All your recipes are combined in a single place, whether you entered them yourself or downloaded them form the eCookbook Library.
Le Sous-Chef makes it easy to browse through your recipe collection with several convenient search features.
The first breakdown of recipes is by Cookbook. All the recipes that you have entered are in the Book entitled "My Recipes". Tap on a book Title and the recipe list on the right will show only the recipes from the selected Cookbook.
The "Browse by Ingredient" feature brings up a list of all the ingredients used in at least one recipe in your collection. Choose one to see only recipes using that ingredient.
You can assign a variety of tags and keywords to your recipes. These are displayed in the tables at the bottom left. Choose a word or phrase to see the recipes taged with it.
Perhaps the most versatile search option, the search bar atop the recipe list on the right of the screen allows you to search through the entire text, ingredient names, tool names, titles comments and tags of all your recipes.
The ratings filter is shown off, but can be used to filter all searches by recipe the ratings of 1 to 5 stars that you can assign recipes in your collection.
The Recipe Section is divided into three tabs, the first of which is shown at right. It provides an overview of the recipe. All fields can be edited, and all are included in the search results of the recipe collection search tools.
Tap on an image to see a bigger version.
You can change all of the pictures, either replacing them with some from you photo library, or by taking your own directly with the iPad.
When you select an ingredient or a tool in the tables at either side of the bottom of the screen, the middle table displays all the steps in the recipe where it is used. Tap on a step to view the step in Edit mode.
The second tab in the Recipe area, the 'Detail/Edit' tab, gives you access to the components and steps in the recipe.
A recipe can have parts, called 'Components'. They are akin to mini-recipes that allow you to break down the tasks and steps into a relevant structure. A dish may have a sauce as a separate component, or the crust of a pie may be separated out into its own component.
Every Recipe has a Core Component. You can add as many Components as you wish to organize your Recipe.
The top table lists all the steps or just those for a component. When a Component is selected, you can add, reorder and delete its steps.
Select a step in the table to display the detail on the right hand side. There you can make changes to any aspect of the step: text, timing, image. Steps can have several images, each accompanied by some text.
Since ingredients and tools belong to steps, this is also where you can edit them.
This screen provides an 'execution'-oriented view of the recipe. It is the same screen used to display the execution sequence for an Menu. If you are cooking a single recipe and don't want all the fanfare of creating a menu, use this feature to accompany you in the kitchen as you cook.
Using all the timing information from the recipe steps, Le Sous-Chef gives you several views of the making of your dish with a built-in timer to assist you every step of the way.
This screen is full of easy-to-use features that provide real help in the kitchen.
When you tap on the 'Enter A New Recipe' button, the next screen lets you enter basic information about the recipe.
The Name of the recipe and its description are indexed by Le Sous-Chef and searchable. The description field is a good place to indicate the provenance of the Recipe.
The Keyword field allows you to create your own indexing system on the fly. Unlike the Category and Course choices, you do not need to select items from a pick list. The Recipe collection's table of keywords lists all of your individual word entries.
The Category and Course lists can be edited in the options Screen available from the A La Carte page. These allow you to cross-reference your recipes based on rubrics you will often use, which cuts down on the typing.
When planning a menu from your recipes, the ingredients from each Recipe are scaled up or down to the number of diners at your meal from the number of guests the recipe is for, unless you set the recipe to not scale here.
The Recipe is created when you hit the save button.
Le Sous-Chef then immediately takes you to the first step in your recipe. Here you provide the first paragraph of text for the step, its first picture, and timing information.
A step can be labeled as either active or passive. The duration can be entered in various formats: '5' and '5m' mean five minutes; '1h' means one hour; '2d' means two days.
If a step can be completed ahead of time and set aside for later, the maximum amount of set-aside time should be entered in the 'Make ahead up to:' field on this screen. Taking a moment to fill out this field when relevant gives Le Sous-Chef valuable information to help you when executing a dish or a whole Menu.
Finally, you add Ingredients and Tools to the Step.
This is described in detail in the 'Ingredients' section listed at left.
Whenever you save a step, you are taken to the updated list of steps.
The last row lets you edit the steps table. Tapping on the blue accessory button reveals a menu with two options.
Note that when there are fewer than two steps in a Component or Recipe, only the add option is available.
The 'Edit' option changes the table to edit mode where you can delete steps and reorder them.
Press down on the right hand side of the row until it floats, and drag it to a new position in the list to reorder the steps.
To delete a row, press the red icon and confirm.
The blue accessory button is there to let you know that you can edit, either a table or a row. To Edit the content of a step, tap the blue accessory in the row you wish to edit. To edit the table (add or remove) tap the last row's blue accessory.
The same visuals apply to delete a row (in this case a description row) or reorder the rows.
Components are an advanced feature of Le Sous-Chef, just as in a way they are an advanced feature in cooking.
Not all recipes need to be structured into components, but it can be very useful.
In a word, a component is a sub-recipe. It is a sequence of steps. The main difference between a component and a recipe is that a component must have a 'next step'. This is an indication of what part of the main recipe the component 'plugs into'.
Components can be reused: when you add a component to a recipe, you type in its name in a search field, and you can either choose a matching existing component or create a new one.
When you import a component, a new copy is made of each step, ingredient and tool, and these are inserted into your new recipe. Any changes you make to the imported component will be for this recipe only.
When you import a component, you can choose the next step from all the steps already entered in the recipe's other components and core recipe.
You also have an opportunity to scale the ingredients for the imported component by changing the number of diners that your new recipe is for.
If the component that you are importing was originally for a different number of guests, the ingredient quantities are changed to match your new recipe.
When you want to add an ingredient to a step, you are presented with the products list that Le Sous-Chef maintains.
Choose a product from the list. You can look by category, scroll through the ingredients, or make a search.
If the product you seek is not in the list, just create it on the fly.
With the ingredient selected, choose the quantity. Le Sous-Chef shows shows you the most likely choices, but you can ask to see more units.
Choose the unit first, and then input the quantity. As you change the unit, the quantity is converted for you. You can also change from metric to imperial measure system display.
Adding a tool to a step is easy:
just select it from the list...
Tools can be added to the list in the Options screen available from the 'À la Carte' menu.
