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How to Get Generic Text Recipes
Into NYC
Here is the technique to use to get text recipes from scanner, newsgroup,
websites, and other miscellaneous sources into your NYC cookbook.
The first task is to get the recipes into a text file (not a word processor file) where they can be touched up into NYC's generic text format. Then you edit the recipe until it is in NYC generic text format. Use a good text editor for this like Notepad, or if you have large files, use Professional File Editor (PFE) or TextPad or UltraEdit. The generic format is easy, but it requires certain characters and blank lines between major elements of a recipe. The generic text format looks like this:
@@@@@
Recipe Name
categories (comma delimited)
ingredients (qty unit description; preparation)
directions
@@@@@
Next Recipe Name
etc.
This arrangement resembles most recipes that you find. Thus, you will usually just need to place the @@@@@ line at top of each recipe, put in a categories line, and then make sure you have blank lines between recipe elements. Here is a real example:
-----------START OF EXAMPLE------------
@@@@@
Tacos
meat, mexican
1 lb hamburger
1 lb cheddar cheese; grated
1 head lettuce
1 pkg taco shells
8 oz hot sauce
Brown hamburger. Drain meat. Stuff ingredients in shells.
Add your favorite hot sauce. Eat hot.
----------END OF EXAMPLE-------------
Never use an ingredient line like "1 egg"; always use a 1-word unit, like "1 whole egg" or "1 lg egg". Always put a semi-colon ";" between an ingredient description and the preparation, like "cheddar cheese; grated" in the above example.
You can also use Glen Hosey's MM Buster program to put generic text
recipes into MM format, which can then be imported directly into NYC using
File... Import Recipes...
See previous NYC Tips