289525 Thu Jun 06 13:32:06 -0700 2002 20 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1567920 We all have a collection of cookbooks which probably doesn't get smaller. How do you sort them? Where do you keep them (kitchen counter, cabinets, closets, stand alone shelves, shelves on the wall)? Do you have a cookbook on "display" in a plate holder? Do you have blank recipe books you write your creations in or keep them on your computer? Do you use them all or do you trade unused ones at the used book store? And what about those culinary mags? Thu Jun 06 13:32:06 -0700 2002 0 Sydney 1 1567929 I wish I could commit my collection to the computer! I like having the paper copies to use, though. I cut out recipes I like or friends give me and store them in a looseleaf binder (I'm on binder #3 now) in clear looseleaf pages backedw/construction pages. We knocked out a wall b/w our kitchen and family room and more than half of the family room bookcases have cookbooks in them, which meant building/buying more shelf space for "regular' books. I always have a few cookbooks on the coffee table in the family room...those are usually the ones I'm perusing at the moment. I'm interested, also, in how others store and access their collections. Thu Jun 06 15:19:34 -0700 2002 1567920 0 sudiepav 2 1567933 If you have recipes on your computer, print them out for using in the kitchen. I don't like using my cookbooks in the kitchen. First, they take up too much room on the counter or table, and second I don't want them destroyed by the food and water I'd drop on them. So I scan in any recipes I think I might use (including from other sources such as magazines). Then to find, say, a recipe for pork chops, I only need to use the file search that comes with my word processor program. It will bring up anything that I have scanned in, typed in, or transferred from the web to my hard drive. That way I only need to search one place and print out whatever I want. On the other hand I like READING real books, so they're all over the house. Thu Jun 06 16:01:24 -0700 2002 1567929 0 saucyknave 2 1568020 Scan them into your computer, sudipav. Why retype them? Use the scanner bed, not a feed-through kind. If you have edits, then type it in on the page below the scan (picture) print. Fri Jun 07 13:28:32 -0700 2002 1567929 0 kc girl 1 1567931 A question I am currently pondering myself. At the moment, I'm in an apartment so space is at a premium. To try to keep the books from overtaking the place, the cookbooks I use time and again and new ones added to the collection are on two stand-alone units from IKEA. Those I don't plan on ever using are stacked underneath the bottom shelf until I figure out what to do with them. Magazines that I reread are stored in those cardboard magazine holders. Those with only a recipe or two are gutted for what I want out of them and then tossed. There are at least 2 cookbooks and/or magazines next to my bed for light reading. When I had counterspace, one stayed in the cookbook holder for show. Yes, at this very moment there is a cookbook in the half-bath (I have to read something while I do my hair in the mornings!) Having the Daedalus book warehouse down the street is not helping! Does any know if there is a cookbook-aholic anonymous group? Thu Jun 06 15:23:30 -0700 2002 1567920 0 SisterT 1 1567936 I keep mine in the kitchen, in a standing bookcase about 36" x 48", 4 shelves...the collection overflows, so ones I don't use I keep in the "literature" section in the living room. Those in the kitchen, I use. And use. I consider the drips and spatters to be battle scars and badges of honour. And I make notes in them. I used to use Post-it Notes, but they seem to lose their oomph after a while, so now I just scribble on the pages in pencil. I also keep a vinyl loose-leaf notebook with tabbed sections -- "Starters, Sauces and Sides", "Sweets and other baked stuff", whatever, where I stash loose recipes. And I keep all my Saveur magazines (everyone of 'em since Issue 8) handy, because it's the only magazine whose recipes I find consistently reliable (not to mention authentic). I keep track of all this my noting the sources for recipes in my notebook. For example, there's a great recipe for Dulce de Leche in Issue 30-something of Saveur, in an article about Argentina. So in the "Sweets" section of my notebook, there's a page of references, and next to Dulce de Leche is the Issue and page # of the Saveur it appeared in. Or for Creme Brulee: I must have 30 or 40 different recipes available amongst all my cookbooks, but my favorite is the one from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking (I'm pretty sure -- this is exactly why I keep a reference in my notebook, which I don't have handy at the moment). Thu Jun 06 16:35:05 -0700 2002 1567920 0 GG Mora 1 1567939 In the pantry go the cookbooks. I have room for a couple of dozen, so the ones I don't use or need go to the Island of Misfit Cookbooks, in the basement. As for stains, I was always told that stained cookbooks are a sign of a cook with his or her priorities in order. My old paperbound edition of James Beard's "American Cookery" is a stunning example of lovingly indulgent use; I don't think I would trade it for a clean, prettified version if I could! And this is coming from someone known as a sort of neatnik (I am one of those people who cleans up as I cook, rather than letting it all go until the end; then again, I have always had limited counterspace where I have lived....) Thu Jun 06 17:31:43 -0700 2002 1567920 0 Karl S. 1 1567943 Wasn't there a thread on this some time ago? Or was it on a different board? Anyway ... I've got a little over 500, including reference, biographies, literary, etc. All but 2 of them are in my home office; the other 2 are microwave books, and i keep them in the kitchen since I have never learned how to use that thing. The books are organized by category: national cuisine (African, African-American, American general, American regional, etc.); type of food (baking, beverages, ... desserts, etc.). All categories are in alpha order, and books within each category are in alpha order by author. This is not the best way, but for now it works. The whole list is on an Excel spreadsheet. (I originally had it as a table in MS Word, but the erratic pagination drove me crazy.) I do not have any recipe on the computer. If I need to use