Rant, the expulsion of steam for the use of

[desperance]

As you may have gathered, I have quite a number of cookbooks. So many, indeed, that I sometimes* forget what recipe came out of which book. [Eat Your Books is a great help in this - but so far they've indexed less than half my collection, so...]

Sometimes**, however, I do remember which book I saw a recipe in. As, f'rexample, today. I had a steamed blueberry pudding in mind, and I knew just where to find it.

Until I opened the book, at the back, and consulted the index.

It's a steamed blueberry pudding. Is it under B for Blueberry? It is not. Is it under P for Pudding? It is not. Is it under S for Steamed? It is not.

It is under M. For Marion Carter's Steamed Blueberry Pudding.

Permission to scream, ma'am?

Relatedly, I also have an Indian cookbook where every dish is titled in Urdu and in Urdu alone (most of 'em I can work out on my fingers - "Murgh Methi Malai: okay, Murgh is chicken and Methi is fenugreek, so..." but Palak Chole? Not a clue, until I read the ingredients list), and the book offers no index at all, in any language whatsoever. I ... don't use that book much.

People. Cookbook-making people. Cooks need indices, and a tiny hint of common sense is also an advantage.


*frequently

**Occasionally