Is just posting a recipe an answer?

Question

See https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/43226/14401

Is simply posting a recipe an answer?

We don't want to be a recipe exchange site, and there doesn't seem to be any reasoning or answers to the specific troubles or issued raised in the question itself that made it more than a recipe request.

On the other hand, it is vaguely related to the question being asked.

Answer 1

A recipe is fundamentally similar to a URL. It might answer the question, but:

• It's usually not clear how it answers the question
• There's often no clear way of evaluating its quality/accuracy (it breaks voting)
• It's an all-or-nothing proposition - if the recipe doesn't work or can't be used, then there is nothing else useful in the answer

So, my take on this has always been that including a recipe in an answer is fine, just like including a URL in an answer is fine, as long as it's summarized, put into its proper context, and explained how it answers the question (i.e. what's the important difference between the suggested recipe and what the OP actually did).

On the other hand, an answer that contains nothing but a recipe is simply a poor answer. It's sometimes hard to justify deletion, especially if it kinda sorta answers the question, but downvoting is usually an appropriate response.