recipe organisation

[culinary bear]

I'm curious to know how people organise the recipes they have.

Most chefs I've worked with carry books around with them, but I use 5" x 3" index cards. I can take one out at a time easily, and slide it under the tab-grabber if I need to refer to it. This is my pastry file :

What do you use? Do you write them down in a book, or are you patient enough to file them in a database? Any horror stories of files/books going missing/being eaten by the dog?

One reprehensible little toe-rag of a commis actually had the temerity to steal the recipe book of a colleague of mine.

[NulloModo]

Most I just keep in my head, or if it is complicated enough, pasted into a text file and saved in some random folder in my computer... some of which are later printed out and stuffed in random drawers in my kitchen.

[culinary bear]

The downside to the "filing system on your shoulders" way is that some little oik of a commis will always need the recipe four minutes before service because he's forgotten it; it's handy to be able to hand it over.

[FaustianBargain]

I have designed a neat little template for recipes and method using excel. I can probably upload it onto my PDA. Paper is out, baby! Save the trees!

Edited January 3, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)

[culinary bear]

PDAs and kitchens don't really mix. :)

[FaustianBargain]

PDAs and kitchens don't really mix. :)

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you are probably right, but it would be so cool, wouldnt it? make us all feel so 21st century!

[NulloModo]

The downside to the "filing system on your shoulders" way is that some little oik of a commis will always need the recipe four minutes before service because he's forgotten it; it's handy to be able to hand it over.

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True, in a professional kitchen I'm sure keeping it all in your head wouldn't work ;).

In my home kitchen it works fine though - if anyone is helping I can just assign stuff task by task instead of having to worry about them reading ahead, taking matters into their own hands, and not anticipating how I was going to do it differently from written.

[spice]

I'd really like to be more organized with my recipes than I am. I have a 3x5 box with family recipes in it, but I quickly outgrew that and now have an additional three-ring binder that holds those snagged online or homegrown (rather than out of cookbooks). For the last year and a half or so, anything new that gets cooked goes into my cooking blog which is searchable and printable. I doubt I'd ever have the time to get everything consolidated into a database, though it does sound very appealing.

[Suzanne F]

Most of the restaurants I worked in had a 3-ring binder with the recipes in plastic slips. (Not surprising, since I worked for the same chef at 3 different places; but a startup place did the same, once we had the recipes set.)

When I arrived at the food manufacturer where I managed the kitchen, all the recipes were handwritten on 4X6 index cards, some in plastic cases but many not. Yeech, what a mess -- stains obliterating measurements, corners torn, ink faded (some had been in use for several years and showed it). One of the first things I did was to enter all the recipes into a computer file, print them out, and put them into 3-ring binders in plastic covers. I just love that system.

At home, my clippings are all in file folders. When I want to use one, I make a photocopy and slip it into a clear plastic slanted sign holder. If it's small print or a 3X5 card, I enlarge it in making the copy. Ah, the advantages of having my office in my home!

[jgm]

I have designed a neat little template for recipes and method using excel. I can probably upload it onto my PDA. Paper is out, baby! Save the trees!

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For awhile, I actually had a system in which I had all of my recipes in MS Word files; I then cut and pasted the ingredient lists (including quantities) into Excel files, which were downloaded onto a PDA. It was wonderful to be able to whip out my PDA in the grocery store and find out what I had to buy for a certain recipe. Obviously, I could just make out a list at home, but it's not unusual for me to find myself at the store, and find the store out of crucial ingredients for what I'd planned to make. Having a list of ingredients on my PDA allowed me to make last-minute menu changes without my getting home and having to turn around and go back for one or two more things.

Sadly, the PDA was a cheap one, and awkward to use, and I just stopped carrying it. But oh, the possibilities...

[robyn]

I use 5x8 cards in 2 big plastic boxes - and I also have a letter sized file for pages (articles) I clip from magazines. Main difference between your system and mine is I organize recipes by food type instead of alphabetically (one section for beef - one for salads - one for soups - one for pasta - etc.). Robyn

[Maison Rustique]

...and I also have a letter sized file for pages (articles) I clip from magazines.  Main difference between your system and mine is I organize recipes by food type instead of alphabetically (one section for beef - one for salads - one for soups - one for pasta - etc.).  Robyn

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I have 2 letter-sized hanging-file boxes for mine and also go by food type: Main Courses, Soups, Salads, Appetizers, Breads, Desserts, etc.

About every 5 years I go thru and weed out the files. With nearly every other one, I wonder to myself, "What was I thinking when I kept this?!?!"

[cjs]

Most I just keep in my head, or if it is complicated enough, pasted into a text file and saved in some random folder in my computer... some of which are later printed out and stuffed in random drawers in my kitchen.

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sounds like the system I use!

[cjs]

PDAs and kitchens don't really mix. :)

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ok...so call me stupid, but what the hell is a PDA???

[culinary bear]

Personal Digital Assistant. One of these little palm-computer things.

or

Potentially Droppable Accessory. Usually in soup.

[cjs]

the last thing I need is something else to put in my pockets at work! My chef pants are so nice and broken in soft, but elastic must be going. with keys, notes, cell, squirell card etc.etc....me pants are fallin down!, thank god for the apron.

[EdS]

I tried keeping a PC in the kitchen. That lasted about a week. I have a Treo but I can't imagine pecking away at it in the kitchen. So, for now, the recipes are in the spherical file on my shoulders.

