A formulary or prescription for making some combination, mixture, or preparation of materials; a receipt.

a prescription for medicine.

a set of directions for preparing food from its ingredients.

The known weight or measure of ingredients in a multi-ingredient food item. Amounts of ingredients may be expressed in household volume measure units such as cups and tablespoons or may be expressed as gram weights. The term recipe is generally applied to a food item prepared from component ingredients in a household or institutional setting. The term may also apply to a commercial multi-ingredient food item for which the amounts of ingredients are set, rather than estimated (e.g. by Standards of Identity).

a blueprint, but you don't have to necessarily follow it

a blueprint, ensuring you will get a specific outcome

a rough guide rather than one of nature's laws

a very rough blueprint for creating software

a good analogy for how aptitudes impact on the job

a good candidate for XML

a good idea, not a sacrosanct document

a story that ends with a good meal

a set of conditions and an action to be performed if the conditions are satisfied

a set of conditions, and a set of actions

A common set of assumptions or ‘shared wisdom’ held within an industry about how to operate.