According to the US Copyright Office, recipes aren't generally copyrightable. Listings of ingredients certainly aren't, and the instructions can only be copyrighted if they are a "substantial literary expression". I'm guessing that "mix stuff, cook it at 350 until done" isn't going to qualify.
Going by the law, that's true, but what makes a recipe distinct from sheet music? They're both simple printed instructions informing appropriately skilled personnel how to produce a piece to be consumed. "Substantial literary expression" is a hedge. Many chefs have the same kind of distinctive culinary traits as writers have literary traits or as composers have distinctive styles.
I don't know the real legal reasoning, but in general the score for a symphony is quite a bit more detailed than the words on your grandmother's recipe card. IIRC, a piece of music 8 seconds or less cannot be under copyright (can't find any reference; sorry about that). I would think the typical recipe card would fall under that line of reasoning, whereas a page or two article on how a chef makes a complicated dish would probably be a creative work.
Length is a red herring; compare the copyrightable poetry in 'Haiku in English' (e.g., "tundra", in full) with signature dishes, like sachertorte or Waldorf Salad.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html for the real info.