i make these chocolate cake sandwich cookies- filled with mint ganache...i've been asked for the recipe more than once. for friends- i give it up- almost.

i always leave out my secret ingredient (it's a spice)...and they know it. they always tell me it just doesn't taste the same as mine...i just tell them the ingredient is "love".

I have secret ingredients/techniques for some items. Some past down to me some my own . . . i just omit them when someone asks for a recipe.

If they inquire why their version isn't the same as mine I just smile.

I have a recipe for Orange Rolls that I don't share because I made my living by making and selling them. I have given the recipe to a select trusted few with the promise not to share until I die or stop selling them.

My grandmother made the most amazing no-bake cheesecake. When she died we were all afraid the recipe had too, until my sister found it in Grandma's Bible. But, she refuses to share it. I've even been in the kitchen when she made it and she went so far as to cover all the measuring cups with paper so I couldn't see the amounts of the ingredients!

No, I don't have secret recipes. Knowledge should be freely shared, so when asked, I always offer up the original recipe and whatever changes I've made.

I still distinctly remember the mother of a high school friend of mine who made an absolutely heavenly Chocolate Cheesecake. She made it for me for my birthday at my request, but refused, despite being asked numerous times to give me the recipe. I always felt it was horribly rude. They eventually moved away and I've never tasted that cheesecake again. I wouldn't say I'm scarred by it, but every now and then I remember how good it was and wish I could recreate it.

I don't get it. I never have. You want one of my recipes? I will tell you exactly how to make it. Doesn't come out right? We will talk about it and figure it out.

You give me a partial recipe? Better hope you never need transit directions. I will send you off on the G train.

I don't know that I have "secret recipes" so much as sometimes I get a little fiddly with recipes and don't follow them exactly, but if asked for the recipe I don't necessarily attempt to convey all my little tweaks, especially if it's over email. So...secret or just lazy? :-P

Haha @cmcinnyc! I'm all for sharing, but I do have a secret Christmas cookie recipe from my German mother in law that we've agreed not to share simply because we give them as gifts. If everyone made them, it wouldn't be as special or so well received.

I hate secret recipes. Why wouldn't someone want to share something that they make and someone liked enough to ask for the recipe. It actually is a huge pet peeve of mine. It just seems so selfish and smug. The only reason I can see for not sharing is so that you can be a "better" cook than someone else. Either you like to feed people or you like to show off and receive praise - they're not mutually exclusive but you'll still be a good cook if you share.

The secret of any recipe is when and how to add an ingredient. Not just how much to add. Thats when someone follows a recipe and it does not turn out same feels that a secret ingredient is present and not disclosed. Ofcourse, secret ingredients are fun to keep and feel good. A tiny pinch of cardamom and garam masala tastes great in many deserts.

I do for sure. Many secret recipes! All of the really good ones come from my Mum, and there are a few that I add my own twist to. She makes phenomenal scones, always fluffy and flakey! (secret is.... Self Rising Flour!) but when we make savoury ones she just adds cheese to them. I've gotten into the habit of adding fresh green onion and thyme to mine along with the cheese. I think I MAY have trumped her scones, but her's will ALWAYS taste better to me.

Having secret recipes has always seemed silly and childish to me.

That being said, if you give someone a recipe but omit your "secret" ingredient or technique, you should be ashamed of yourself. If you don't want them to have, just don't give them the recipe at all. Intentionally misleading someone is cruel and pointless.

I can see that if you are trying to make a living based on a particular recipe, then you obviously don't want others to be able to make it, but if you're just a home cook, I really don't get it. I'm totally with @cmcinnyc.

What if the person you share the recipe with makes their own tweak? I love talking about recipes and if they came out differently and why. Maybe the other person's tweak makes the original secret recipe even better!

I also would be curious to know how old the people are that are commenting here that are pro secret vs. anti secret. I'm anti myself (obviously) and 29.

