The philosophy behind cookbook organization

19 Comments

• SilverSage  on  April 2, 2017

  I recently reorganized mine, and found I have about 60 books on different countries. I broke them out to a separate section, further organized by continent and country.

  I also created a section for all modernist/sous vide/food science books.

  Single topic books (bread, chicken, etc) have their own section.

• Megoola  on  April 2, 2017

  I have two broad groups: vegetarian and not vegetarian. Then they are alpha by title with spiral bound to one end and extra large on the other just for aesthetics.

• lkgrover  on  April 2, 2017

  My system is: general cooking; by cooking method (slow cooker, grilling); by ingredient (meat, vegetables); by course (breakfast, appetizers, soup, salad); by region (American, from East to West; South American; European; Asian — ordered by country within each continent); general baking & dessert; by recipe type (cakes, pies, cookies, custards/puddings), by ingredient (chocolate, fruit); by nationality. For all categories, proceed from general to specific: 1) meat, then beef, pork, chicken; 2) general Italian, then different Italian regions (north to south). I have 136 cookbooks, with an emphasis on exploring specific countries (and regions within countries).

• salskitchen  on  April 3, 2017

  As most recipe books contain several different categories (e.g. starters, mains, desserts, cakes) I have resorted to sorting my books by size. This also solves the difficulty of having a bookshelf with shelves of different heights. When I am well organised I then sort each shelf alphabetically by author, but most of the time I just spend ages hunting for the book I want, and can't even remember what the spine looks like!

• vickster  on  April 3, 2017

  I have general cooking, vegetarian cooking, ethnic/regional (individually alphabetical), general baking and dessert, and bread.

• annmartina  on  April 3, 2017

  I break mine down pretty finely but I usually don't have much trouble finding what I want and I have 600-700 cookbooks. General Baking; Desserts; Breads; Cakes; Cookies; Pies; Pizza; Ice Cream; Dairy. General Asia; General Indian; General Middle East; Mexico, Germany; Poland; France; Britian, etc. U.S. is broken down by my home state; Southern; BBQ; Southwest; Rest of the US. Also vegetables; vegetarian; dairy; eggs; appliance; Jr. league,; soups/stews; rice/grains, etc.

• sir_ken_g  on  April 3, 2017

  Asian on the right side, the rest on the left side. EYB cover photos help – alot.

• Jane  on  April 3, 2017

  My very large collection is organized quite precisely which definitely helps when finding a book. Though I have two locations, 600 or so in my kitchen/dining room and another 1,200 in the basement. The kitchen ones are my favorites but books get moved from there as new faves arrive (always a tough decision). I generally know whether a book is upstairs or down. The organization is – Favorite authors for whom I own every title are all together regardless of subject – Nigella Lawson, Diana Henry, Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Dorie Greenspan, Melissa Clark, Jamie Oliver – Country, organized by continent then country then region – Baking & desserts, organized by topic – Restaurants, organized alpha – Single subject, vegetarian/vegan, grains, breads, pasta, cocktails, grilling, fish, etc – and then General, organized alpha by author. It works for me.

• Cubangirl  on  April 3, 2017

  Before I gave away most of my cookbooks they were organized by near the kitchen and in the back of the house first, then by height and then by topic within, with books by same author together. Now that most of the ones in the back are gone, the remaining ones are organized by top shelf chocolate, then other baking books and Cuban books by size. Second shelf has old favorites/reference by author, e.g., Julia, JOC, NYT, ATK, etc. There is another pile on top of a dresser which are newer to me and from which I expect to cook soon e.g, Dorie's, Flavor Flours, Ina's latest, etc. I seldom actually cook from books anymore, prefer to have the recipes in my Living Cookbook.

• DebTx15  on  April 13, 2017

  I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who could stock a small specialty bookstore singlehandedly! I've transitioned to mostly electronic versions, but for my collection of physical books, my seven categories (broadly) are: Baking; Cultural (shorthand for virtually anything that focuses on a particular country's cuisine); General (comprehensive books without a specific theme, celebrity books); Heritage (my own); Holidays; Regional (US; i.e., southern, southwestern, civic groups, etc.); and Vegetarian. Older cookbooks from my mother that are mostly of sentimental value reside in a guest room for occasional reminiscing. Works pretty well for my cooking interests. New subjects like gluten-free or paleo reside on my Kindle. But then there are those loose pages of printed recipes or clippings shorn from old magazines…let's just say they vary between hyper-categorized (fruit-based desserts anyone?) to sitting in a leaning stack waiting for re-discovery. Like the blood-orange almond cake from Smitten Kitchen I'll be making this weekend.

