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purplerabbits at 10:56am on 22/06/2006 under food
purplerabbits at 10:56am on 22/06/2006 under foodToday ladies and gentlemen of my friends list, I should like you to recommend to me a cookery book. I have for a while been considering learning to cook, but from my brief forays into the bookshops I have discovered that cookbooks are both numerous and expensive, and that the ones that end up in charity shops are the worst of the bunch - being copies that no-one has ever cooked from which are therefore clean.
What I'm looking for are recipes, preferably with some pictures which I can make in 20 minutes or less actual cooking (i.e. I don't mind of they need an additional hour or more in the oven, so I'm not looking for a 'quick meals' book. I want them to use relatively cheap or common ingredients with the occasional foray into something posher, and I don't want to have to buy any special kitchen equipment.
I can happily feed myself, so I don't need Delia's how to boil an egg lessons, but equally I have never 'learnt to cook' so there's probably stuff I'm missing that I'd like to have explained. I'd like to use more local ingredients and plenty or vegetables and I don't especially want a curry book. Any ideas?
If you can't recommend a book, do you have any favourite recipe sites? Or do you know of any second hand shops in Edinburgh that might have a good range?
What I'm looking for are recipes, preferably with some pictures which I can make in 20 minutes or less actual cooking (i.e. I don't mind of they need an additional hour or more in the oven, so I'm not looking for a 'quick meals' book. I want them to use relatively cheap or common ingredients with the occasional foray into something posher, and I don't want to have to buy any special kitchen equipment.
I can happily feed myself, so I don't need Delia's how to boil an egg lessons, but equally I have never 'learnt to cook' so there's probably stuff I'm missing that I'd like to have explained. I'd like to use more local ingredients and plenty or vegetables and I don't especially want a curry book. Any ideas?
If you can't recommend a book, do you have any favourite recipe sites? Or do you know of any second hand shops in Edinburgh that might have a good range?
calm
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For a comprehensive 'how to cook anything as long as it's not too exotic' book, it's hard to beat Delia's classic cookery book (the black one with her in a red shirt on the front)
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http://www.deliaonline.com/
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1877168556/qid=1150975583/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_0_8/203-8697492-7985512
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As I've said above, Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food is also superb, and is certainly my most-referenced book (followed by Heston Blumenthal's cookbook, but that's less use if you don't have a meat thermometer).
And Jamie Oliver's more basic cookbooks are surprisingly good too.
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I second Nigel Slater as being closest to what you describe but his books do contain a lot of repetition and are very expensive! The Kitchen Diaries is one of those cookbooks you read for pleasure as well as recipes though.
I am getting into Gordon Ramsay's books atm. some of his recipes are risibly "cheffy" but others are surprisingly accessible. Lots of meat though and again his books are expensive. Also I fear that when I actually see him on TV I will hate him so much I will regret buying his books - plus I think he is a Tory - also the problem with Nigella Lawson of course.
Delia is the book I go to when I need to remember eg how to make a souffle or eg a Victoria sponge but she is dull! Jamie Oliver's recipes are not very good really.
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She has lots of things which, if you serve at a dinner party, you need to keep quiet about how quickly they were made.
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For recipes that aren't necessarily novel, but are that are pretty much guaranteed to work, I like The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book and Eat Well, Stay Well. The latter is great for special diets. It's traditional cooking, with a lot of short prep, longer cooking time dishes.
We also make quite a bit of use of the New Covent Garden Soup Book. I tend to ignore some of their ideas about making your own stock though.
As you've probably figured out, we have a lot of cook books! I'd say the main Good Housekeeping cookbook (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1843401150/qid=1150996620/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-9664171-5282801) is probably the best all-rounder, as it's got a lot of useful stuff like cooking times for different types of meat, basic pastries etc., though nowadays we make most use of the Cranks books.
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It's a recent addition to the collection, so we've not tested a lot of the recipes yet, but if you're looking for a reference that pretty much tells you how to anything in British / French cooking, it's certainly very comprehensive.
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For a different slant, here's a website which allows you to specify up to 3 ingredients and it searches for appropriate recipes. I haven't used it extensively, but it looks OK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/
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We've also got Cranks Fast Food which as
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I'd also recommend (like a few other people above) the Beeb's website, very useful for searching when you find you've only got potatoes and a tin of chickpeas in the cupboard.
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For cookery books, I am very fond of Mark Bittmann's How to Cook Everything. However, it is written in America for Americans and thus might not be at all useful to you. I have used my copy to the point that pages are starting to fall out; for most major foodstuffs one can think of he has at least 2-3 recipes, and for generic things (chicken breasts, scrambled eggs, cookies) he'll offer various straightforward preparations and then a list of easy variations. I really like being able to buy whatever vegetables are cheap, and then come home and find something nice to do with them.