Forum

loughlinchow - your book is now approved.  Even we have to have an hour or so of downtime at the weekends!  Hope you enjoy indexing the book - you really get to know a cookbook well when you index it.

judyg - glad to hear you are enjoying it.  Our recipe count is going to increase rapidly with the amount of member indexing there has been since our launch last weekend.

I'm also super-excited member indexing is here! ::bounce:: I've just put in my first request, for one of my most-used and favorite cookbooks. This feature is really going to make the site so much more useful to me and I can't wait to get started helping out.

To answer the question as to how people are choosing what books to index first using member indexing, I think I've been using a slightly different gameplan.  Instead of indexing my most used/favorite cookbooks I am indexing the ones that I don't use all that much, but wish I did.  (After all, uncovering the gems hidden amongst our vast collections is the best thing about EYB to begin with, in my opinion).  I figured that by indexing a book, I'll get to know it much better and might start using them more.  Also, I figure that since I am already so familiar with my most dog-eared books, it is not as likely that I would need to use EYB to find recipes in those particulr books.  As a second consideration, I have been choosing shorter books because they are easy to index :)  And finally, as recommended, I only request to index books on less than 25 shelves, because EYB has the more popular books on their indexing schedule.  I don't know if anyone else would want to go about it in the same way, but it works for me! 

I think I'll definitely follow your lead Chris.  This is such a great site, I'd love to help out.  I offered to do one the other day but it was on over 25 bookshelves so was on their radar all ready.  I'll find another short one to start with.

Chris I like your approach . . . a good idea.  I'd likely alternate between one tried and true favourite and one "hidden treasure" as you suggest.  If you happen to see this post, could you give us an idea on approx how long it's been taking you on average to index a book w "x" number of recipes?  It would be really helpful to understand what the time commitment looks like.  Thanks in advance!

I've chosen a bit of a mix so far - I've completed two general cookbooks and I've just started indexing a baking one. I'm starting with ones that I have cooked <5 recipes from - I'm keen for other recipes in these books to turn up in searches because they seem to be successful so far but I can't remember what other gems are hiding in there off the top of my head. At this stage I would be unlikely to index a single topic book (eg jelly, Christmas) because I only have 1-2 books in each of these topics (so it is easy for me to pick up off the shelf for a flick through and just do a search on the rest of my books for "jelly" to pick up the extra recipes).

The first two cookbooks took me about 1 week to index (~150-200 recipes) but the one I am doing now is probably taking longer even though it's shorter - I haven't had as much free time outside of work this week. The process does seem to be getting easier with more practice!

I've found it enjoyable getting to know my books better so if you have time I think it would be worth picking a book (even a short one to start with) and having a go.

Breadcrumbs - to answer your question, all the books I've indexed so far have been between 35 and 75 recipes.  The first one took the longest since I was taking a lot of time to study the manual and make sure I was filling out all the sections properly.  

Once I got the hang of it, I usually could index a whole book in an evening or two after work, depending on how much I felt like doing at once.  Most times I'd do the indexing and then take a break and proofread/edit my work in another "session" so to speak, so I'd be looking at it with fresh eyes.  Another thing that helped the indexing move quickly was that most of the books I did were single subject so a lot of the category, nutrition, recipe type, occasion, and course information was the same for most, if not all of the recipes in that particular book.  All that being said, if pressed, I would say that if I were focused only on indexing and not jumping up to do laundry or some other household job, I probably could finish a 75 recipe book in maybe 2 hours. 

The more I index, the easier and quicker it seems to get.  I have to admit that I initially thought I'd only index a book or two, but I've really enjoyed doing the indexing and also really like the idea of having a more complete catalog on EYB, so in a short time, I've already indexed 7 of my books!  I'd suggest trying it and seeing for yourself how you like it.  Hope this helps!

I chose a book that is on only 6 shelves.  It has recipes across the Recipe Type spectrum, and more of them than I thought when I chose it (200+).  I'm going very slowly, doing about 25 recipes a day in one or two short sessions.

Does anyone here know of an example of a recipe that has an indexer-supplied "EYB Comment"?  I can't seem to find any.  I'm assuming that it only shows up in the one-recipe-at-a-time view (and not in the list of recipes with their types and ingredients that appears in the book page).     Supposedly it should be noted there if there's significant advance prep, such as overnight marinating, but I don't see any such notes in recipes I know qualify.  Would really appreciate a pointer to any examples (and/or examples of substitution notes).

Ellabee - Those notes also passed under my radar until I started doing indexing myself.  They are there when you do a search - Underneath the recipe name, book title, and author, you should see a little "bubble" with a number next to it.  If the number is zero, there are no notes.  If there is any other number, it represents the number of EYB notes for that recipe.  If you click on the number, you can view the notes.  Hope this helps!

