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Many things are displayed proudly in a foodie's kitchen, a colorful Le Creuset cassoulet, a shiny copper stock pot. But the most prominent feature in every kitchen is the cookbooks. Vegetarian, Barbecue, Chinese, Moroccan, every specialty under the sun. The Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker, and books by Beard, Child, Waters, every chef ever seen on television - you know a cook by the books they accumulate.

There is only one problem with all those cookbooks. Which of the fifteen Asian cookbooks is hiding that marvelous hot and sour soup recipe? Which one of those 200+ books contains that special chocolate pudding recipe that even Grandma couldn't match? Preparation of any recipe is inevitably preceded by two hours of searching, as a desperate memory tries to retrieve what was different about the name of the desired dish, and just which cookbook is concealing it.

Of course cooking isn't all drudgery, and neither is cookbook exploration. Foodies will always enjoy reading cookbooks. Luscious recipes, lovely pictures, evocative descriptions, all tempting us to brave the new frontier of sous vide, or giving us courage to take on the project of spicing and canning that lug of beautiful peaches from the Farmer's Market.

But we are witnessing a revolution in the everyday practicality of cooking. Every foodie still has their Joy of Cooking sitting on the shelf, but odds are that's not where they're going to head when it comes time to search for a great recipe for fricassee. Not when a five-second web search for fricassee can produce a list that will dwarf what is available on her bookshelves. Great recipes, wonderful recipes, including all the recipes that are in those books. All arranged neatly on the computer screen. You can even compile your own cookbook, at sites like recipezaar.com.

So now those lovely (and expensive) cookbooks can be saved from the horrors of kitchen stains and steam-warped covers. Just find the recipe you want and print a fresh copy whenever you need it. Spill all you like! Make your cookies, then use the recipe for kindling in the fireplace. After all, it's just a piece of paper. Then, sit and enjoy your fresh cookies by the warm fire. The real recipe is bookmarked. Or saved in your personal cookbook at recipezaar.com. Or it's on deli.cio.us. How appropriate.

The down and dirty of recipe retrieval has been moved to the electronic arena. The web excels at some things, and one of those is research. Gone are the days of libraries, card catalogs and microfiche. Just sit at a keyboard and type in a few words and the result is page after page of information.

And you won't find just recipes. There are countless merchants who will instantly ship previously unattainable ingredients. Candied kumquats? A wonderful artisanal cheese that's produced thousands of miles away? Ingredients for a boiled lobster dinner for 12, complete with live lobsters? Not a problem. Just go on line and order.

Has the web replaced the cookbook? Not hardly. But just as the ebook has broadened the definitions of books and publishing, the web has expanded the definition of cookbook. And for many cooks now, their latest cookbook was purchased because they read a great review on the web. Most foodie's browsers contain bookmarked lists of all the recipes and ingredient resources they will ever need. Their printed cookbooks are reserved for quiet, relaxed moments spent happily searching for new inspiration.

Once they've found that new inspiration, they'll take it to the computer and dig deeper. After all, every cook values an efficient multi-purposing tool. And that's what the computer has become.

Learn more about this author, Patricia Resnick.
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