[Sca-cooks] OOP layout and printing question

[Sharon Gordon]

I'd go for maximum information and organization.  To this end I'd do all the
things you said and

1) Code each recipe with where it came from in order
Book 1, Recipe 2
Book 2, Recipe 25 B, almond pie crust for pecan tarts, see 25A for pecan
filling

2) I'd add anything you remember about how a recipe was made and put it in a
marked off section or a different but easily readable type face and put your
name with it.

3) I would interview each surviving bakery worker that you can find (family
or nonfamily) and ask them about each recipe as it appears.  And add their
info as in 2 with their name.  Also if there are memories associated with
any recipes, it would be fun to add those.  Examples:
1) Grandpa's cousin's (John Brown) son, David Brown used to have the Apricot
Cake with Chocolate Icing from his 6th to his 18th birthday.
2) The Greenville Heating and Air Conditioning Company used to order 3
Yellow sheet cakes with chocolate icing, 1 White sheet cake with Cherry
Cream Cheese Frosting and 4 Pecan Pies for their annual picnic.
3) Mrs. William (Anna) Johnson would order 50 dozen honey whole wheat rolls,
and 10 dozen rosemary garlic rolls every year for the fall Greenville First
Methodist Church Bruswick Stew.

4) I'd put the recipes in chapters by type
Bars
Beverages
Breads, Yeast
Breads, Nonyeast
Cakes
Cakes, Fillings
Cakes, Frozen or Ice cream
Cakes, Frosting/Icing?Toppings
Candies
Cheesecakes
Cheesecake toppings
Cookies
Cookies, Fillings?Toppings
Nut mixes and brittles
Pastries
Pastries, Fillings/Toppings
Pies and Tarts, Crusts/Pastries
Pies and Tarts, Filling Topping
Pies and Tarts, Frozen fillings
Quiches, Fillings
etc

5) Within each chapter, I'd put them in alphabetical order:
Caramel icing
Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Cherry Frosting
Chocolate Frosting (Book 1, Recipe 21)
Chocolate Frosting (Book 3, Recipe 5)
Chocolate Frosting for Apricot Cake
Cream Cheese frosting for Carrot Cake
Kahlua Walnut Frosting
Orange Soak-In Icing for Pound Cake
Peach Vanilla Frosting
Pecan Frosting
Vanilla Confetti Sprinkle Icing
Vanilla Icing

6) I'd use some good computer indexing software to create an index for
Recipe titles
Recipe categories
All major ingredients and flavorings

7) If you're inclined, I'd have the police open or reopen the theft of the
cookbook issue (if it's a handwritten one).  The person who stole it might
be feeling safe and have it accessible now.  If the book that was stolen is
a commerically avalable one, I'd try to get a used copy or get an ILL copy
and photocopy it if no used copies are available.

8) I'd see if your uncle would let you help him find his notebook and add it
to the collection.

9) If your family is agreeable (and aren't still doing a bakery), I'd see
about publishing the book either formally or privately.  I really like
personally annotated cookbooks.  Coming from a family that thinks there is
no such thing as too many pecans, I'd love to have it just for the pecan
tart-almond tart crust recipe.

In the interests of getting info while people are still around to ask, I'd
get as much info as you can as quickly and easily as you can.  Then I'd
consider asking those questions that people wish they could time travel back
and ask.  It may help to have several experienced local cooks go over them
as people unfamiliar with seeing the specific items made are likely to have
different questions about how things are done.  For instance a bakery worker
may know that things are made in a certain order, so something is cool
before the next thing is added to it, but that may not be in the
instructions because it naturally occurred while the bakers were making
something else.

10) For the sake of completeness, you may want to add basic instructions
once in a chapter such as how to seal a cake so crumbs don't get in the
visible frosting.

And just as a disclaimer, I used to have a job interviewing really good
family cooks and publishing their recipes, and so was always collecting info
and asking questions like this.

Sharon
gordonse at one.net