Over on this question about measurements we got into an interesting discussion about recognizing reliable recipes. What cues do you look for to recognize one you would trust? This is a community wiki question since it has no definitive answer. I'll throw out three to get us started:
Good signs:
+ If I can see a picture of the finished food and it looks delicious
Bad signs:
+ If the author doesn't know the diff between "1 cup of pecans, chopped" and "1 cup of chopped pecans"
+ If the ingredients aren't listed in the order you will need them in the recipe
Best Answer
I look for notes that give subsitutions. If the recipe creator can't be arsed to either provide subs or say "you really can't substitute," then it seems to me they aren't so much interested in cooking as they are in must provide dogmatic formula. This doesn't work for me.
Notes along the way--"you are looking for a texture like..." "the colour should be... but don't worry if it looks like..."--are essential.
A complete lack of "Oh by the way you should have done X an hour before you did Y" is non-negotiable. Anytime I cook through a recipe like that without reading first (caveat emptor, I know) I tend to end up swearing and throwing things. Timelines are key.
(By the way, I'll be hanging onto this thread as it will definitely help me with the cookbook project I'm working on. Thanks for asking!)