Start the book →Rescue a recipe now, no sign up
Ink and watercolor drawing of an open family cookbook with a ribbon

i. The page

What every recipe becomes.

One recipe, one spread. Here is Nana Ruth’s molasses crinkle card, read by Kitchenlore and set as it appears in the book.

  1. 01

    The recipe, structured

    Ingredients with the amount set apart from the item, exactly as written (3/4 c., a fistful, two glugs). Numbered steps in the writer's own wording. Times and servings when the source gives them, and nothing when it does not.

  2. 02

    In their words

    The asides that make a card hers: “Don't flatten!”, “Better the 2nd day.” Quoted exactly, checked word for word against the original, set in a hand beside the method.

  3. 03

    The original, kept

    The photo of the card, the voice memo and its full transcript stay attached to the recipe forever. Anyone in the family can go back to the source.

  4. 04

    An illustration

    Every recipe gets an ink and watercolor spot drawing in one consistent hand. Free books draw from our library; Keeper and Heirloom get a new drawing for each recipe.

  5. 05

    Honest gaps

    A smudge, a coffee ring or a mumbled word is marked [hard to read] right where it sits. The family can fill it from memory, and each fill is signed with a name.

From the box

Nana Ruth's molasses crinkles, blue ink, a coffee ring over the spices.

Read from a phone photo

Sweets

from Ruth

Molasses Crinkles

Cook 10 to 12 min

Ingredients

  • 3/4 c.shortening
  • 1 c.brown sugar
  • 1egg
  • 1/4 c.molasses
  • 2 1/4 c.flour
  • 2 tsp.soda
  • 1/2 tsp.salt
  • 1 tsp.cinnamon
  • 1 tsp.ginger
  • [hard to read]cloves

Method

  1. 01Mix all.
  2. 02Chill 1 hr.
  3. 03Roll in balls the size of walnuts, dip tops in sugar. Don't flatten!
  4. 04375° for 10 to 12 min.
  5. 05Take out when they still look soft.

[hard to read] One spot we could not read with confidence: ingredient 10, amount. Kitchenlore leaves it for the family to fill, never a guess.

ii. The book

The family book.

Recipes gather into a book, sorted into chapters the way a cookbook is: Mains, Sweets, Festival food, Breads, Soups, Sides, Drinks and Basics. Kitchenlore suggests a chapter for every recipe and notes who it came from, so the book also becomes a record of the people who cooked.

The book reads like a book on a phone, a laptop or a kitchen tablet propped against the flour tin. Every recipe keeps its source one step away: the card photo, the memo, the pasted text, exactly as they arrived.

Ink and watercolor drawing of a braided cardamom loaf

iii. Sharing

Shared by invitation, never by default.

Every book is private until you invite someone. Invitations are per book and come in two roles. You can change a role or remove anyone at any time.

Role · View

Read the book

  • Read every recipe and its original
  • Listen to the memos
  • Download the reading PDF

Role · Contribute

Add to the book

  • Everything a viewer can do
  • Add cards, memos and pasted recipes
  • Fill [hard to read] spots, signed with their name

iv. Print

The print edition.

Every plan exports a reading PDF and Markdown. Heirloom adds the print-ready edition: a 6 by 9 inch interior with bleed, set in the same serif, with a title page, contents, chapter openers and the same illustrations. Upload it to any print-on-demand service and order copies for every cousin.

The print edition keeps the honest marks. A spot nobody could fill still prints as [hard to read], because the book should show what the card said, not what we wished it said.

v. Plans

Three plans, in USD.

  • Free Start the book.$0 forever
  • Keeper For the one who keeps the recipes.$9 a month or $90 a year
  • Heirloom For the book that gets printed.$19 a month or $190 a year

Compare the plans

See it on your own card before you sign up.

Rescue a recipe →How it works