Guilty as charged! I took on the Creole Cookbook because I have lived in New Orleans and love the food, and this book is really the foundation for all modern cookbooks on New Orleans cooking. It turned out to be a somewhat longer and slower task than I anticpated, so I hope these remarks help (or warn) anyone interested in indexing an old, historic book like this one.
First, I admit I underestimated the number of recipes -- even though the paperbound edition I used isn't very big, it contains many recipes on a single page! So there was a lot more to index than I anticipated at first.
Second, I found that it was necessary to actually read every recipe as I was indexing. Proofreading in those days wasn't brilliant, it seems, and many of the recipes turned out to contain ingredients that were mentioned in the instructions but not in the list of ingredients. Sometimes the reference was to a sauce or other preparation from another copletely separate recipe in the book.
Third, I found myself having to refer to the modern, annotated version of the book (out-of-print but mentioned in my notes on the book) to find modern names for some old, unfamiliar ingredients. The annotated version also was helpful in translating old-fashioned measurements into modern ones. For example, a tablespoon in New Orleans at the turn of the last century turns out to mean what we would call a large kitchen spoon -- the kind you use to stir a pot with. In a few cases the annotated version continued to be mysterious on the subject of ingredients so I had to look around in some other books or online to find out what it was and what it's called today.
Otherwise, though, it was great fun to do and I am really glad to know that it has been useful for someone other than me! If you are a bit OCD indexing can be very enjoyable and rewarding!
As Jane said, right now I'm about halfway through "Dona Benta," which is the Brazilian equivalent of Joy of Cooking. It's been going fairly fast, even though I suspect it's going to top out at nearly 2000 recipes. This is a modern edition so the ingredients lists are much more accurate than in the Creole Cookbook, but even here I find occasional references to ingredients not in the list (or vice-versa, which makes you try to figure out if it's a complete mistake or how the ingredient should be used in the recipe if it seems to belong). I've also had to rely on a couple of other books (including an older bilingual book written for expats in Rio) to remember or learn the American names or equivalents of Brazilian cuts of meat, or to figure out what the occasional unfamiliar ingredient is. So this is actually pretty educational, as well!
In any case, I recommend indexing to anyone who is very detail-oriented and who wants to be sure that somewhat less popular but important books become available. I hope it will bring more attention to the books, because they're very worthwhile!
