1. By section
Garde manger, saucier, entremetier, pastry. During service everyone opens only what their station needs. Works well in kitchens with a fixed brigade and fixed stations.
2. By menu or season
A folder for the lunch menu, one for the tasting menu, one for the autumn menu. Useful when your menu changes often. Move old menus to an archive folder after the season so your current book stays clear.
3. Base separate from dishes
One folder with the base that rarely changes, such as stocks, jus, doughs and mother sauces, and folders for the dishes built on it. Change the veal jus once and it is right everywhere.
4. Pastry by component
Doughs, creams, ice cream and sorbet, glazes, decoration and bonbons. In pastry you often search by component, not by dish. A recipe can sit in several folders, so your crème pâtissière belongs to both the creams and the dessert it is part of.
5. By event or client
For catering and banqueting: a folder per event or regular client, with exactly the recipes made that day. Scale them to the number of guests and print the whole folder at once for the kitchen.
Combine folders with categories
Use categories for what a recipe is (sauce, garnish, dessert) and folders for where you use it. You can always search two ways, without a recipe existing twice.
In Savour you create your own folders and categories, and a recipe can sit in several folders at once.