How to make a family cookbook

The method

1. Gather the recipes

   Start by collecting, not organising. Photograph the handwritten cards. Screenshot the ones in a family chat. Write down the dish a parent makes from memory, even roughly — you can fix the amounts later. The goal of this step is only to get everything into one place.

2. Get them into a clean, editable form

   A photo or a screenshot is not yet a recipe you can lay out. Mise reads each one — handwriting, a webpage, plain text — into a structured recipe with separate ingredients and steps, so you are editing a real recipe rather than retyping a card. Nothing is invented; you review every line.

   

3. Choose a look that fits the food

   A book of weeknight family meals wants a different feel from a book of a grandmother's baking. Pick a template that matches — a warm, letter-like Maison, a fresh photo-forward Verdant, or a structured Column — and keep it consistent across the book.

   

4. Add the parts that make it yours

   A title and an author line on the cover. A dedication page. A photo of the person the recipe came from. These are what turn a stack of recipes into a book that could only belong to your family.

5. Print a real hardcover

   When it is ready, Mise prints a case-bound hardcover at 300 DPI and ships it — starting at $39. Order one for each sibling and one for the person who taught you.