• nicki.williams  on  April 21, 2017

  I often reorganise my cookbooks (currently about 210 of them). At the moment they are by cuisine, baking, healthy/wholefoods & reference. But sometimes I want secondary indexing such as those I haven't used yet or those that aren't indexed in "eat your books" so that I don't forget to refer to them. But as soon as I add a secondary system it gets too complex.

• Nichill  on  April 22, 2017

  In the kitchen, I have four shelves: short height ones on the top shelf, then a shelf each of methods/bibles including meat, fish, baking; key authors (Nigel Slater, Simon Hopkinton, Shaun Hill, Nigella, Jamie, etc.; and then foreign cuisines from furthest away to closest. Other short height ones are just outside the door. Other relegated ones are on the storey below, again separated into the 3 shelf categories.

• JGB  on  April 25, 2017

  Size.

• Ambrosia  on  April 26, 2017

  While I own the actual dead-tree versions (I don't like to use electronic readers for cookbooks), I organize my cookbooks and books about food electronically. They are listed according to five primary topics: cooking, baking, antiquarian, food writing, and beverages. Within the cooking and baking categories, they are further broken down by sub-category. The other categories are alphabetical.

  Cooking: general, technique, ingredient (books about a single ingredient), dish (books about a particular type of dish, like fondue), fresh/sustainable, health, vegetables, by denomyn, and restaurant/celebrity.

  Baking: general, whole-grain/low sugar, bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, desserts, French, gluten free, ice-cream, pie, Scandinavian, soufflé, tea, technique. It's a bit arbitrary deciding whether to put something in the "general" or "desserts" categories. But the advantage of an electronic catalog is that it's easily searchable.

  Each entry in my catalog has an indication of where the Cookbook is located within my place. So I can actually find it when I want to make something!! (Though the antiquarian books tend to be in one place and are do not have a location specified.)

• Food101  on  May 1, 2017

  Mine are alphabetical by author except if they are part of a collection of books (e.g., Short Stack books).

• goodfruit  on  May 1, 2017

  My method is simple: Top shelf is the most used cookbooks, and they become less used as we go downward on the bookcase.

  Food Memoirs with Recipes slot in, as well as ATK (America's Test Kitchen) because I have a weakness for both of those.

  Yes, I have a bookcase worth of cookbooks, magazines, pamphlets and binders full of recipes.

• LMKeckler  on  May 7, 2017

  I recently re-organized mine by color. It was great fun to handle them all and remind myself of some old favorites. It works well for me because I have a strong visual memory.

• RaySadler  on  May 11, 2017

  My general organization is:

  Most used – in kitchen
  Reference – in outside annexe (former doctor's surgery)
  More valuable – in drawing room

  To save endless reorganization (cf CD collection) – each book is entered on a spreadsheet with a reference to the bookcase/shelf it is on – e.g. AC4 – annexe- bookcase C – shelf 4. Some shelves are deeper than others for the big books (why are there so many different heights?)

  (CD's are simpler as they are all the same height – each gets a consecutive number and is entered on the spreadsheet by composer or genre if it includes many short pieces, then it goes onto the end of the row).
  Ray S

• Alowishs  on  May 16, 2017

  Vintage: two shelves
  Baking & Desserts: two shelves
  Health, Nutrition, Juicing, & Smoothies: two shelves
  Grilling, BBQ and Meats: one shelf
  International Cuisine: One large shelf
  Restaurant, Cafe, Retail Store: one shelf
  New Mexican: shared shelf
  Specialty Topics: shared shelf
  General Including Celebrity: one large shelf
  Italian & French: shared shelf

  Garage Annex:
  Junior League Northern States: one large shelf
  Junior League Southern States: one large shelf
  American Regional & Local: one large shelf
  Magazines & Annuals: one large shelf
  Holiday Books & Zines: one large shelf

  = over 550 books. Whew.