Cooking diary method?

If you have a smartphone, use one of the note apps

I am not an app guy for notes. I like a small flip-over-top notebook like I used in school for assignments. This way I can keep it in my pocket when cooking. 

Don't need no stinkin notebook, I've got one of them thar photototographic memories... Uh, now what were we talkin about again???

I'm a nerd, so of course I do it all on my computer!    I used to keep a regular word file with how each cook went, sorted by what type of meat, etc., but then I moved it into EverNote so it'd be on my phone as well, anywhere I go.

I just can't imagine using paper for this kind of thing anymore.  I LOSE stuff right and left, my desk is a black hole.  But if it's on my computer and my phone, I know right where it is.

Smoke signals my friend.  Your cooks are amazing, keep posting them here.

Theophan said:

I used to keep a regular word file with how each cook went,

Great topic @CheeseheadinAC.  

Theopan, that is still my approach.  My Word file is up to 800 pages of recipes and cook notes.

My wife made a 3 ring binder for me for x-mas one year.  It is divided into 10 sections: beef, pork, poultry, ribs, charcuterie, duck, etc.. all the major categories that you would want notes for.  Things like hamburgers, sausages, chicken parts etc are not recorded. Things like bacon, sausage recipes, whole birds and roasts etc are written down. By doing this, I have really dialed in my cooking time and can pretty much nail the nail time. If I want to cook a 4.75 lb pork rib roast, I can see how long to do it for and be within 10 or so minutes. Boneless will obviously be shorter, but I can get that timing separately as well.

I keep track of the meat weight (if a roast or bird), amount/type of wood used,  seasoning, dome temp, time put on the grate, time/temp removed and if I used a brine or did anything special. For giggles, I also put price so that in years I can look back and say "wow.... look how cheap it was...."
At the very bottom, I have two ratings. One is the one from my wife/guests (if family- they know I am nuts) and one from me since mine is usually lower than theirs. Sometimes I put post cook notes - but only if there is something really bad that I need to remember, like too much salt or pulled too late etc... Or something I definitely want to remember.

Takes all of 3-5 more minutes per cook to do.

The wife and I have a 3 ring binder and use those clear plastic sleeves for recipes we use a lot and I started a blog mainly for me but also to help out others. Some people like it, I think, although I haven't been as active on it the past few years.

Signs I may need my eyes checked:

- I just renewed my driver's license and now I'm required to wear glasses while driving.

- I saw this thread title and wondered what the "dairy method" was.

matoch said:

I'm slowly working on my own IOS app to create a cooking log. I need to do something when I'm not cooking

I'm in for beta testing if it ever comes to that and you are serious about creating one. 

Every cook is a new experience. I just "wing" it... 

CheeseheadinAZ said:

@RRP can you provide a pic of your notebook?

I'm not sure if you are pulling my leg or not, but at this stage I'll play along. BTW these are 1.5" binders and what I failed to mention was once I have adapted a recipe to our liking then typically I do go ahead and convert it to WORD so that future changes can be easily updated and saved.

Evernote and Instagram... But most of the time I'm just making it up as I go

I have to be honest, I half expected a handcrafted wood binder.  Kinda disappointed.