Gretchen’s Cookbook - Help Page

Searching the Cookbook

You can search the cookbook from any page using the Search box in the upper right. Enter terms for your search and press return.

You can also click the “Search recipes” link in the upper bar for more search functionality.

Short Words

The search box may work a little oddly (or slowly) when searching for words with three or fewer words. (This is because the way the database server on our web host is set up.) We’ve implemented a workaround, but if you get unexpected results, please let us know.

Browsing the Cookbook

The links below the “Recipes” head on the left side bar let you browse all recipes for a given cuisine.

Sorting Results

When you have a list of recipes, click on any of the column heads (Recipe, Cuisine, Course, Contributor) to search by that item. If you searched (instead of browsed) to find the recipes, clicking “Sort by Relevance” will place the closest matches first. (Relevance sorting works best when you searched on multiple keywords.)

Becoming a Contributor

If you are Gretchen’s friend or relative, we invite you to become a contributor to her web site. Simply contact her and ask for a password.

Submission Guidelines

To ensure the best looking recipes possible, please observe the following guidelines for submitting recipes:

Enter ingredients one-per-line separated by returns
Separate long blocks of directions into paragraphs with returns
Enter recipes in “American” English measurements
Use standard abbreviations or full words for measurements
In numbers, denote fractions with a slash (not special characters) e.g., 1/2.
In numbers, use hyphens only to denote ranges, e.g., 3-4 potatoes, not 2-1/2 lbs.

Editing a Recipe

If you are a contributor to Gretchen’s Cookbook, you can edit a recipe you submitted by navigating to the recipe and clicking “Edit Recipe” in the contributor bar near the bottom of the page.