Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components:

• The name (and often the locale or provenance) of the dish,
• How much time it will take to prepare the dish
• The required ingredients along with their quantities or proportions
• Equipment and environment needed to prepare the dish
• An ordered list of preparation steps
• The number of servings that the recipe will provide

Some recipes will note how long the dish will keep and its suitability for freezing.

Earlier recipes often included much less information, serving more as a reminder of ingredients and proportions for someone who already knew how to prepare the dish.

Recipe writers sometimes also list variations of a traditional dish.

Etymology

"Recipe" comes from the Latin word recipe 'take (imperative)', that is, an instruction to have the ingredients ready, originally used in doctors' orders to pharmacists.

History of the recipe

The earliest known recipes date from approximately 1600 BCE and come from an Akkadian tablet from southern Babylonia.

The ancient Egyptians painted hieroglyphics depicting the preparation of food.

Many ancient Greek recipes are known. Mithaecus's cookbook was an early one, but most of it has been lost; Athenaeus quotes one short recipe in his Deipnosophistae. Athenaeus mentions many other cookbooks, all of them lost.Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, 2003. ISBN 0415232597 p. 97-98.

Roman recipes are known starting in the 2nd century BCE with Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura. Many other authors of this period described eastern Mediterranean cooking in Greek and in Latin.

Some Punic recipes are known in Greek and Latin translation.

Much later, in the 4th or 5th century CE, appears the large collection of recipes conventionally entitled 'Apicius', the only more or less complete surviving cookbook from the classical world. It chronicles the courses served which are usually referred to as Gustatio (appetizer), Primae Mensae (main course) and Secundae Mensae (dessert). The Romans introduced many herbs and spices into western cuisine, Renfrew states that thyme, bay, basil, fennel, rue, mint, parsley and dill were all common in Roman cooking.

Arabic recipes are documented starting in the 10th century; see al-Warraq and al-Baghdadi.

King Richard II of England commissioned a recipe book called ‘Forme of Cury' in 1390, around the same time another book was published entitled ‘Curye on Inglish'. Both books give an impression of how food was prepared and served in the noble classes of England at that time. The revival of the European class system at this time brought entertainment back to the palaces and homes of the nobility and along with it the start of what can be called the modern recipe book. By the 1400s, numerous manuscripts were appearing, detailing the recipes of the day. Many of these such as the Harleian MS 279, Harleian MS 4016, Ashmole MS 1429, Laud MS 553 and Dure MS 55 give very good information and record the re-discovery of many herbs and spices including coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary, many of which had been brought back from the Crusades.