Maybe not secret, but a trusted family recipe - my great-great-grandmother's marshmallow pie, passed down to my mother from her mother-in-law (mom was the only one interested in learning the recipe). My mom happily shares it, along with her best tips and tricks that she has learned along the way, with family and close friends. My sister and I have both learned the recipe as well, but it is something I'd never publish on the internet or give to just anyone. It is a beloved recipe and holiday tradition, so anyone I cook the pie for or give the recipe to is someone dear to my heart.

You secret ingredient hoarders are a mean and deceitful bunch! Especially when you pass on your recipe (what a good friend) and leave out THE ingredient (what a jerk). Food and recipes are meant to be shared.

I'm anti-secret, in most cases, and 30. However, many of my recipes would be difficult to replicate, because even I don't know the amounts. For many of my dishes I just add a sprinkle or two, or a pinch of something, or add to taste if it's something you can taste as you go. I'm fine with sharing my recipes, but I've had people frustrated with my measurements. In fact many of my cooking recipes (as opposed to baking) have no measurements at all, I can just picture the amount I need, but have no idea how much that is in cups or teaspoons.

Sorry, this just irks me. Sabotaging recipes so "good friends" can't make it come out right? Seriously?

There must be almost no technique or subtlety to these dishes if giving people the full recipe would allow them to recreate it exactly as you do.

Are people coming over just for your secret food? I doubt it. That would be sad. Are they running out and marketing and selling your recipe? Probably not. Are they taking praise for the recipe when they themselves got it from someone else? Isn't that what you're doing?

A friend makes her own hot sauce and refuses to give me the recipe. It really annoys me! I don't want to steal her thunder. It would always be "Erin's hot sauce." I just really like it and want to eat it more. She doesn't make it often enough or give me enough when she does. I just want to make it myself so I have it when i want! I don't get it.

lol. sabotaging friends? it's a cookie. not the secret to eternal youth.

they know somethings missing. when i say "love"- it's meant to be sarcastic- and that's how they receive it. they all know something is missing.

as someone said "If everyone made them, it wouldn't be as special or so well received"....pretty much.

Exactly. It's a cookie. It's not that big of a deal. That was my argument.

I don't ever have secrets in the kitchen. When a friend wants a recipe I give them everything. I love being able to share.

As it stands I have several recipes that I keep in evernote as a work in progress. When I get it to a decent point, I often "release" the recipe to my friends. So far I've managed to share not only food recipes, but dish soap and laundry soap recipes.

I'm 22 and anti-secret recipe. Food is meant to bring people together and holding people away from "your" recipes is silly. However, I do understand not sharing a recipe you're making commercially. That's a livelihood.

I'm one of the anti-secret people, and my strongest reason for sharing is that even with the exact same recipe, two different cooks' dishes often turn out differently, just because of how they cook and under what conditions. My mother and my aunt grew up with the same food/recipes, yet their cooking (particularly cookies and brownies) couldn't be more different. I'm confident in my own abilities as a cook; if someone else likes something I've made for them, I'd be glad to pass on the recipe.

Also, I come from an anti-secret family when it comes to the kitchen. I guess if we had a family recipe that other members of my family had struggled to keep confidential, I might think twice about sharing. Maybe.

I'm an open book when it comes to recipes! I'd be so frustrated if someone refused to give me a recipe or left out a key ingredient. It seems really silly, especially when asking for the recipe is really a compliment!

I have some recipes with secret ingredients/techniques. Unless a person is genuinely interested in why/how I do this to a recipe, I'll not tell. The person may be starting out to learn a recipe and unless he has the basic technique down, changing it won't make it better. Sometimes I like a person to experiment herself so I'll not tell how I do it because she could come up with something I can learn from. Other times I'll not tell because he might think the recipe is too complicated and not even try. Or take onions, my so called husband says he hates onions but he'll compliment me on something I've cooked with onions sneaked in. Some people ask because they really want to tell YOU how THEY do it and aren't really interested in my secret ingredient anyway.

I'm glad to share my recipes as most of them come from publications or known methods of cooking. I've modified well-known chefs/bakers recipes because sometimes I like things a little lighter/less sweet, etc or I don't always have the right ingredients. Sharing and experimenting are some reasons why I love to cook and bake for family and friends.

