Guide
How to organize a cookbook
A pile of good recipes is not yet a book. What turns it into one is the order: the sections, the pages at the front, and a contents page someone can use with flour on their hands.
The method
Five decisions, in order
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Choose the sections first
Two to five. Sort by how people will look for a dish: by course, by season, or for a family book, by person (Grandma's kitchen, Dad's grill). Sort by one thing only, or the same recipe could live in two places.
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Order the recipes inside each section
In the order someone would cook them or look for them, not the order you collected them. Put the dish everyone asks for first in its section, because that is the page the spine will open to.
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Set the pages at the front
A title page, an optional dedication, then the contents. The dedication sits on its own page. In Mise the contents page is built from your sections and the order of your recipes, so it is right the moment you change either.
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Mark each section with a divider
A divider page tells a reader a new section has begun and gives the book a pause between them. In Mise a divider appears for every section you add yourself, and not otherwise. A book with no sections has no dividers.
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Read it as a stranger would
Open to a random page and ask whether you know where you are. Then look for a dish by name in the contents. If either takes more than a few seconds, the sections are too many or too vague. Fix the sections before you fix anything else.
Contents ideas
Four ways to divide a book
Starters, mains, sides, sweets. The oldest scheme and the easiest to look things up in. Best for a collection of everyday recipes.
One section for each cook the recipes came from. Best for a family book, where who made it matters as much as what it is.
Summer tables, holiday baking, Sunday dinners. Best for a gift, where the sections set a mood before any recipe does.
Thirty minutes, an afternoon, a weekend. Best for a weeknight book, because the real question is how long you have.
Questions
How many sections should a cookbook have?
Two to five is enough for most books. A section is a promise about what is inside it, so a book of fifty recipes in twelve sections feels thin everywhere. If a section would hold only two recipes, fold it into the section next to it.
Does a cookbook need a table of contents?
Yes. People look for a dish by name, and the contents page is how they find it. In Mise the contents page is built for you from your sections and the order of your recipes.
Where does the dedication go?
On its own page near the front, after the title page and before the contents. It is optional in Mise and costs a small add-on.
In what order should the recipes go?
In the order someone would cook them or look for them, not the order you collected them. For a family book that is often by person; for a collection, by course or by season.
Recipes in, a hardcover out
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