I just learned about this terrific Web site called Eat Your Books. It's a service that indexes cookbooks. It may seem pretty random, but if you have a lot of cookbooks, and you cook a lot, it is sometimes hard to remember where a recipe you cooked once came from. And going through your cookbooks to find it can be a chore--again, if you have a lot of cookbooks, and also if you have a tendency to distinctly remember things incorrectly.
For example, the other day I was wanting to make a vegetable soup I had cooked before. I remembered it had lettuce. I also remember it had no added water--rather, you stacked all the vegetables in the pot and cooked it slowly so the vegetables gave off their own water.
I was pretty sure this was from one of Mark Bittman's books. I remembered he referred to another cookbook writer for this recipe. I looked quickly through my Bittman books and didn't find it. Then I tried this site.
I searched for Bittman, lettuce, vegetable soup. No dice.
I tried to remember the name of the other cookbook writer. I thought maybe it was Mimi Sheraton. I looked up Mimi Sheraton, vegetable soup. No dice.
Then I decided to assume I was wrong about almost everything. I looked up vegetable soup, lettuce. And there it was. Nika Hazelton's Garden Vegetable Soup, from Arthur Schwartz' Soup Suppers. A favorite cookbook of mine for more than 20 years.
Convinced, I bought a subscription ($30/yr) and quickly loaded in all my cookbooks. Not all of them have been indexed yet, but many of them have. What this means is, I get more use out of my cookbooks. When I am not sure how I want to cook, say, a bunch of haricots verts, I can do a search for these on My Bookshelf and see the names and sources of most of my haricot vert recipes. Instead of just looking randomly on Google (which is OK, too, but doesn't leverage my cookbooks).
Anyhow, I am delighted, looking forward to finding surprises in my own cookbooks, and getting further inspiration for my culinary adventures. And when I have time, maybe I'll help out by offering to index a few of my not-yet-indexed volumes.
For example, the other day I was wanting to make a vegetable soup I had cooked before. I remembered it had lettuce. I also remember it had no added water--rather, you stacked all the vegetables in the pot and cooked it slowly so the vegetables gave off their own water.
I was pretty sure this was from one of Mark Bittman's books. I remembered he referred to another cookbook writer for this recipe. I looked quickly through my Bittman books and didn't find it. Then I tried this site.
I searched for Bittman, lettuce, vegetable soup. No dice.
I tried to remember the name of the other cookbook writer. I thought maybe it was Mimi Sheraton. I looked up Mimi Sheraton, vegetable soup. No dice.
Then I decided to assume I was wrong about almost everything. I looked up vegetable soup, lettuce. And there it was. Nika Hazelton's Garden Vegetable Soup, from Arthur Schwartz' Soup Suppers. A favorite cookbook of mine for more than 20 years.
Convinced, I bought a subscription ($30/yr) and quickly loaded in all my cookbooks. Not all of them have been indexed yet, but many of them have. What this means is, I get more use out of my cookbooks. When I am not sure how I want to cook, say, a bunch of haricots verts, I can do a search for these on My Bookshelf and see the names and sources of most of my haricot vert recipes. Instead of just looking randomly on Google (which is OK, too, but doesn't leverage my cookbooks).
Anyhow, I am delighted, looking forward to finding surprises in my own cookbooks, and getting further inspiration for my culinary adventures. And when I have time, maybe I'll help out by offering to index a few of my not-yet-indexed volumes.
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