Like others have said, it's not just having the right ingredients but the right techniques and patience. Cooking is part instinctual and shouldn't be rushed or thrown together to turn out well. I learned most things from my dear dad who can no longer cook but I've learned many on my own and from reading.

I'm horrified to read that some people are THAT protective of their super secret special recipes. It is a joy to share a cherished recipe with someone I love so that they can make it for someone that they love. My recipe book is made up of Ian's mom's pizza dough, Oma's soup, Grandma's yoyos, my best friend Steph's ginger cookies. Steph often makes my mother-in-law's meat sauce. Sharing doesn't take anything away from a recipe - it improves it by multiplying the happiness it brings.

i only have secret recipes because i sell my product.

i've shared it with my sister, with strict instructions to either not share them, or alter the recipe if she's feeling pressured.

My grandmother doesn't keep her recipes a secret, per say, but makes it very difficult to do it exactly like she does. The first time I asked for the recipe for her famous chocolate chip cookies, she gave me a list of ingredients - no quantities, no directions - and just said "make that into cookies." I've pried a few more details out of her, but she obviously doesn't want me to know everything she does.

But I'm trying! And documenting it. My aunt printed off my blog post about my first attempt and showed it to my Gram, who seemed to think it was pretty funny ... But still hasn't given up that recipe. http://bowenappetit.com/2011/05/06/perfecting-grams-chocolate-chip-cookies-part-i/

I don't have any and my mother doesn't either.

My grandmother didn't even have secret recipes. She put them all in her local women's club chapter's cookbook. I am so glad that she did because her recipes didn't die with her.

I always feel really happy and flattered when someone wants one of my recipes. Recipes have a life of their own and carry with them a rich history of being made, given, enjoyed, horribly messing up and laughing....so when I give someone a recipe, I like to think I'm letting it fly free to go forth and multiply and make other people happy. Why would you want to hoard it? Most things are better when they are shared.

That said, I have a horrible time getting recipes from my mom (for cooking, not baking), who, like me, rarely measures and doesn't have most of my favorites written down, and feels that measurements like "some", "a little bit", "I don't know, 350-375ish?", and "bake it until its done" are adequate instruction.

Never understood the whole idea of not sharing a recipe. Luckily, my friends and family do not subscribe to this silly and dated notion.

I'll never understood why people just don't want others to enjoy something wonderful? I believe they must have some serious insecurity & ego issue when someone deliberately sabotages someone by leaving out certain information (amounts, details, ingredients) almost to sabotage anyone attempting to recreate their recipes. This is deceptive and wrong. When you purchase a cookbook and pay for a recipe it should be tested and give full disclosure "all the important facts" not just bits and pieces that could easily mislead you astray. One if the biggest secrets I found is knowing which manufactures to use when making something. I prefer fresh spices, use extra pure extracts and zest to almost everything. Another issue is techniques as each product and technique offers different results thus taste different. Something simple as refrigerating it overnight makes a difference. I'm constantly experimenting with recipes because people play games. I agree with Ben it's intentionally misleading, cruel and pointless so why do it.

There's only a few recipes- family holiday ones in particular- or any of my cake/frosting recipes I made myself- I don't share. I'll point friends to a similar recipe that will yield good results, but part of the appeal of being a great baker or cook is making something people will crave and die to know how to make. Every cook needs their own little secrets.

Wasn't it Kung Fu Panda where the secret to the father's special noodle recipe was just people's belief that it was special? Same ancient Chinese secret applies here.

Definitely anti-secret recipe. I'm flattered when someone wants to try and recreate something I've made, and will hand out the recipe and instructions that are as precise as possible if they want to try to duplicate it. And you know what? They rarely ever actually do, and certainly my dinner parties and baked good creations have become no less popular because of it. Unless you're a chef making a living from your dish, refusing to give out a recipe is just petty and churlish, especially when said recipe is just something you (or your mother or grandmother) cut out of a newspaper and not something you came up with yourself. (This actually happened to my mother, who asked her neighbor for the recipe for a dish the neighbor served - neighbor said it was a secret, mom googled the ingredients and found the recipe online - from the newspaper in the city the neighbor lived in previously).

