nonnymus

We have a friend who started experimenting with a casserole-type dish of
chicken livers and onions a while back. Over the past year, she's
gotten it to the point where the experimentation has stopped, and just
the enjoyment remains. It's one of those dishes that folks who don't
appreciate chicken livers or livers and onions don't understand at
first, but flip out for when they try it.

Our friend isn't into any kind of contests and has never even tried
submitting a recipe to anyone before. My honest guess is that her
recipe for the chicken liver casserole would win hands down in some kind
of "home cooking" type of contest, but the look would never make the
front page of a cookbook. She can and has dressed the "kitchen" version
up with toppings, and at least it looks prettier.

My question for this group is how she can make a buck off the recipe.
Are there contests for this kind of dish she could enter her recipe,
cookbooks that pay for "kitchen cooking" type of recipes etc? I'm out
of my league here, and any commercialization advice anyone could offer
would be deeply appreciated. Besides chicken livers and onions, the
dish uses several other grocery store products and seasonings, and she's
already thinking about submitting the recipe to those folk in hope of
having it included in some future cook book offerings.
--
Nonny

Nonnymus
Never believe a person who is
Drunk, Horny or Running for Office.

olde hippee

I have no idea how she could capitalize on this recipe, but I would
love to have it for my personal use. I do mean personal, as hubby
hates chicken liver, while the kids and I used to see who could sneak
it out of the fried chicken skillet and/or serving dish without being
caught and having to share it!! The kids are all grown and gone but I
still love chicken livers.

As an afterthought, she might contact someone at Food Network TV and
see if they have ideas.
I promise I won't skunk her if I receive the recipe.
Nan in DE

steve calvin

<snip>

Not sure how you could improve in fried chicken liver (other than use
turkey liver. ;-) ) and caramelized onions with a little S&P, but
everyones tastes are different I guess.

As for going commercial, there are many here much more qualified to
reply than me, but I think it'd be very difficult. Making $ off of one
dish doesn't seem like a winning situation to me unless she opens a
specialty resteraunt/diner/etc which is full of it's own major
headaches, ask Dave. ;-)

I really don't know what she could do. Contact companies like Swanson
who market frozen - reheatable dinners?

--
Steve

nailshooter41

Hey, Nonny.

I am in the camp of not knowing how she could capitalize on her
efforts. Think about it... what recipe is so entirely unique and
universally that it could be sold on its own? (We'll set aside the
fact you are talking about liver, which I do like, but I am a
minority).

This is like Granny's brownie recipe, Nonny's Ranch spiced chicken
recipe, or any of the billion casserole recipes from the midwest.

In this day and age recipes are traded freely, cookbooks are published
on the cheap and are plentiful thanks to the proliferation of all the
cooking shows. In our fair city we still have about three or four
annual cookbooks published by churches and civic clubs that ask for
your recipes (for free) along with letters of recommendation. Only
the owner of the book gets any proceeds. The contributors get
bragging rights, and there are usually about 200 or so recipes handed
over for that payment.

So one recipe, one time... I don't know. If she wanted to compete
she might get something out of it. On the other hand competing is
expensive and will probably require travel, etc.

Then too, there's the fact it's chicken liver....

Robert

nonnymus

I guess the question I had was if anyone knew of cookbooks that accepted
recipes and perhaps paid out a little something if they used it. I
agree that no recipe is probably really unique and agree that a single
recipe that's great won't make anybody rich. It's just that I feel this
one is good enough to submit to some kind of contest, somewhere, and
might get her a prize. As a kid, (I was the blue ribbon baby in MO,
1947) State Fairs, manufacturers, distributors and even publishers would
have contests for name the product, best XXX recipe etc. I wondered if
anyone might have ideas.

Thanks to all for the comments. FWIW, I had chicken livers, cold from
the 'fridge, this AM for breakfast.


--
Nonny

Nonnymus
Never believe a person who is
Drunk, Horny or Running for Office.

gil faver

If she posts the recipe here, I'll mail her a buck.

2fatbbq

maybe its time for a throwdown with Flay<sf>
buzz

steve calvin

Boy... I'll watch for that sucker! ;-)

--
Steve

nonnymus

Gil, she's not into computers, but if I get the recipe, I'll post it
here for free. I know the ingredients right now, but it's the
quantities that are a bit unsettled in my mind.

--
Nonny

Nonnymus
Never believe a person who is
Drunk, Horny or Running for Office.

blond, james blond

What your friend wants to do, IMHO, is start small and think big. Leave
the big leagues for down the line.
Find some contests to enter with the dish. In a small town here in
South Georgia they have a "favorite recipes" contest once a year,
probably 90% of the recipes make it into a cookbook that the organizers
publish after the contest has ended. There are prizes, usually cash,
for the Grand Prize, 1st, 2nd, and so on winners.
That way your friend can get a real feel what it is all about and
decide if he/she wishes to continue.
Think about making your own cookbook with other recipes and publishing
it yourself and selling it locally at a Woman's club, Church, etc.
Just a couple of things
I do wish her well and would be overjoyed myself if she struck the
Mother lode with her recipe
BJB