Here’s how I worked with a client to decide if a trendy birria recipe was the right fit for their audience.
I talk a lot about food trends and recipe development. When it comes to food content on social media, trends cycle quickly, and the challenge for any brand or editorial outlet is determining when to jump on the bandwagon and when to get off.
When a Food Trend Makes Sense for Your Brand (and When It Doesn’t) →
That was the case for my client Nourish Evolution, and their subscription meal-planning service, Cook the Seasons. Recipes there stay live indefinitely as part of an ever-growing library of options for members to use when building their weekly plans.
The trick with this is balancing flavor profiles that feel fresh – what people want to eat now – while holding up over the long term. So when considering a dish or even an ingredient that’s currently popular, the goal is for it to still appeal three, five, even 10 years from now.
Here’s an example of how that works:
The Challenge: Will This Trend Work Long Term?
Cook the Seasons has a very specific setup, with “core” recipes that can be spun into creative “reinventions” (no boring leftovers!). The idea is that members do a “big cook” early in the week with core recipes that may take more time but which yield tasty components for simpler quick meals on busy weeknights.
Once you get into the rhythm of doing this, it really works!
Here’s What a Recipe Developer Really Does →
First up: The core recipe for birria-style beef.
We’d toyed with doing something along the lines of birria, the classic Mexican long-simmered stew that’s been trending for a few years now. It’s not difficult to make, but it does take a few hours, and with the cost of beef these days, it’s expensive.
We needed to have enough reinventions to justify the core recipe.
The Solution: 1 Core Recipe, 3 Strategic Reinventions
First up, was the core recipe, a pretty traditional birria with its signature red consomé (broth) that’s fantastic and comforting anytime served with warm tortillas or over rice. Leftovers also freeze beautifully.
Why I Save Some Food Posts and Scroll Past Others →
Reinvention #1: Birria tacos, naturally.
The first reinvention was obvious: Tijuana-style birria tacos with the tortillas dipped in the broth, filled with the beef, a little diced white onion, and shredded cheese, then browned on a griddle and served with more broth for dipping. With the time-consuming birria already on hand, this is an easy Taco Tuesday dinner.
Reinvention #2: Pasta with birria ragu – not obvious, but certainly delicious.
We also wanted a reinvention that would take this in an unexpected direction: Ragu With Pappardelle. This was wildly good: First, I fried a little tomato paste in olive oil; then I added the birria and a little of its broth. To that, I added al dente pasta and a bit of pasta water. That was garnished with a little grated cotija cheese and parsley. This client’s audience also appreciates options for different ingredients, I included alternatives for a different pasta (fettuccine or tagliatelle) and cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino Romano).
Why the Reinventions Mattered More Than the Trend
Reinvention #3: Mexican brown rice bowl with birria, cabbage, and quick-pickled carrots and radishes.
The birria core recipe and first two reinventions were intended for the fall/winter season. But the rich beef would also work well in lighter fare for spring: rice and cabbage salad with quick-pickled carrots and radishes. A few tablespoons of the birria consomé also worked their way into the dressing to tie it all together.
That’s the test, really: a trend is worth building on when it still has more to say a year later. Birria passed, not because it was popular but because it gave us second and third reinventions that rocked.
Not every trend deserves a place in your content library. Figuring out which ones do is exactly the kind of call a good creative brief should force up front.
Download the Brand Recipe Brief to see the questions I ask before any recipe goes into production →