Kitchen Notebooks

[LaurieB]

Well, I've just looked through the replies, and am glad that there are others who utilize not only a notebook, but other "recipe/planning/note devices".

I, too, have:

1. A tiny notebook that I make notes on wines, meals, etc. we have when we eat out.

2. A folder of "Recipes from. . ." which get entered into a computer recipe file.

3. A folder of "Scraps of paper" which are just lists of ingredients in search of a coherently written recipe.

4. Notes written in cookbook margins.

5. And a large, beautifully handmade wooden recipe box, which I got for an engagement gift. (I remember at the time thinking "how in the world would anyone ever have enough recipe cards to fill this thing?" Now I'm wondering what I'm going to get when it's full. )

Laurie

[Chef Shogun]

I was doing pretty well with this for a while, but have slacked off lately. Think I was going a bit ambitious with it, and it became more trouble than it was worth. Each non-trivial meal got:

1) Menu-type description of meal

2) What I was 'going for'

3) Ingrediant list

4) Intended plating diagram

5) Procedure (Up to here done before cooking)

6) Prep start time

7) In-process notes, if anything were important enough to stop for a second and write

8) Cooking end time

9) Post-mort wrap-up notes: suitability of wine pairing (with tasting notes, if first time wine), how'd it come out, anyway? Taste alright? Problems? Stuff to remember next time?

In retrospect, I was approaching it almost like a programming problem, with extensive design, specifications, algorithm, etc. The more you plan, the better implementation will go. However, as in programming, documentation has a way of being really boring. In the end, you just want to get in there and hack away! Think that's why I haven't done a notebook entry in almost a year now

-- C.S.

for(int i = 0 ; i < carrot.length ; carrot.chop(), i++);

[bleudauvergne]

Yes - I keep them. Kitchen notebooks are very satisfying, in my opinion, and I go back to them often. I fill up hard cover blank books one after the other. I cover the outside of the book with the map of the city where I started the book. I also fix them with ribbons to tie them closed, because as you fill them they kind of bulge out. New recipes, things to cook, and notes go into the books in chronological order with recipes, tips, notes on cheeses, market notes, seasonal information, essays, seating arrangements, parties, menus, etc. I number the recipes and keep an index in the front of the book with the recipes in numerical order, which are branched off by season. I've done this for 5 years now. It's something to give to my children one day.

[hillvalley]

He he he

New excuse to go buy a notebook. I love notebooks.

One question though. If this is to live in my kitchen, how do I keep it from becoming covered in food. yes, the occiasonal drop here or there will happen and add character or charm. BUt I am just not that neat and have a propensity towards dropping. I'm worried it would not survive.

I keep track of recipes I come up with on the computer. Not detailed notes each time I prepare a dish, but the basic recipe and any changes. I started this because I was combining recipes and ideas found here.

If I cooked from my cookbooks more I would keep notes on the side, but I don't.

[LaurieB]

Bleudauvergne, those books are BEAUTIFUL!! Mine is just a little brown notebook.

Something, tho, that I've picked up from what all have replied to this -- while many here keep computer records of recipes (me included) -- there is great joy for everyone who can pull out a recipe in the handwriting of someone loved who is now gone. I have all my mom and grandmother's recipe cards (complete with splotches of food ) and each time I use them it reconnects me to them. So I know someday someone will be thinking of me when they use my notebook.

At least they better.

[bleudauvergne]

He he he

New excuse to go buy a notebook.  I love notebooks.

One question though.  If this is to live in my kitchen, how do I keep it from becoming covered in food.  yes, the occiasonal drop here or there will happen and add character or charm.  BUt I am just not that neat and have a propensity towards dropping.  I'm worried it would not survive.

I keep track of recipes I come up with on the computer.  Not detailed notes each time I prepare a dish, but the basic recipe and any changes.  I started this because I was combining recipes and ideas found here.

If I cooked from my cookbooks more I would keep notes on the side, but I don't.

←

hillvalley, to repair damage from drips, spills and wear from shock and use, I patch them. Using glue stick, I apply a patch (a cut out picture from a magazine, ticket stub, whatever) to whatever part needs some reinforcement, and it makes it just like new. I recently re-did the bindings of the book I started in Paris. I had covered it with a Paris Metro map, and since that time the map has changed. So I covered the bindings with a patch of the new map. I also patch over drips and spills. The main thing though, is to treat these books as well as you can, like you would any other cookbook.

[marie-louise]

Lucy's journals are beautiful but just because it is made on a computer doesn't mean it can't be as wonderful as handwritten! You can even add photos to a computerized version.

I have a template for my cookbook. I've changed it over the years; at the moment it closely matches the colors and fonts of A New Way to Cook. I'm sure someday that will look as dated as my Grandma's handwritten cards. I keep the pages in those plastic slipcovers-easy to pull one page out and set on the counter; easy to change one or two things in a recipe & print out a replacement.

For my new menu journal, I'm using the Levenger Circa system. I use these notebooks for both my personal journals and my professional life-you can buy their high-quality paper or print on your own paper & punch w/ their hole punch. I like this system because you can add & delete pages, and anything that can have a hole punched in it can be included in the journal. They sell all sorts of covers, included these drop-dead gorgeous leather ones in all sorts of colors: http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PROD...985%7CLevel=2-3

Edited October 17, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[bloviatrix]

I know I mentioned my entertaining notebook earlier, but like others I have scribbles in my cookbooks as well as post-it notes. I also keep recipe binders where recipes I've cut from magazines or newspapers are put in plastic sleeves so they don't get all stained when I use them. On my lap-top I have .doc files of recipes I've found on-line and well things I've scanned out of library books. Finally, I have my file box -- which acts as my index. Each card (color coded by course) has the name of the recipe, which book/magazine issue and page plus additional notes.

The attempt to remain organized and in control of the clutter is a never-ending job. Especially in an apartment with limited space. Next, I have to start a notebook for my own creations.

[percyn]

You know... I have never thought of this. I make notes while I am cooking specific dishes so that I can write them up as an actual recipe for family and friends but I have never thought about a notebook. I am thinking that what you are talking about is more like a cooking diary, with specific instructions. What a fantastic idea. I can't tell you what I would give to have something like that from my mother, grandmother and great aunt.

←

This is how recipes are passed from generation to generation in most other countries. I have my mother's and some of my grandmother's notes (in her native tongue) in their respective hand-written notebooks with their "recipes" (more like list of ingredients and commentary on how to prepare it, what ingredients can be substituted, etc).

I do cherish those and wish to keep the tradition alive.