Muddled In The Middle - Keeping Track Of Recipes
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
It used to be so easy. Most of the recipes that were made regularly were ones you just knew, that probably weren't written down anywhere, unless it was by hand. And most of the others came from two or three cookbooks that led a quiet existence in a murky corner of the kitchen. And now...
Now, there is a cupboard of cookbooks positively bursting at the seams and considering a bid for freedom (from where total domination of the apartment may swiftly follow), a clutter of pages cut from magazines and newspapers and, most unruly of all, list upon list and link upon link of online recipes which I swear seems to multiply when I'm not looking (and most certainly grows even faster as soon as I pay it any attention).
And, when you want to cook something, where do you even start to look for a likely option? Or, more often, how do you try to pin down that elusive recipe you were certain you'd seen, but weren't sure where. Which, after digging through half a dozen books turns up in an old Donna Hay magazine. Or which, after a solid half hour of hunting through bookmarks, browser histories, Instapaper folders and badly tagged Google Reader feeds, dangles just out of reach, taunting you with delicious promise and the prospect of using up three-quarters of a cup of buttermilk, half a packet of dark chocolate or some stray almonds. Until, defeated, you look for an alternative and end up bookmarking another half a dozen must-try recipes. It's like trying to cut the head off a hydra...
The latest attempt to bring order to the chaos is this one - which makes a bit of sense, given the "I think, therefore I cook" mindset that so often prevails. But, useful as the Thinkery is turning out to be, it just doesn't have the glamourous minimalism of a luxurious notebook like this...
Are you being overrun by an avalanche of recipes? I'd love to hear how you stay on top of the towering heap!
