How to Leave a Recipe Review

There are quite a bit of cooking websites on the internet. More often than not every recipe on one of these cooking websites has an area where the reader can write a review of the recipe. Unfortunately not everyone knows how to use the review section appropriately. There are only a few steps that are needed to write a pleasant, expressive and constructive review.

After you've found a recipe you would like to try and review, always read through the ingredients and directions thoroughly. Confirm that you have all the ingredients and you have all the necessary tools to follow the directions. There are some who change the recipe by altering the main ingredients and/or the directions and then leave a low rating based on their changes. This low-rating review is not a fair assessment since they didn't follow the recipe as the recipe creator intended. However, there are many people who will add a spice, vegetable, fruit, etc. to enhance the recipe to suit their family's taste but it won't alter the end result because they're not altering the main ingredients. More times than not, these people will write in their review that they added these extra ingredients. Doing this made them enjoy the recipe that much more and they leave a great review.

After verifying that you have all the ingredients and tools it is time to make the recipe. Many times there are comments left in the review section stating,"This looks really good; I can't wait to try it" or "I'm going to make this for my family this weekend". Reviews like that are just opinions on what the recipe looks like in the mind of the reader, a picture online or on the television. These are not opinions based on the taste and direction of the recipe. It's wonderful for the creator of the recipe to see that people want to make their dish but it's even better when it's actually been made and then reviewed.

Another example of a review that isn't very helpful to either the recipe creator or others who are looking at the reviews is just simply stating "This recipe is too high in fat" or "The carbohydrate amount is way too high for me since I'm a diabetic". Any cook looking at a recipe can see if the recipe is high in fat, carbohydrates, protein, etc. especially if the nutritional information is provided. This, again, is not giving a review on the recipe. All this review is doing is suggesting that the recipe isn't worth making based on their opinion of the nutritional information. Everyone isn't going to agree that just because a recipe isn't the most nutritious it isn't worth making. Not everyone is watching their fat or caloric intake. There is no reason to insult a recipe based on ingredients that some are not allowed to have because of diet restrictions. There are plenty of cooking websites on the internet that cater to individual needs.

After having cooked the food according to the recipe and ate the creation, it's time to write the review. Leaving a good review is easy. Normally, stars are used to show how much a recipe was enjoyed. However, writing what was enjoyed the most about the taste makes the review that much better. Leaving comments on how easy the directions were to follow is also a nice compliment.

On the other hand, leaving a review on a recipe that you didn't enjoy is not so easy. The worst thing you can do is simply state "This was disgusting" or "I would never make this again". Having constructive criticism not only helps the creator of the recipe but it also helps those who read the reviews to decide whether they want to try the recipe themselves. For example, I've come across recipes that the majority of the reviewers enjoyed the recipe but it asked for too much salt. Some even suggested in their reviews to cut the amount in half or to only use a quarter of the amount. These are helpful reviews. Those that do not leave productive criticism leave the reviewer hanging as to not knowing what could be changed to make it better. Sometimes it may take a review to make the creator realize they made a typographical error and they can fix it.

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to leaving reviews but it's also best not to be disparaging when you do it. Behind every recipe is a creator who put his or her heart and soul into it.