Alternative preparation

[norm]

I have some recipes for sodas that can be prepared in multiple ways — by brewing, mixing with seltzer water, carbonating with a syphon, or mixing with spirits to make a cocktail. The ingredients and preparation of the syrup are the same, just the final step(s).

While I can store them as separate recipes, would Dr Syntax be open to representing alternative steps?

[jaylett]

Isn't the outcome different? In which case, they're different recipes. I would support some kind of linking between recipes, although I'm not entirely sure how.

I haven't bothered Dr. Syntax with this because I don't know what it would look like in practice. I'm worried it starts making it very hard for someone else to implement consistently, and that you're basically inventing the food equivalent of fetch.

[norm]

It’s more that there are different ways to introduce carbonation depending on time and equipment (and cocktails).

The syrup is the real heart of the recipe. I suppose the last step could be “carbonate as desired”. But just trying to find examples that are … hard.

[jaylett]

I'm more of the opinion that hard examples can be catered for by narrative, and the semantics of the format should cover the majority of uses.

I'm not sure we've seriously contemplated complexity of a single recipe, so much as complexity of a meal. I'd suggest that something like peppercorn sauce, which has precursors, is going to be the most awkward. (Do you reference the precursor as a separate recipe, which increases rendering/use complexity, or do you include it with awkward narrative such as "you can freeze this" / "this will keep for up to 7 days in the fridge" / "this keeps forever but your cat will eat it".)