I would add, however, that I would never ask a friend for a recipe and then make that same recipe at a party to which that friend was invited, or pass it off as "mine."

My family has secret recipes. They are passes from mother to child. It would be disrespectful to my family to share those recipes. I don't give our partial recipes to fool people who ask, I just explain that it is a family recipe and I can't give in to them. I willingly and happily share any other recipes but not secret family recipes. Who am I to break a family tradition that stretches back generations? I respect my family traditions and that is one of them. I'm 29 by the way.

I just reread some comments and it seems what a lot of people are hung up on is not sharing with the ones you love (i.e.- family) THAT is silly but that's not what anyone who has secret recipes is saying. If I ask my mom for any recipe she calls secret, she happily tells me. Friends too. The distinction for me is something like coworkers who just "oh, gimme your recipe. I want it" Nope, sorry. Its a family thing or its something I spent time developing and it feels taking advantage of to me to just have people demand it.

I'm known at work for my cakes. Do I think anyone else I work with, given my real recipes, could recreate it just to taste how I would? Probably not. But its something I spend my time and effort and money to create for others, and the specialness of it it lost once someone just wants the recipe so they can have it whenever.

I had a fantastic recipe for cheese dip that I always took to family functions. I finally shared with a relative who loved it. Every party after I shared it, guess what she brought? Now if I share a recipe I make the person swear to not make the dish if I'm going to be at the party.

I don't have any special recipe that would deserve to be kept secret. That's not exactly a compliment, I know.

What really annoys me is something totally opposite: when I stress a particular ingredient that's left out and obviously the results are not great. And they quote me, oh, you're tasting "Julia's cake". Dang.

Still, as long as it's not a trade secret (so to speak), I feel keeping a recipe secret, in this time and age... just no no.

I'm 25 and I'm all in for secret recipes and I obviously share them with my close family.

But I've noticed that the people that ask me the recipes are not always in the best terms, I feel they are sneaky and it just doesn't feel right. It looks like whenever I make a good meal for others, not friends but outsiders or people I don't know at all ask a million questions about the food, like they are trying to solve some mystery. It's so rude.

But I wouldn't left out an ingredient on purpose, that is plain rude. I opt to make them a batch or cook for them if they enjoy my food.

Yes and I'm not even going to tell you what it is! I used to share recipes freely, but then a co-worker made a recipe of mine and told everyone it was my recipe, but she'd substituted ingredients and it most certainly wasn't my recipe because her version of my baked good tasted like soap suds. Now, because I develop recipes for products that I sell, I don't even bother sharing. Family recipes with family and close friends, yes, otherwise I play it close to the vest now.

I'm flattered when I'm asked for recipes. Except for three exceptions, I always share. I once asked a future (horrible) SIL for a recipe, which she told me was a family secret she can't share with any outsiders. She the said to the two (equally horrible) SILs, who have been her best friends since kindergarten, and told them they are as good as her family and she will give them the recipe if they want it. The other two started gushing about how we're family blah-blah. They asked me for recipes on many occasions and finally got the hint after I kept telling them my recipes were all "family secrets."

The types of secrets in recipes from when I was growing up were the "save the juice from the canned..." to use in another part of the recipe. Sometimes I don't want to share how I make things because I'm afraid people will think it's weird. If it is someone with whom I feel comfortable, though, I'll tell them.

Then again, I don't have much that anyone wants to make that I didn't get from a cookbook or something.

Completely anti. I even tell people what changes or substitutions I've made. I don't get the point of keeping any part of a recipe secret, as long as you're not using it in business. (And frankly, even then, in some cases.)

In my family, there's only one recipe that we don't share with non-family members - my great-grandmother's shortbread recipe. Everyone in the family knows it (my sisters & I, cousins, etc) but if you're not family, you don't get the recipe. We don't share it because great-grandma didn't want people to and we're respecting her wishes.

That being said, there's lots of little quirks to the recipe that comes with making it with someone who's made it for years (and doesn't translate well to being written down, so it would be difficult for someone to recreate it anyways). And, we only make it at Christmas time, so if someone LOVES the recipe and really really wants it, we usually just give them an extra batch.