The speech bubble icon actually represents the number of all Notes - both EYB and member.  But yes, you are correct that the EYB recipe comments don't appear in the book Notes summary, just the members Notes.

I have been proofreading a lot of the member indexed books and the EYB comments field has been used.  One I did just a couple of days ago was The Joy of Mixology where the member added quite a few comments detailing the garnish for the cocktails.

Notes about overnight marinating should be added by indexers, whether professional or member, so if you notice any that are missing, please let us know using Report an error and we will correct it. 

I've indexed several books now.  Some other things that go in the EYB notes are ingredient substitutions suggested by the author and a note that the indexed recipe contains variations, which the reader will have to look up for themselves.  

Originally Posted by: ellabee

Does anyone here know of an example of a recipe that has an indexer-supplied "EYB Comment"?  I can't seem to find any.  I'm assuming that it only shows up in the one-recipe-at-a-time view (and not in the list of recipes with their types and ingredients that appears in the book page).     Supposedly it should be noted there if there's significant advance prep, such as overnight marinating, but I don't see any such notes in recipes I know qualify.  Would really appreciate a pointer to any examples (and/or examples of substitution notes).

Ellabee -- There are detailed explanations and examples of EYB Comments in the field-specific help.  Click on the (?) just after the EYB Comments field label, which will display the EYB Comments section of the online manual.  The major types of comments -- variations, prep time, etc. -- are listed with an example.  At the bottom of that section, click on "More information about EYB's standard format for substitution Comments..." to see the preferred format for multi-part substitutions; these can get kind of convoluted as to wording and punctuation if everyone is doing their own thing, so we've settled on what we think is a readable, consistent format for all indexers to follow. 

I'm currently indexing a book where the recipe includes another recipe contained in the book, usually a sauce... I've been listing that under the EYB Comments, and indexing the sauce as a separate recipe, is that correct?
Thanks

Trackypup - I don't think that sounds right...I would take another look at the "recipes within recipes" section of the manual and see what applies to the particular recipes you are working on.

Found it! thanks. I'll go back and relook at what I did for a couple of the sauces.

Thank you

@dsauve: Thanks, but I have read and re-read the explanation of EYB Comments and all the rest of the manual. 

What I want is to see at least one and preferably several examples of EYB-indexed recipes that include an EYB Comment.  Can you point me to some, please?  Thanks in advance.

EYB comments are listed on numerous recipes so I'm not sure what you are asking for - proof that they exist or examples of the type of comments that appear?  So I'll give you the links and the EYB comment for just a few:

Gorgeous slow cooked duck pasta See recipe for optional extras

Chicken teriyaki Substitutes: sherry or white wine can be used instead of mirin.

Loin of pork with green peppercorns Canned broth or homemade stock (see recipe) can be used.

Marinated crab claws  Mixture need to marinate for at least 4 hours.

Chocolate armagnac cake See recipe for alternatives to Armagnac.

Chicken tikka masala See recipe for alternative meat.

Cauliflower with olives Can substitute olive oil and lemon zest for agrumato oil.

Marinated pressed picnic sandwich  This needs to be pressed overnight in the fridge.

I hope this gives you enough of a range of the type of comments we would expect.  They don't have to be a detailed explanation of the recipe - the member will be using their book or magazine to cook from.  They should be any comment that would help someone make a decision on whether this is the recipe they want to cook.

Thanks, Jane, that is exactly what I wanted.  Having no idea where the EYB Comment displays, and never having noticed one, I wanted to look at actual EYB-indexed recipes that include one.

I had no idea until tonight that EYB Comments displayed with members' notes.  I've read plenty of members' notes, but just somehow have never happened to see any Eat Your Books notes among them.  It might be helpful to other member indexers to add to the instructions on EYB Comments that information about where and how the Comment will display.  Calling it an EYB Note (rather than Comment) might have rung the bell for me a bit sooner, also.

In searching for an example, I did come across one recipe that I think should include an Eat Your Books note: in The 150 Best American Recipes, the recipe for Carrot ginger soup with lime creme fraiche involves making a ginger oil that's essential to the recipe, and should be done a day ahead.

Having access to the Indexing manual on the site is hugely valuable.   I didn't fully grasp the scope of "store-cupboard ingredients" until seeing those charts and guidelines, and I doubt that the majority of EYB users do, either.  It might be a good idea to link directly to the store-cupboard ingredients chart, or reproduce it, in the site's FAQ. 

Edit/update:  Just reviewed the FAQ on store-cupboard ingredients, and the list there probably does the trick.

Note for Carrot ginger soup now added: The ginger oil needs to be made one day ahead.

If you ever spot any more that you think should be listed, just let us know.