one from a book, and I don't want to bring the book into the kitchen, I make a photocopy of the recipe (on scrap), use it, and toss it when I'm done. And if I download a recipe from the 'net, I just file the printout in its correct folder in my 2 full file drawers of hard copy and clippings. Thu Jun 06 18:39:03 -0700 2002 1567920 0 CTer 1 1567965 Mine are in a closet in the kitchen (I guess you would call it a pantry). They're only sorted by "mine" and "his" - my husband used to be a pastry chef, so all the baking and pastry books are on the first couple of shelves, and the rest are mine. I keep meaning to move mine up to the top shelves. :-) There is always one in the book stand on the counter, along with about a dozen of the most recently printed-out recipes. I have a notebook where I keep copies of magazine clippings sorted by type of dish or course. I also have an ever-expanding folder on the computer, which is sorted the same way. I save the ones I like from online sources, then print them out as I decide to make them. We also have cooking magazines and books on the living room tables (not for looks, but just because the tables are covered in piles of papers and books all the time, and most happen to be about food), as well as on both of our nightstands. My husband is working his way through The Cheese Plate so he can start on Salt: A World History, and I still have Food: A Culinary History; The Asian Grocery Store Demysified; and the International Breakfast book going. I save the dang cooking magazines forever, waiting to find the time to rip out the recipes I dogeared. Thu Jun 06 23:07:53 -0700 2002 1567920 0 LisaPizza 1 1567982 The books are kind of a jumble, but if I find I don't really use something, often I will give it to a friend whom I think might enjoy it more. They're kind of on a shelf, but falling over all the time, and all curly from the cooking steam. The magazine recipes I actually cut out, glue to a sturdy, three-hole punched piece of paper, and put in a binder. Someday I pretend that I might organize them by cusine, meal, whatever, but mostly I just flip through to find what I want, which reminds me of new things I've forgotten to try. I have some recipes on index cards (mostly those recipes that other people have given me) but intend to paste them in my book as well, since I'm always losing them! Fri Jun 07 08:37:39 -0700 2002 1567920 0 cctc 1 1567986 I found a "tower" shaped bookcase - about 18" square by 6' tall. This just fits into a little corner of my condo-kitchen and holds my old Women's Day cooking encyclopedia set, plus my old collection of Time-Life cooking series, plus lots of other stuff. Fri Jun 07 08:58:04 -0700 2002 1567920 0 Sharuf 1 1567993 I have my computer and desk in the kitchen specifically so I can use the recipes straight off the screen. My cookbooks are on the desk shelf. I have 3 Cooking Light mags that I like, so I treat them as books. When I find a recipe I like in one of my books, I enter the title, ingredients and page/book reference in the recipe program. I do the ingredients so I can search for a specific ingredient that I need to use up. For these, I actually cook from the book. I also have full recipes in the computer, either that I downloaded or that I typed in from my scraps of paper. I also have a file folder with printouts & magazine clippings. I often con myself into trying these first so they won't take over the house, then I type them into the recipe program if I like them. I don't have cookbooks all over the house (technically) because I library a lot, and usually come home with armloads then. I have checked some out several times. I try 2 or 3 recipes each time, and if there is one I think I can't live without until I check the book out again, I type that into the recipe program, too. These library books are in the bathroom, beside my bed, etc. I am just a sucker for cookbooks. Fri Jun 07 09:59:52 -0700 2002 1567920 0 evewitch 2 1568054 What recipe software do you use? Sat Jun 08 10:42:42 -0700 2002 1567993 0 Sharuf 3 1568239 Home Cookin' Mon Jun 10 20:58:49 -0700 2002 1568054 0 evewitch 1 1568004 Wasn't there a thread on this some time ago? I tried scrolling down, got as far as mid-March, but got distracted and couldn't finish. (I never have any luck with the search feature.) As I recall, Nancy Berry was the "winner" with something like 5K books and a really sophisticated cataloguing system. Am I dreaming, or can someone confirm? Or better yet, can someone locate that thread? Fri Jun 07 11:31:11 -0700 2002 1567920 0 CTer 2 1568016 Is this the thread? I asked a similar question not too long ago and got lots of great responses. I asked this question because I was feeling guilty about my ever-expanding cookbook collection. After reading the responses I realized I have a long way to go.I just bought a skid of books on grilling and barbecue. I too use those plastic slip sheets for recipes I print from online sources such as Epicurious, texmex.net, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, and Cook's Illustrated. They all go into a 3-ring binder I've decorated with Wayne Thibaud postcards. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/289078#1563243 Fri Jun 07 13:11:27 -0700 2002 1568004 0 raj1 3 1568018 Thanks! :) Fri Jun 07 13:23:36 -0700 2002 1568016 0 Sydney 3 1568024 Yes! That's the one! I must have scrolled past it. I wish I could get the hang of the search feature. :-( Oh well, I'll just keep trying. Fri Jun 07 14:14:53 -0700 2002 1568016 0 CTer 1 1568010 I keep mine in a kitchen bookcase where my dog can eat them. He took a big bite out of Charmaine Solomon last week. It probably smelled like curry. Fri Jun 07 12:20:49 -0700 2002 1567920 0 lucia 1 1568017 I have several places. (1) A selection of three or four (rotating with others, as used - currently "lite" cooking and herbology) in bookends to the side of my computer monitor in the kitchen; (2) The computer; (3) Pendaflex and manilla files in the filing cabinet for the loose pages yet to be booked; (4) In banker's boxes in the garage (indexed) - this is a new project; (5) Paperback club or family books and other collectibles lay in my grandmother's old bread boxes in the garage. Fri Jun 07 13:15:28 -0700 2002 1567920 0 kc girl 1 1568083 I wrap mine in banana leaves and submerge in containers of liquid duck fat. Sat Jun 08 23:56:54 -0700 2002 1567920 0 2chez mike