The only other thing that we don't share a "recipe" for is my Mom's potato salad. It truly is the best potato salad in the world, but we don't have a recipe for it - we just keep mixing everything in until it looks right, so it's really hard to know measurements. We'll all definitely tell people what's in it though.

I freely give recipes, but I always warn my friends that I don't always follow it. I may sub a different flour or nut, toss in a little something extra. I also know that my Neilsen Massey vanilla makes a different product than their grocery vanilla....ditto with cocoa and chocolate. I would never say no, it's a secret. I've never been good at keeping secrets. (I'm 47)

Oh, I love secret recipes! Some of my fondest memories are being in the kitchen with my mom, dad, or grandmother and being lovingly taught the one secret trick or ingredient that makes it their recipe. Most of those things probably aren't even that special or secret, but the idea of sharing something too sacred to cast about to anyone is part of what makes me love cooking so much. I can't wait for the chance to do the same for my children and nieces and nephews.

However, I would never intentionally omit an ingredient and pretend I had shared when I really hadn't. If someone asks, I say 'family secret', and leave it at that.

And I'm 31.

People always ask my mom for her recipes. Sadly for them (and me!), she doesn't go by any recipes. She gives out her methods and ingredients but, doesn't detail any quantities. She also manages to leave part of instructions out.

I've been baking for a while and while I do use and read recipes, I also add and sub a lot. I've made the same recipe countless times but, I don't think they've ever been alike. When people ask me for recipes, I direct them to a link but don't say what subs or adds I made. I think everyone has their own taste; while something you've made tasted good and you've added a "secret ingredient", everyone changes things up.

I'm 30, and I've sold baked goods for supplemental income in the past, and I still find the idea of a secret recipe to be kind of crazy. If I ask someone for the recipe for something, I expect them to take that as a compliment on their work and offer it freely. If someone asks me, even for an item that I sell, I give it to them. 9 times out of 10 they'll still buy it from me, either out of loyalty or because they don't want to do the work themselves.

I'm with the anti-secret recipe folks. That's partly because most of my recipes are from a cookbook or blog anyway, so if I played like they were secret it would just be silly. I love food and cooking, and it always feels great to me to pass on a recipe that I know someone will love.

Come on. Seriously. If it's a family recipe from Great-Great-Grandma Mary, I understand. But if it's a recipe that is not YOURS (meaning you didn't write it), then why with-hold information. I was taught good food was to be eaten, made and shared with friends, so sharing a recipe never hurt Tartelette or David Lebovitz! Tell your friend it is a recipe that's your bread-and-butter, and to PLEASE not sell it.
Food is meant to be shared with friends and family.

My family has had unintentionally secret recipes...my grandmother's pfeffernusse recipe was a "secret" for years and only she knew how to make them. Turns out the recipe she used was her mother's and it was written in Swiss German and she was the only one who could read it. Luckily she translated it for us before she passed away! I'm all for sharing recipes as long as it isn't part of your livelihood. I happily pass my recipes along and usually include a story about the person I learned it from!

I'm 26 years old and constantly asking people for their recipes, so I'm always ready to share all ingredients and methods when asked! My mom appreciates it but just like how my cooking doesn't always end up tasting like hers, when she tries my recipes, they don't always taste like when I make it.

One of my aunts is a great cook but doesn't like to share recipes. I think she is one of the secretive people. Once she overheard my cousin praising a dip I made for a party and asking for the recipe - and she butt in and said I shouldn't tell so I would have "My Secret Dish" to bring to parties! I get her point but I'd be so annoyed if it was kept from ME ;P

Ugh, I'd much rather someone keep their damn secret to themselves than to pretend to share while withholding a key ingredient or instructions. Even if done with a wink and a nod and a "the missing ingredient is love" - well, that is total BS and one can only hope someone like that is repaid in kind someday. (Whoa, this has really set me off!)

Anyway, no secrets here and I'm in the 50+ crowd. I do tend to tinker with ingredients and am not much for measuring, but I'll gladly share as much detail as a person can stand - and then urge her or him to make the dish their own.

