A day in the life of a recipe tester

Cookbook authors rely on recipe testers to make sure that what they are developing for the books will work in the kitchens of the target audience. Sometimes they will ask friends and relatives to do the testing, but much of the time a professional recipe tester is enlisted to ensure accuracy and thoroughness. If you think that sounds like a dream job, you will enjoy the article in The San Francisco Chronicele about a day in the life of a professional recipe tester. 

The recipe tester in question is Yewande Komolafe, who worked in restaurant kitchens including NYC’s Milk Bar prior to starting her own business. Komolafe specializes in testing cookbook recipes, although she also does some recipe development for magazines and food companies. Komolafe came into the business in a somewhat roundabout way, but you could say the job is in her blood. Her mother worked for the chocolate giant Cadbury as a research and development manager. 

Komolafe approaches the job through the lens of the goal that she wants to accomplish, saying that “to me, the goal of a recipe is to take a creative idea and replicate it out in the world. You know? To do that effectively, there has to be a set of instructions and directions that one, people can understand when they read, and two, can be consistent regardless of who makes it.” Read more about how Komolafe approaches her job at the SF Chronicle website.