what book would you recommend

Hi all

Im lookig for recommendations for a recipe book.

I can cook and bake a bit but I just tend to stick to the same old same old.
Also Im vegetarian but my OH and kids arent. I do make them meat dishes but I cant taste them so stick to my tried and tested meals that I know they like.

Im not looking for advanced gourmet recipes that cost a fortune in ingredients and take 4 hours to make, just a sort of improvers stage :D of cooking that gives me more dishes to play with.

What books do you use most often? Who does the best chuck it all in recipies?

Thanks
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  • Meadows
    Meadows Posts: 4,530
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  • maman
    maman Posts: 28,458
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    I do have an old Mrs Beeton and a Good Housekeeping that I just use to check quantities/times of basics I haven't done for a while but I've had those well before Google was invented!

    I'd agree with meadows that you'll find anything you want on the web these days. If you like the idea of having something written down you can make a file of favourites. I've built one up from tried and tested recipes going back to when my children did cooking at school (!!), recipes from friends and family, things I've cut from magazines and things from the net.
  • krlyr
    krlyr Posts: 5,993
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    We have a book club that drops a box of books into work and I saw a good book the other week, it was recipe that only have 3 (or was it 4) ingredients in them. OK, it cheated a bit (might list pastry as ready-made, so its just one ingredient) but it had some good recipes in there that weren't too daunting since the ingredients list was so short. Can't remember the name but sure you'd be able to find it on Google (or similar)

    I agree with using recipe sites though for free recipes. I find www.allrecipes.co.uk quite a good site as they're user-submitted so generally not too wild/out there like some TV chef published recipes can be!
  • kaydn
    kaydn Posts: 251 Forumite
    I would agree with the internet, I save mine to my channel 4 scrapbook, you can save a link from any site, would also reccomend libraries to borrow books, charity shops and in the summer car boot sales. For shops WHS and supermarkets tend to have good offers on new books.
  • *Beki*
    *Beki* Posts: 190
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    BBC Good Food is brilliant- if you register on their website, then it creates a binder where you can save recipes that you like.

    I would also recommend Jamie Oliver's book Ministry of Food - it has some really great tasty but simple recipes, I use it all the time. The soups particularly are great- really easy but make huge quantities!
  • The Good Housekeeping vegetarian cookery book is good. Plenty of ideas for all sorts of vege dishes and its straightforward.
  • jackyann
    jackyann Posts: 3,433 Forumite
    I use BBC food a lot. I also have a huge number of cookbooks - love 'em - and know that the most wonderful recipes turn up in unexpected places. In fact I find when cooking for a mixed bunch, classic vegetarian recipes are not always the best.
    I suggest you get cookbooks from the library if you prefer browsing books.
    Here are some of my favourites:
    Nigella Lawson "How to Eat" her first & best, packed with real recipes
    Rick Stein's books on France & Spain: detailed & careful
    Leon: lots of veggie friendly recipes
    Anything by Delia!

    I'll add my favourite veggie friendly recipe:
    It's any variation on spanish omelette / piperade / huevos rancheros, all of which use very similar ingredients. Veggies eat as is, and I cook some bits of bacon or sausage, or slice some cold meat for the carnivores.
  • Good old-fashioned Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course was the first book I got when I got married 20-odd years ago and I still refer to it for basics.

    In these modern times, I tend to go onto BBC Good Food and key in an ingredient and it tells me what I can do with it. I've used it loads recently for ideas for my new catering business, with great success.
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  • Callie22
    Callie22 Posts: 3,444
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    I quite like the 'Saving Dinner' books. They are American so you can't get hold of everything, but the recipes are all fairly simple and most are really tasty. Not too 'weird' for families either.
  • Mands
    Mands Posts: 737
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    gremlin wrote: »

    Im not looking for advanced gourmet recipes that cost a fortune in ingredients and take 4 hours to make, just a sort of improvers stage :D of cooking that gives me more dishes to play with.


    One of the Nigel Slater books.

    He spends a lot of time talking/writing about why things cook the way they do and what goes well together and how you can tell when things are just at the perfect point of doneness. But, what might be useful for you and your meat dishes, in some of his books he finishes up each recipe with suggestions along the lines of "if you enjoyed this then think about using the same recipe but swapping this for that."

    I'm decorating so my cookery books are stashed away but Appetite is are worth considering.

    Mands
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