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So I have a problem with this website. I only really cook main meals. Those could be classified as mains, or as soups.

Let me talk you through my search:

I have a spare pumpkin: 47 recipes

I don't want starters, deserts and the likes: Cool, just 30 dishes

Oh wait, but there are no soups included because they aren't classified as main dishes.

Just searching for pumpkin and soups yields 7 recipes, of which 6 would be substantial enough to be main dishes.

Pumpkin might not be the best ingredient to demonstrate this with as I don't have many recipes with it, but this becomes a bit difficult when using more common ingredients. Basically I need to do at least two searches every time: one for mains and one for soups. It would be great to have an OR function somewhere, maybe just a checkbox so that further search options dont get disabled.

To further complicate matters... Salads may be categorized as side dishes, appetizers/starters, lunch, or main courses. Vegetarian salads are usually side dishes; salads with meat are usually appetizers/starters. Salads may be categorized as lunch or main courses if specified by the author. Many of these salads may work as a main course regardless of their categorization, at least in my kitchen.

The "egg dishes" recipe type often contains brunch/breakfast dishes that would also work as main courses. The courses are categorized according to the author's specification. I enjoy quiches & omelettes for lunch or dinner, not just breakfast. 

Oh interesting! Thanks a lot for those examples! I'm not sure how much an OR search would work there to be honest, because in the end you'd search for pretty much everything apart from cakes :D

Originally Posted by: lkgrover

To further complicate matters... Salads may be categorized as side dishes, appetizers/starters, lunch, or main courses. Vegetarian salads are usually side dishes; salads with meat are usually appetizers/starters. Salads may be categorized as lunch or main courses if specified by the author. Many of these salads may work as a main course regardless of their categorization, at least in my kitchen.

The "egg dishes" recipe type often contains brunch/breakfast dishes that would also work as main courses. The courses are categorized according to the author's specification. I enjoy quiches & omelettes for lunch or dinner, not just breakfast.

that is interesting about salads with meat being categorized as starters/appetizers.  I would consider salads with meat or fish as main.  And who makes starters anymore.  Maybe appetizers for parties in place of main. In the old days when I had much more energy I would prepare starters when I had people over but not now.  

Salads with meat/poultry/fish are generally classified as main courses. We try to follow the courses as specified by the author. It is hard when you get into breakfast/brunch, lunch, suppers etc - everyone may have different ideas of what they like to eat at different meals. You can get a better idea about courses allocated to different recipe types on the the Recipe Types page in the Indexing Manual. But if looking for particular recipes like Soups or Quiches, you would be better to use those recipe category filters than choosing courses.

Originally Posted by: Jane

Salads with meat/poultry/fish are generally classified as main courses. We try to follow the courses as specified by the author. It is hard when you get into breakfast/brunch, lunch, suppers etc - everyone may have different ideas of what they like to eat at different meals. You can get a better idea about courses allocated to different recipe types on the the Recipe Types page in the Indexing Manual. But if looking for particular recipes like Soups or Quiches, you would be better to use those recipe category filters than choosing courses.

Ok, lets use a different example: Courgettes.
general search 428 recipes.
Little sneak into the different filters: 231 main courses OR 48 soups (dish type)

I don't know what I want to cook with this. But it will be my dinner. Thus select main course. Oops, only 3 soups left under the dish type filter, while a quick browse reveiled that at least 35 would have been substantial meals.

I get that the data is based on what authors thought of their recipes. Makes sense. But sometimes a way of combining search parameters with an OR might be useful, as in this case.

I was wondering about a different type of search function. Is it possible to search my recipes excluding online recipes? I guess that would exclude any of my hard copy recipes that have an online link, but for now I search book by book.

Barb_N - if you want to only see recipes in your cookbooks, select Book Recipes in the filters in the right column filters, or under the Menu on a phone.

Originally Posted by: Jane

Barb_N - if you want to only see recipes in your cookbooks, select Book Recipes in the filters in the right column filters, or under the Menu on a phone.

🤦🏻‍♀️

I am a strong user of the NOT (or exclusion) function in the searching. It takes a bit more work but the results are better for my needs. So, I might start by searching for PUMPKIN, and I want a vegetarian dish, so I search for not meat, not fish, not eggs (tick these boxes under Ingredients on the RHS, then click on the + button for each item to change it to a "-" which excludes that item). Then I refine the search by eliminating (in the same way) categorisations like Desserts, Side dishes, appetizers, etc. You can continue to refine your search until it is mosly relevant to what you want - and the list will have both mains and soups.

I hope that makes sense. As a vegetarian, I have the "not meat, not fish, not eggs" link bookmarked to easily begin any search. I find this better than using the Vegetarian nutrition type, as that excludes some items that I might want to see in the search results.

Hope this tip helps.