What Makes a Recipe Work? With Recipe Tester Laura Manzano

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What makes a recipe work — and when is an extra step actually worth the effort? This week, I’m joined by Laura Manzano, the recipe tester behind my forthcoming cookbook, Not From Concentrate. Laura grew up working in her dad’s restaurants, honed her skills in the Martha Stewart test kitchens, and built a freelance career helping cookbook authors make their recipes clearer, more reliable, and better suited to the people cooking them. We go behind the scenes of my cookbook to talk about what recipe testing actually involves, why fewer dishes matter, and the challenge of writing recipes for people who love food but don’t have unlimited time or attention. We also compare notes on working with…