Editorial Standards

This document defines the editorial policies for the Kester Family Cookbook.

It complements the supporting documents:

• Recipe Template — the canonical recipe structure.
• Recipe Style Guide — how recipes are written.
• Metadata Reference — what every metadata field means.
• Family Preferences — how the Kester family actually cooks.

Editorial Mission

The cookbook exists to preserve recipes the Kester family actually cooks and enjoys, not to recreate generic cookbook recipes.

Core Principles

1. Favor improving existing recipes over adding new ones.
2. Record how the family actually cooks.
3. Design recipes for repeatability.
4. Consider work-box meals and planned transformations during recipe development.
5. Keep recipes compatible with GitHub, MkDocs, and AnyList.

Recipe Lifecycle

Recipes progress through four stages:

• Draft
• Testing
• Approved
• Archived

Only Approved recipes represent the permanent cookbook.

Revision Policy

• Increment the recipe version for meaningful cooking changes.
• Record significant changes in the recipe's Revision Notes.
• Keep the version in YAML and the visible description synchronized.

Documentation Hierarchy

When making editorial decisions, consult documents in this order:

1. Family Preferences
2. Editorial Standards
3. Recipe Style Guide
4. Metadata Reference
5. Recipe Template

Long-Term Goal

The cookbook should become a curated family reference where every permanent recipe has been cooked, tested, refined, and intentionally preserved.