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OK, so I'm working on a new book - one that's not too long and has some pretty straightforward recipes, so I figured it's a good starting place for me.

But I already have one question :) - how quick is "quick", and how easy is "easy", when it comes to labelling a recipe "quick & easy"?

That is, the book has "quick" in the sub-title, as it's mostly about simple ways to grill seafood. But I've noticed a few recipes, while the cooking time is "quick", still have a long marinating time - up to several hours.

Should I still categorize all recipes in the book as "Quick & Easy" since quick is in the book title? And perhaps include an Indexer Note about the marinating time on recipes as appropriate? Or is there some rule of thumb about the amount of time a recipe takes (prep + cooking) to actually count as Quick and Easy? I couldn't find an answer to that in the guidelines so would appreciate the guidance. Thanks!

Hi, Nicole -- Glad you found another book to request to index!  EYB doesn't set time/effort levels for Quick/easy -- one cook's piece-of-cake is another cook's way-too-hard-for-me, and many recipes don't give an estimated time to go by -- so we tend to index according to what the book/author states.  So if the recipe headnote, book/chapter introduction, or recipe title (including words like "speedy", "in a hurry", "cheat's", etc.) indicates the recipe is either quick or easy, or both, index Quick/easy.   While it would seem contradictory for a recipe with a long marinating time to be categorized as "quick", it could certainly be "easy" to throw together a marinade or use a ready-made one before cooking.  And it is a good idea to mention a marinating time over, say, 1 hour in EYB Comments (not Indexer Notes, which is just for indexer-EYB communications).  Happy indexing!

Hi Deborah,

Thanks for the quick response. Finding another book to index was no problem at all - in fact I think I just was over-ambitious the first time around so I picked a much simpler, one-theme book this time as an easier way to get started.

That totally makes sense on the quick/easy question - and yes, sorry, I meant EYB comments.

OK, one more "dumb question" - or rather something I just want to confirm or not regarding store-cupboard ingredients. We should include them if they exactly meet the rule-of-thumb quantity, yes? Not only if it exceeds that quantity?

It seems the book I'm working on has a lot of exactly-meeting occurences (like exactly 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of stock, etc.) and I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing in including them in those cases - or if I should be sure to remove them when proofreading through.

Nicole, thanks for asking this question -- although the Store-Cupboard Ingredients Table instructs you to list an ingredient only if it "meets/exceeds the rule-of-thumb quantity" listed on the chart, the Indexing Form Instructions for Store-cupboard ingredients are a little more ambiguous, so we'll change that language to make it clear that SCI ingredients should be listed if at or above the threshold.

Thanks very much for this question and the answer!  It's been quite a while since my one book indexing experience, and I was thrown by this very point when recently indexing an online recipe (the EYB review corrected my mistake).

Hello,

I have a question about indexing that may be silly or may be of use to other indexers (or both!).

When the recipe specifies "skimmed milk" or "low-fat yoghurt", should these ingredients just be entered as the base variety (i.e. "milk" or "yoghurt") or should I list the full name as a 'new ingredient'? I couldn't find anything about this in the Help section.

Thanks!

Helene

Not a silly question at all Helene! You would index those ingredients as just "milk" and "yoghurt" as we do not specify the varying nutritional labels such as those you mentioned. However, if the recipe is described by the author in the headnotes, etc. as low-fat or low-calorie then you can index that under Nutrition. This also applies if an entire book or a particular chapter in a book is described as such -- you would also use the relevent nutrition label for all the included recipes.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the quick response, Christine!

I have another question. The book I am indexing is low GI. Should I index every recipe as Diabetic?

You're welcome!

If the book is described somewhere on the jacket/intro/notes as diabetic friendly (as I imagine a low GI book likely would be), then yes, you should index all the recipes as Diabetic. If you add that tag at the beginning it will carry over to each new recipe as you index.

Help! I've suddenly lost access to the book I've been indexing! (Grill It! Seafood)

I actually was at the final proofreading stage and something happened within the past hour that I can no longer access the indexing link/any of the data I'd been working on. The only thing I had done different/unusual was I went to log in to EYB on my husband's computer upstairs, so I could print out the complete instructions/manual on his laser printer to double-check I had done things properly. Now when I've re-logged into my regular computer I can't access the book any longer and all of the data I'd put in.

I'm seriously hoping somehow all the data I've been working on last week isn't lost or now inaccessible...

OK, I had a general question - unlike previous issues which have now been resolved off forum (thank you!) It didn't come up in working on my first book since that was all seafood recipes, but now that I'm looking at some more general books, I have a question regarding this part of the manual:

"Where a dish/Recipe Type is marked with an asterisk (*), it should NOT be indexed as Vegan/Vegetarian; all other dishes/Recipe Types should be indexed as Vegan/Vegetarian according to EYB's definitions."

Where do I find the EYB definitions of Vegan vs. Vegetarian? Mostly because I know there are some ingredients which even some vegans disagree on (like honey) and I didn't know if EYB had a set standard on such things that was viewable to member indexers. I get that vegan = no dairy, eggs, etc, but I'm just concerned about some of the more "borderline" ingredients and not wanting to mis-categorize recipes.

More information about Vegan and Vegetarian recipes

Thanks, perfect! For some reason when I was trying to search through the manual I didn't see the details there.

I'm pretty sure that you now also classify desserts if they are Vegan (but you don't classify them as Vegetarian).  This is probably because so few desserts actually come into this category so it's vital info for Vegans!

I'm indexing a book with a number of salads that have vinaigrette in the recipe title, but the quantities of oil and vinegar are well below store cupboard quantities. Should I list oil and vinegar in the ingredients?

The manual says "If any ingredients are mentioned in the Recipe name, no matter what the quantity, those ingredients must be included."

Maybe select "vinaigrette" in the ingredients rather than oil and vinegar as its "vinaigrette" that's in the title...

You would only index 'vinaigrette' if the recipe called for ready-made/store-bought vinaigrette (for which EYB has many types of 'vinaigrette' ingredients).  If the recipe is calling for the cook to prepare a vinaigrette as part of the salad, that would be considered an "integral part" sub-recipe and the component ingredients would have to be listed; however, if the only ingredients in the vinaigrette are store-cupboard oil and vinegar below the threshold for listing, then technically you wouldn't list them in the salad recipe.  If the vinaigrette recipe is separately indexed (i.e., if it's a stand-alone recipe elsewhere in the book, or if it's referenced in another recipe and would therefore need to be indexed on its own to be cross-referenced as an Accompaniment) and the only ingredients are oil and vinegar below the threshold, you would list them anyway to avoid having 'store-cupboard ingredients' be the only ingredient listed.

By the way, this is fairly advanced indexing, so don't be intimidated! 

Thanks, Deborah. That's been the way I've been approaching it.

Another question that's come up with this book is the distinction between appetizers and hors d'oeuvres. There's a fifty page chapter on appetizers and salads, so the question comes up. Sometimes they say "We like to serve these with drinks before dinner," so those I tend to think should be classified as hors d'oeuvres as well as appetizers. I tend to think of hors d'oeuvres as finger food, so that an item like fried mussels served on a toothpick would be classified both as an appetizer and an hors d'oeuvres.