 The 1936 edition differed from other commercial cookbooks of the era by its retention of the author's folksy comments and anecdotes, and its layout of the recipes.Instead of listing the ingredients for a dish at the top with preparation directions following, the recipes in "Joy" (1936) were presented by narratives, with the ingredients indicated as the need for them occurred, with each placed in boldface on a new indented line — thus preserving a conversational style throughout the recipe.This method came to be known as the "action method".