Skip to content

Recipe Lifecycle

The Kester Family Cookbook is curated, not collected. Recipes move through a lifecycle before they become permanent family recipes.

Architecture 1.1 recognizes that AnyList is part of the cooking workflow, not merely an export destination. GitHub remains the source of truth, the website is the published reference, and AnyList is the kitchen cooking copy.

Statuses

Draft

A draft recipe is an idea worth trying. It may come from a weekly rotation, family request, remembered meal, cookbook, website, or restaurant inspiration.

Draft recipes may be incomplete. They should not be treated as permanent family recipes yet.

Testing

A testing recipe has been cooked by the family, is scheduled for a rotation, or is being prepared for cooking from AnyList.

Testing recipes should collect practical notes:

  • What worked?
  • What did not work?
  • Was the effort appropriate for the result?
  • Would we cook it again?
  • Does it create useful leftovers or work boxes?
  • Did the recipe work well when cooked from AnyList?
  • What should change next time?

Approved

An approved recipe has earned a place in the family cookbook.

A recipe may be approved when it is reliable, useful, reflects how the family actually cooks, and has been proven practical in the format used in the kitchen.

Archived

An archived recipe is kept for recordkeeping but is no longer part of the active cookbook.

Archive a recipe when it was not worth repeating, was replaced by a better version, or no longer fits how the family cooks.

Practical Workflow

Recipes usually move through this path:

Draft
  ↓
Testing
  ↓
Published to cookbook website
  ↓
Imported into AnyList
  ↓
Cooked from AnyList
  ↓
Revised if needed
  ↓
Approved

Do not add published or cooked-from-anylist as recipe statuses. Track those as milestones in metadata and cooking notes.

Promotion Rules

A recipe should move from testing to approved only when it passes these checks:

  • The family would willingly eat it again.
  • The instructions reflect what actually happened in the kitchen.
  • The ingredient list is practical and specific.
  • The recipe has a clear role in the rotation.
  • The recipe has notes for leftovers, work boxes, or why it does not produce them.
  • The recipe has a short explanation of why it belongs.
  • The recipe has been cooked successfully from the version the family will actually use, preferably AnyList.

Editorial Principle

A recipe does not become permanent because it was cooked once. It becomes permanent because it earned a useful place in the Kester family rotation and works in the family's real cooking tools.