"Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon 08 Aug 2005 08:57:00p, Alexis wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
>> I have some recipes that I won't share, at least not now. We have
>> frequent potluck luncheons at work, and I have developed several
>> 'signature' dishes that I like to bring -- a few desserts, a few
>> entrees, and a special salad dressing. Additionally, I do small
>> catering jobs during the summer and holidays to make ends meet. The
>> *vast* majority of what I cook I'll happily share, in fact, I've
>> organized staff cookbook projects since we have *so* many excellent
>> cooks in our building. But those dishes that are the, "oh, Alex is
>> bringing her _____? Yay!" dishes? Nope, those are mine. None of them
>> are overly difficult to make, but they're signature dishes. I have
>> them written down, and if I die suddenly, they'll go to a friend of
>> mine as part of my personal cookbook, but until then, I'd rather not
>> have everyone and their brother-in-law making them. Most of the casual
>> cooks I know have at least one, if not several, of these recipes that
>> they don't share, and it's never once bothered me when I've asked for a
>> recipe and they've said, "sorry, not that one."
>>
>> Alexis.
>
> You have your reasons, of course, but I don't have any such reasons. I
> will gladly share any recipe I have. Truth be told, most people who would
> try to duplicate my recipes will not have identical results, due mainly to
> cooking technique or the inability to "taste and adjust". I have even
> been
> accused of not giving someone the correct recipe a couple times, but that
> wasn't the case.
>
> --
> Wayne Boatwright *¿*

The things I cook most often, I don't even have recipes for, I just cook
'em. And some things, like soup, I just wing it with whatever I've got on
hand. But if somebody really wanted one of my recipes, I could at least give
out ingredients and a general idea of how it's done.

I can see why the restaurant owner didn't want to give out his recipe while
he had the restaurant, but after he went out of business, and he had no kids
to pass the recipe down to, it probably just vanished.