I actually imported alll the recipes into a spreadsheet, one recipe per row.. it screws up the formatting slightly, but not enough to make the recipe unusable. Then, I sort the rows alphabetically. Afterwards, I use a formula that I drag down the second column that returns a "1" for a duplicate in the next row or a "0" for unique. I can then copy/paste just the numbers and sort out the "1"s and delete any duplicates. I was able to bring my list from a mega 20,000 to this more reasonable number.
If I find I need more sophistacted handling of my recipes, I use more specific tools. Gourmet works well on Linux and somewhat good on Windows, outside of the lack of an ability to print yet, it allows me to import mastercook files and convert my recipe sizes and returns the results in decimal format which is handy when using a digital scale in the kitchen that doesn't use fractions. For printing and pretty formatting, I use BigOven. It uses fractions, even during conversion (frustrating, for me anyway) but it allows me to print, it can import other cooking app files and I can create my own template for my recipe collection. I'll most likely use these tools alongside EN since they do serve my needs, or at least I figure out how to write an addon for EN that would let me convert my recipes and import other recipe file databases within the program.
EN is a wonderful, wonderful program. I can finally actually work and be creative without digital clutter. So awesome