I boil chicken breasts to make shredded chicken for enchilladas. I use a packet of taco seasonings in the water...plus half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Everyone raves about our enchilladas...they're so easy!!!!

I'm of the belief that the best recipes are the simple ones that are easy to figure out anyway.

My family has a couple of cookies that are 'secret' in that our mom developed the receipe. She asked my sister and I not to share those, and we respected her wishes until after her death. And there are a couple of other things, like homemade mincemeat, pickles and applebutter, that are 'does this taste like Mom's?' We are trying to 'formalize' amounts and techniques on those.

My sister is in the process of making a 'family cookbook' with everything we can find out of the grandmother, great aunts, and mom's hand written cards. It's going to be great!

I'm flattered when people want my recipes and often will slip the card into my purse or print out the link when I take something to a potluck so that I can share if somebody asks. I'm 55

I think not sharing a recipe with a friend who asks is outright appalling. In college, a friend did this to me, and I still reflect on her with disdain. And I still wish I had gotten her cookie recipe. I just don't get it! I love to share what I know (and I cook professionally, so recipes are my bread and butter).

I'm anti-secret just because it's too easy for things to get lost. I speak from personal experience. My grandmother died and, unless she had them secreted away somewhere, all of her recipes died with her. My sister wasn't interested in learning and I (being a boy) wasn't allowed to learn. There's a lot of delicious things that no one will get to taste again. So if you must keep secrets, write them down, leave it in your will, do something! You can't guarantee you will get the chance to pass it on.

I also have to say I don't understand all the anger towards people who won't share recipes. Sure, it might be annoying, but isn't part of the reason we're all here is that we love food and cooking? And isn't part of the fun of cooking and eating trying to figure out how something is made and recreating it yourself?

I seriously can't believe not sharing a cookie recipe is worth so much ire.

@ny2midmo: because it's petty and selfish, as though sharing a recipe, thereby creating more pleasure in the world, takes something away from YOU. It's not a zero-sum game, a competition for a gold medal, a scholarship, or a job, and holding something good back is just...well. If you don't know why it's on the nasty side, I can't explain it to you. I will say that no, I don't want friends like that. I like to associate with kind, generous people, and people who jealously hoard their special recipes are neither.

I'm anti-secret generally but along the way I got strangely superstitious. If there are any knitters here, it's sorta like the "boyfriend sweater-curse." Or the thing about knives as gifts. I don't like to give recipes to new friends or acquaintances because shortly afterward they up and move, break up with my friend they've been dating, have a falling out, get laid off or fired, or just generally disappear. This has happened, appallingly, more times than I can count. So now I'm superstitious about it.

But any of my long-term friends and certainly all family members (except for newly married-in or new partners, but give it time) get any recipes they desire. As people have said here, even when armed with the same exact recipe results often differ.

Shanalulu,

I would say that having friends willing to cook for you is pretty kind and generous to begin with. To then treat the recipe as if it is something they owe you kind of sounds like looking a gift horse in the mouth. And I doubt that most people who have secret recipes treat ALL their recipes that way - they probably share 95% of what the make, and have one or two sacred recipes that we should probably all feel honored to have been able to enjoy to begin with.

I believe the recipe hoarders here are stingy, too (and the saboteurs are just passive-aggressive a-holes). Sorry, I guess I can understand not sharing with strangers or co-workers, or having a secret family recipe, but as for the woman who hides the measurements from her own sister after grandma died? That's pretty sick. Why not share at least with family and good friends?

My ex-mother-in-law had a great cheesecake recipe, too, and never shared with anyone. She promised to show me her tricks "someday." Then she died of a sudden heart attack, and it can never live on for her kids, grandkids, or anyone else. Imagine cooking it now and remembering her fondly -- we can never do that now. SAD!

I don't think it's a generational thing, since I'm 52 and am in the "anti-secret recipe" camp. My mom had no recipes when she came to this country (her mom was terminally ill for 10 years, so she was usually too sick to cook and teach her). So, all her recipes came from someone else or a magazine, cookbook, etc. Since, she didn't hoard her recipes, I didn't learn from her to hoard them. So, maybe that's it ... if the cooks in your family keep secret recipes, then that practice gets handed down ... along with the recipes!!??

