Always wanted to capture for posterity those much treasured recipes handed down from one generation to the next in your family, or create your own recipe book? Prize-winning cookbook author Liz Harfull is presenting a special workshop in Adelaide on Saturday, June 16, 2012 to share her skills in art of recipe writing. Part of the SA Writer’s Centre regular workshop program, the afternoon session will reveal the steps you need to take to write recipes that are easy to follow and help the people who use them to achieve a successful result.

The workshop will give Liz an opportunity to share some of the insights she gained while researching and writing The Blue Ribbon Cookbook (Wakefield Press 2008), which captured the stories, recipes and secret tips of prize-winning country show cooks from across South Australia. A best-seller now in its fourth print run, the book was runner-up in the Best Easy Recipe Book category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris in 2009 and short-listed in the World Food Media Awards in 2010.

Since the book came out Liz has been on a quest to encourage people to record favourite recipes within their families before the memory is lost. “I have had lots of lovely feedback from readers that the book has inspired them to realise the importance of making sure someone in the family learns how to make recipes that have been handed down through previous generations,” she said.

“I have my own sad story of a family recipe which an uncle used to make for us every week, and none of us actually took the time to sit down with him and not only write the recipe down, but ask all those important questions about technique that are usually not committed on paper. Realising the same thing was happening with the traditions of show cooking was one of the things that inspired me to write the book in the first place. And I soon discovered that writing recipes that draw in the reader and give them confidence to cook is not as simple as you might expect, especially if you are doing a whole book and want people to have the confidence to try another one.”

The workshop will be held from 2pm to 5pm at the SA Writers Centre, Rundle Street, Adelaide on Saturday June 16, 2012. Bookings are essential and places are limited. Cost: Members $55, non-members $77. For more information go to www.sawc.org.au or phone 08 8223 7662.