Okay, I know that three posts about organizing recipes is probably two posts too many, but I can't resist this last one: the categories people choose for organizing their recipes.
While typical American categories include "Meat," "Fish," Poultry," and "Vegetables," foreign cookbooks never cease to surprise and delight me with their system of organizing and distinguishing food: the Turkish categories of "dishes made with yogurt," "things that are stuffed," and the succinctly-worded "frieds" strike me as particularly whimsical, which astonishes Alpay, who considers the classic Turkish category of "Wet Food" to be both necessary and self-evident.
In this way, recipe categories may seem obvious but actually aren't at all; instead, the categories selected reflect the unique proclivities of the individual cook. For this reason, packaged, pre-printed cards, labels, or tabs are bound to bewilder and to disappoint. As much as I like my new Circa Recipe notebook, I don't know if I have a single recipe out of the 200+ in my collection that would go under the pre-printed "Beverages" tab. Do people really need recipes for drinks? And as a former vegetarian who often creates entrees from a mix of side dishes, I don't really think of many things as "Appetizers" per se; nor do I see "Eggs & Cheese" belonging to the same category.
The categories I created in my old, beat-up binder reflected how I cook, which is often informed by my favorite ethnic cuisines: French, Italian, Mexican, Spanish, and Turkish.
As I add my recipes to my new Circa Recipe notebook I'm planning on including my favorite national categories. I've also decided to keep the 18 pre-printed tab dividers that came with the notebook. The pre-printed tab dividers are organized not in alphabetical order but appear to be (somewhat) organized by their appearance in courses, followed by dividers for "Specialties" and "Holiday" and ending with sections for shopping and planning. For the curious and for those of you planning to start or update your own recipe notebook, the categories in the Circa Recipe notebook are as follows:
- Beverages
- Appetizers
- Soups
- Salads
- Breads
- Vegetables
- Pasta
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Eggs & Cheese
- Poultry
- Meats
- Seafood
- Sweets & Desserts
- Specialties
- Holiday Meals
- Shopping List
- Party Planning
Who knows? Maybe now that I have tab dividers for "Beverages" and "Appetizers" I may even be inspired to find some recipes to go with them.