VictoriaOC,

That's where the joy in it is for me. There are a very few recipes that are family secrets, and the joy that I received as a child being let in on the secret, and the joy I will have when I let in my children is worth more than appeasing every passerby who feels entitled to every recipe in my head. If there are people who feel I don't have a right to that family tradition, I am grateful that I call none of those people 'friend'.

It's not an issue for me, as I am surrounded by friends and family who love to eat but hate to cook. If anyone asked me, I'd gladly share my recipes! However, they just call me and ask me to cook stuff for them. Any advice on getting people to take my recipes so they can make cookies for me?

My mother used to make Mince and tatties for us a lot, since leaving home I just couldn't make it the same and honestly I had also never discussed it with her until she came to visit after my second baby was born and made us mince and tatties.. as I stood watching she grated carrots into the mince (as well as having the discs on show) and I expressed my 'What?' face to her.

Apparently as children my sister and I wouldn't eat carrots so she used to grate them in to hide them.. and never went back.

I HIGHLY recommend trying it. Of course there's a secret spice she uses too but the carrot trick has helped me enjoy my straight Mince and Tatties again!

Personally I have a 'secret' recipe for a chunky fresh salsa that I make for barbecues and dinners parties where appropriate. I tell them what's there (because I believe in knowing what you are eating) but never the proportions for the dressing yet :D

No secrets in the kitchen. I love it when friends and family ask for recipes, and I go as far as cooking it with them so they know exactly what I do. I also enjoy watching others cook, and have learned many recipes this way.

We have this very old cookbook that is filled to the brim with 'secrets'.I have figured out many recipes using it.Most dished are easy to replicate.I've not found most people's cooking to be 'special' enough to ask for a recipe.

Most people's supposed secrets,in their recipes, are particular to what is being made and to whom is producing the dish.More preference or technique than anything else.

Don't take this observation lightly because I am not known for my cooking.Day to day I'd just as soon not.That doesn't mean I don't know how or can't.

I've replicated many celebrated dishes that were guarded property of friends,family and acquaintances.As soon as they mention it's a secret,I immediately pull out a regional cookbook.We have had many people say to us that it was like so and so's,just better.

One secret I was trusted with by an elderly acquaintance turned out to be two commercial dressings mixed together.You have to laugh about it.

I think it's silly to not share as well. Incredibly misleading. If I asked someone for a recipe and they gave me it minus the "secret", I'd be ticked after spending time and money only to get something subpar - that's just wrong.

I always tweak recipes anyway so awesome recipes that people are kind enough to share inevitably change to some degree.

One friend of mine is absolutely amazing in the kitchen. She was incredibly generous in sharing some of her favorites with me and it triggered a new obsession with cooking! Now, i have great recipes of my own that I share with her.

Great recipes bring people together and inevitably create more delish recipes down the line...pay it forward :)

I think its a karma thing....feel free to not share but karma's a #$%%#

On another note - if you are lucky enough to be given a "Secret" recipes, you MUST ensure that you give credit where credit is due as in "this is so and so's famous cookies" ....otherwise you are just as bad as the secret recipe gang ;)

Anti secrets. Here's an example of why. I published my great-great-grandmother's German plumb cake recipe on my blog (people in this thread keep implying that just because the recipe has a lineage that justifies keeping it a secret). About a year later, I got a comment from a woman who had lost her mother without ever getting her plumb cake recipe. She tried mine and said it was the closest she'd ever gotten. Does my family's German plumb cake taste worse somehow because the recipe is on my blog and can be made by anyone who searches for it? No. It still carries the exact same meaning for me and my family, only now it also brings joy to someone else's. That's worth it.

I've never omitted an ingredient for a recipe, and I've happily shared them when asked.

And then some Evil Person used my exact (handcrafted and self-tested) recipe for a contest, won a lot of money, and took all the credit.

Now I'm just wary, and if someone asks me for recipes now I just steer them towards the internet.