[dragonwriter]

The essay is more protectible by copyright than the recipe itself, but including it doesn’t protect the recipe itself.

I actually think the issue is that the long essay provides more space to put advertising alongside or interrupting the flow.

[doctorpangloss]

I'm not sure why this particular idiosyncratic thing attracts so much mystery, but the answer is that there are long essays about the recipes because people like them.