[Huevos del Toro]

I keep mine in Word files. I've made both an index and hyperlinked to them. With literally hundreds to choose from it works out nicely. When I try something new I print out the recipe, stick it on the range hood and trash it (if I haven't made notes of changes) when I'm finished. I'm sure there are better methods but this has worked for me over the years. I also paste any pictures in there that are available, including my own food porn.

[Dani Mc]

I scan anything I do into the computer, with notes on where it came from, and how I would alter the recipe for my own tastes. That way I can tape stuff up around the kitchen, throw it out when I'm done, and my books don't get ruined.

[MelissaH]

My first time through a new recipe, I actually copy the recipe out of whatever book onto a piece of paper. For me, the process is a lot like "prelabbing" the recipe: by writing the ingredients and procedure, I have a better chance at embedding it in my memory. Once I've made a recipe and determine that it is indeed a "keeper," I type it into my computer (along with notes on the source and any comments about it) so I only need to print out a new copy. I continue to add notes over time.

I figure these recipes I've collected would be a great excuse for me to figure out how to build an index or make a functional database, one of these years.

MelissaH

[snowangel]

For recipes that are not in a cookbook, I use a recipe file. 3x5 cards. Those I cut out of the newspaper or periodicals, I don't mount them on an index card. I sort them by category -- appetizers, pasta, etc. Yes, I do cut recipes out of my magazines, preferring to be able to access them easily rather than stockpile magazines (I'm not a saver; I'm a pitcher). I did laminate the recipes written in spidery fountain pen (that stuff really runs when it gets wet) from my great grandmother.

Cookbooks? They are not sacred and seem to take on a different meaning when I make all sorts of notations.

I received the new Gourmet cookbook for Xmas. I hate (meaning can't see) the yellow titles. So, for the recipes I've made, not only have I made notes (make this again, very good, ixnay (sp?) on this one, I also write over the yellow with a black ballpoint pen. I love my splattered cookbooks. The ability to find that recipe in a cookbook by the way the pages of that recipe are someone rippled.

I gave a copy of a favorite cookbook to a friend for Xmas, and made all sorts of notes all over it. I knew she'd love the cookbook, and she loved it all the more for all the notes I made.

This is my system. It works for me. And that's what matters. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

[jglazer75]

I keep my recipes in Microsoft OneNote. The tab system is excellent (I have tabs according to 'type' - i.e., entree, soups, desserts, etc.) and the searching function rules (seriously, if you need to search for 'pork' it'll find it ALL in under 1 second). It's a little much to start with, but once everything's in, it beats any 'recipe database' out there. For hardcopies that I have floating around, I put them in a three ring binder.

Here's the BEST part though. OneNote has this function that lets you save each tab (remember: 'entrees', etc...) as an HTML file! Instant access everywhere in the world :) Plus, each tab is save natively as a separate file, so, if someone wants my entree recipes, I can just send them the one file. Very very handy.

It also helps that I have a wireless network and laptop that I can use in the kitchen, so I can pull up my OneNote files from anywhere in the house.

[fifi]

For now, I just have Word files but I am careful to name them meaningfully. I gave each of the kids a CD of my collection for Christmas with custom labels from this place. Sooner or later, I will get around to indexing, maybe setting up a sexier format and all of that. My recipe development method is pretty slipshod. I go with my whims the first time around then I have to get serious and get to trying a couple of more times, tracking measurements, time and temperature and all of those annoying details that folks ask me about. I am somewhat of an instinctual cook and somewhat haphazard. I think the discipline of actually having to write something down is good for my soul.

[suzilightning]

i am about to move into my second workout shoe box. i keep a small number of cookbooks and transfer any recipes from the discard pile to cards and file them by type - breads - quick; breads - yeast; chicken; chicken - breasts; desserts; desserts - chocolate, etc.(ok so i'm a librarian - it's that training ). do the same with my magazines then pass them on - to friends, people i work with, egulleters. will pull out the recipes i need for stocking the fridge or for a meal and i love it. i get to pull recipe for a main and sides and then just move them around till i have a composition i like - wow, kinda like what i do with fabrics for quilting now i think about it.

would go to word files but i love to practice my penmanship and it would deprive my in-laws of a cheap present for me - recipe cards

edit to say i do have to keep up my place as the semi-luddite of my workplace though i am far and away ahead of most of the people in my in-law and friend circle -scary

Edited January 4, 2005 by suzilightning (log)

[FaustianBargain]

hi jgm. excel is far superior to word because its easy to figure out of the ingredients when you want to triple or halve the recipes. my project was inspired by http://www.cookingforengineers.com/ site, but i tweaked a little more for other details. the idea is that the methods and techniques are imbedded in the recipe itself so anyone can replicate it and adjust quantities. i am currently working on substitution of ingredients/flavour pairings so there are several combinations, each one spawning out a completely different recipe. so its like having five or six recipes, each one just a keystroke away from each other. i dont know how useful it will be in a real restaurant environment, tho.

I have designed a neat little template for recipes and method using excel. I can probably upload it onto my PDA. Paper is out, baby! Save the trees!

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For awhile, I actually had a system in which I had all of my recipes in MS Word files; I then cut and pasted the ingredient lists (including quantities) into Excel files, which were downloaded onto a PDA. It was wonderful to be able to whip out my PDA in the grocery store and find out what I had to buy for a certain recipe. Obviously, I could just make out a list at home, but it's not unusual for me to find myself at the store, and find the store out of crucial ingredients for what I'd planned to make. Having a list of ingredients on my PDA allowed me to make last-minute menu changes without my getting home and having to turn around and go back for one or two more things.

Sadly, the PDA was a cheap one, and awkward to use, and I just stopped carrying it. But oh, the possibilities...

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Edited January 6, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)