What do you like best in a cookbook?

[Esther]

Originally Posted by missourimary

Three ring binder style so you can add your favorites from other sources, and so the book lays flat when open
Pictures of what each recipe is supposed to look like when finished
Common, reasonably priced, easy to find ingredients
Healthy recipes, at least for the most part
Recipes in normal serving sizes (OK, some people make cookies 20 dozen at a time... I don't. Recipes should be simple to double or halve.)
Titles that sound good and I can take to work and call by name. ("Better than..." -WHAT?!?! I can't take that to my boss without a new name. No thanks. And "Goober Muffins" may sound good to your kids, but... )
And please, oh, please, put recipes together by group rather than ingredient or name. I don't want to have to look in five places for a stew because the cookbook is listed by types of meat, or hunt everywhere for butterscotch brownies because someone cutely put the book in alphabetical order and called butterscotch brownies "tannies" (oh, and by the way, your great aunt may have made a wonderful Waldorf salad, but please don't make me have to remember if it was your Aunt Jewell's salad, or Aunt Maybel's, or Aunt Emma's, or...)

Are you willing to pay an additional 10.00 for the 3 ring binder? Or would you rather have a coil binder that lays flat at a more affordable price?

[Esther]

Very good suggestions.

Thanks, and keep them coming.

[missourimary]

Originally Posted by Esther

Are you willing to pay an additional 10.00 for the 3 ring binder? Or would you rather have a coil binder that lays flat at a more affordable price?

Well, chances are I wouldn't buy another coil bound since I have several, but I probably wouldn't pay over $10 for a cookbook anyway, since I don't generally follow the recipes and can look any I want to up online now...

[MawMaw]

Originally Posted by The Mrs

Pictures!

And ingredients you can pronounce AND find in a regular grocery store!

Ditto what she said!

[Ferd]

My wife would tell you pictures. She hates cookbooks that dont show you what the food should look like.

for me the absolute worst thing is an index that isnt user friendly.

I have a cookbook at home that came from my home church. These ladies are some of the best cooks and there are some things in there that I just love, but the people who put the index together need to spend six weeks in time out.

It is just aweful!

Thank God they have done more recent ones with good indexes..


Make sure the index and the table of contents is user friendly. Make sure the book is organized in a logical manner.

[rgcraig]

Samples?

[Esther]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

Samples?

Samples of what?

[Esther]

Originally Posted by Ferd

My wife would tell you pictures. She hates cookbooks that dont show you what the food should look like.

for me the absolute worst thing is an index that isnt user friendly.

I have a cookbook at home that came from my home church. These ladies are some of the best cooks and there are some things in there that I just love, but the people who put the index together need to spend six weeks in time out.

It is just aweful!

Thank God they have done more recent ones with good indexes..


Make sure the index and the table of contents is user friendly. Make sure the book is organized in a logical manner.

The company we are going with does a LOT of church cookbooks. I will look at the sample and see how the index looks.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Timmy]

Scratch-n-sniff!

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by Esther

Samples of what?

The question was "what do you like best in a cookbook?"