Recipe? I dunked a healthy-looking acorn in the dirt of a potted plant and kept it watered a while but nothing came up.
Disclaimer: I only know this works for European cold-temperate oaks. The Quercus genus has hundreds of species with Mexico having the most species. I don’t have any direct experience sprouting acorns, but you might have just gotten a dud or, depending on the species, you need to put it in the fridge for a while to mimick the cold period it would experience in nature to wake it from hibernation. Bonus tip for growing your mighty oak a little bit faster: plant it together with a nurse tree of a faster growing species so it gets some competition for light, as well as a bit of protection from the wind. Around here birch or larch are commonly planted together with oak like this, the nurse tree gets removed after a couple of years. This also reduces the risk of multiple trunks, if that’s something you want to avoid.
In the refrigerator dry or wet? When I sprouted apple seeds I put them in the refrigerator in a plastic bag with damp paper towels. They sprouted fine.
I planted some apple seeds which sprouted and then died. Now I have some healthy pepper plants instead. I might buy some pine tree seeds next. They're on my Amazon wish list.
My father was an infamous planter of trees. He never started any by seed but bought saplings from nurseries. He planted thousands of flowers by seed but never a tree. Once a year or every other year fifty saplings would show up and he'd get to work, planting a tree anywhere he thought would be nice, peoples yards, empty lots, the park and nature preserves. He did all of this under the cover of night, fueled by whimsy and malt liquor with permission never asked or granted. The cops came by to tell him to cut it out, people aren't allowed to plant trees on public land or something but knowing it was him and proving it was evidently a crime that they weren't ready to assign a detective over. He never did cut it out. Anyway, I'm sure pops would tell you to quit screwing around with seeds and carefully pick a few saplings of trees that you love.