Recipes use a bossy writing style:

— Whisk eggs
— Fold in cheese

Cookbooks are basically barking orders at you!

This specialized form strips away all the unnecessary words, dropping subjects, articles, and even objects.

But recipes weren't always this efficient. Medieval recipes were as vague as "Boil until it be enough."

Learn more about the history of recipe writing in this week's podcast:

WATCH: https://youtu.be/SKnAJUpbE50
READ: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/transcripts/grammar-girl/1188/
LISTEN: https://pod.link/173429229