Comments on: Computers or Cookbooks in the Kitchen?

By: David Leite

David Leite — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:10:14 +0000

Christyn, it seems os if you have the very best of both world. I envy you your the elevated dishwasher. Perfect for glancing without bending over…

By: Christyn Johnson

Christyn Johnson — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:46:58 +0000

Like many others, I’m a mix of both. I have a collection of cookbooks that I draw from all the time, they are dragged in and out of the kitchen as needed. I write in the books (horror!!!), marking the items my family loved/hated, substitutions I made and who I made it for. My favorite of these gets typed into my cooking software and rated. I can make notes/comments as well, so I have the information I need in both spots.

The recipes that I find online I import into my cooking software and leave unrated so I know I haven’t made them yet. My laptop has a place of honor (and safety) in my kitchen, on top of the elevated dishwasher—it’s not at counter height, so it is not used for food prep, and nothing can be spilled on it, it is closer to bar height so it makes it easier to read without scrolling etc. I love it!

By: Katie Workman

Katie Workman — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:46:08 +0000

Good God, I hope neither of you see my cookbook library (pages curls up with sticky paw prints) or my computer, which at this very moment requires multiple stabbings of the “a” key because I feel sure a rutabaga is caught underneath, as well as the fact that for some odd reason the ‘e’ and the ‘n’ keys are smudged almost beyond recognition. And the whole computer smells slightly like soy sauce.

But nicely done, both of you! I am a cooking slob either way.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:08:23 +0000

Carol, great comment! And, wow, so organized. Can I borrow you from time to time?

By: Carol Hargis

Carol Hargis — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:02:46 +0000

A couple hundred cookbooks are shelved at the bottom of my basement stairs. At the top of those stairs is a custom cabinet which holds about 25. Every 6 months or so I swap them out, just like we used to do with our daughters millions of stuffed animals. It keeps things fresh and interesting. But the bulk of the recipes are in a database on my primary PC. They come from the web and from the cookbooks. I do my research well in advance at that computer. When I’ve at last gleefully chosen the menu, I print out the recipe(s). This goes to the kitchen to start my shopping list, which I write in white margin. Whatever is on hand or in the pantry stays off the list. The printout accompanies me to the grocery store(s) and back home. More than once has the fish monger strained to see what I was making for dinner. Then the page sits (yes, David, sometimes taped to the cabinet on the right of the stove) on the counter to be put to use. Before I throw it out and sit down to dine, I always appreciate the splatters, drips & spoon-rest stains that punctuate the page. So in my kitchen the cookbook and the computer are on the same page.

By: Martha in KS

Martha in KS — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:02:27 +0000

I have over a hundred cookbooks & when I cooked for a living could grab the correct one whenever I needed a recipe (that was before I got old & lost my memory). They’ve been banished to the sunroom. and now I exclusively use the computer for recipe searching & storage—my recipe software is priceless. Occasionally, I’ll set the laptop on the kitchen island, but more often I jot down the ingredients on a scrap of paper (I admit to being a hopeless recycler) and cook from that. An accidental spillage would be heartbreaking.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:36:07 +0000

I’m with David on this one. I have tons of cookbooks relegated to my office, but they’re merely there to put on a show. I look through them and read them now and then, but when I find a recipe I want to cook I try to then find it online and print it out. I also browse the blogosphere and try to find different versions of recipes and take bits and pieces of what I like from each to create a Frankenstein combination. After the cooking is complete, I merely toss the stained pieces of paper. But I never take my laptop to the kitchen–I just run back and forth between the kitchen and my office hoping my garlic won’t burn. I would never lend a book for fear it might get stained by splashes of food or a fingerprint. I too hate those waves that appear on the sides of books after reading them. And I literally shudder when a friend reaches for a book from my shelves and starts leafing through using their forefinger–it leaves a dent on each page! I would never admit to this elsewhere but here: I have been known to read my very expensive /Big Fat Duck/ cookbook using white cotton conservation gloves so as not to transfer the oils from my hands onto the page. I admit I’m obsessive and compulsive about my cookbooks.

By: Gael

Gael — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:08:43 +0000

I use my cookbooks and computer constantly for recipes. That being said NEITHER will enter my kitchen. Am I allowed to bring in my textbook to an calculus exam? I feel the same way about cookbooks. At most, I'll print something out and hold it on my fridge with a magnet. My technique is usually to study the recipe over and over until I have an idea on what I should do. Sometimes when I'm lost I'll have the book or computer open in the living room, and I'll trek back and forth. If I had to have any electronics at all in the kitchen, then I would probably use the Nintendo DS Personal Trainer Cooking. It has a microphone and a touch screen. The software recognizes your voice and goes on to the next step simply by telling it to. No need to clean your hands all the time.

By: Kara Newman

Kara Newman — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:15:57 +0000

LOL! Oh, I definitely cook from cookbooks. But Renee, like you I’m very hard on them, and they never stay propped open exactly on the right page, so I kill the book spine as well as splatter the pages. I feel like there’s a higher premium on recipes from books—I paid X amount for it, and I want all the recipes to be home runs.

I feel like magazines are naturally ephemeral—they eventually wind up in the recycling bin anyway, so I don’t have the same twinge about ripping ‘em to shreds. And I don’t feel like such a chump if I don’t love the final results.

David, I’ll get that photo to you. You’re going to laugh at me. It’s such a ridiculous mess in an otherwise fastidious kitchen!

By: Renee Schettler Rossi, LC Editor-in-Chief, LC ÜberEditor

Renee Schettler Rossi, LC Editor-in-Chief, LC ÜberEditor — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:14:00 +0000

Completely understand what you’re saying about magazines, although I still feel betrayed every time a recipe isn’t memorable…

And yes, cookbooks are inherently disappointing in that one respect, aren’t they? Even some of the best ones. I think there are perhaps two in my collection that I don’t begrudge a mediocre result from long ago, despite all the epiphanies since. II don’t calculate it as a one-to-one ratio, the successes versus the failures…