nigella christmas

Princess_Fiona_2

Waterstones offer is on till Sunday 21st December.
Also checked on Tesco website and they have it on there for £9.99 delivery FOC if your order is over £15. PF

thriftlady_2

FZwanab wrote: »

Is it possible to cook like Nigella on a budget? the amount of different spirits, spices and ingredients impossible to get in lidl/ Aldi, have to do special shops just for those extra ingredients. A few examples would be marsala, cherry brandy, mace, all spice berries etc. etc. anyone else found this?

I agree FZ -not so much with the spices because I do have both mace and allspice berries but definitely with the alcohol. I've never seen so many different kinds of alcoholic drinks used in a cookbook. I'm sure adding cherry brandy to your cranberry sauce is very nice, but is it so much nicer it is worth buying a bottle of cherry brandy for?- I bet port would give it the same filip -expensive too but much more useful.

Even her more everyday recipes have obscure ingredients -meat loaves with A1 steak sauce (an American sauce) is one that springs to mind -I used ketchup and they were lovely. Rice malt syrup or some such was another hard to find ingredient which she used in a couple of recipes in Nigella Express when I'm sure golden syrup would have worked just as well.

It's fine if you're a competent cook and know what to substitute or if you're like me and just like reading about food -she does write well. I'm probably going to brine my turkey this year as she suggests but I won't be rushing out to buy all the ingredients she asks for, I'll just use what I have-I really don't think one cinnamon stick or star anise here or there is going to make that much difference.


But, no she doesn't write recipes with an eye on the budget that's for sure.

Cinny91

Nigella is meant to be the ultimate housewife, isn't she? Meaning she has to use the richest, sweetest and most expensive ingredients. Which is all well and good when she's worth a small fortune herself with a multi-millionare husband in the living room with his feet up. But not so good for us OS!

The thing I love about christmas is having a nice juicy chicken with lots of roasties and mash! Not infused turkey with gingerbread stuffing, maple parsnips and butter brussels with gammon or whatever it was. They'd be a treat on their own but too rich eaten all together.

Saying this, I love Nigella bringing alittle bit a sauce back into the kitchen so I'm not nigella-hating here. I made her red chilli jelly yesterday, which is lovely! I had a sneaky taste while it was cooling and it's sweet at the start but then so so so spicey. Really looking forward to using it on my leftovers - i used green chillis in mine too though so the jelly is more firey then red coloured.

FZwanab

thriftlady wrote: »

I agree FZ -not so much with the spices because I do have both mace and allspice berries but definitely with the alcohol. I've never seen so many different kinds of alcoholic drinks used in a cookbook. I'm sure adding cherry brandy to your cranberry sauce is very nice, but is it so much nicer it is worth buying a bottle of cherry brandy for?- I bet port would give it the same filip -expensive too but much more useful.

Even her more everyday recipes have obscure ingredients -meat loaves with A1 steak sauce (an American sauce) is one that springs to mind -I used ketchup and they were lovely. Rice malt syrup or some such was another hard to find ingredient which she used in a couple of recipes in Nigella Express when I'm sure golden syrup would have worked just as well.

It's fine if you're a competent cook and know what to substitute or if you're like me and just like reading about food -she does write well. I'm probably going to brine my turkey this year as she suggests but I won't be rushing out to buy all the ingredients she asks for, I'll just use what I have-I really don't think one cinnamon stick or star anise here or there is going to make that much difference.


But, no she doesn't write recipes with an eye on the budget that's for sure.

Thanks for that thriftlady, I think we need a nigella and co. substitution thread, with examples such as yours :

cherry brandy - port
A1 steak sauce - tomato ketchup
Rice malt syrup - golden syrup

and one I got earlier myself as I made some Cranberry and Apple chutney (from Nigella Christmas) and had no dried cranberries, I bought a jar of cranberries from lidl and used those and it turned out delicious.

I cannot see marsala in any supermarkets so I use a sherry instead.

Any other substitutions you have come across would be welcome.

mum26

I picked up my copy of Nigella Christmas from waterstones today, there were only 2 left out on the shelves though! The assistant said they were flying out of the shop, lol!

Interestingly Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food book which is also £8.99 seemed to be in plentiful supply (I have that already and it is very good, perhaps it is the TV series and the seasonality?).

I got mine from one of the Milton Keynes stores and went upstairs to pay as it was very busy downstairs and there was one overlooked copy of Nigella's book on one of the cashdesk displays at knee height so check those if your store seems to have run out!

Gingernutmeg

Tbh, I think that all TV chefs do the huge numbers of bizarre ingredients thing to a certain extent. Delia used to be terrible for it, and you could guarantee that there'd be some 'must-have' new ingredient in every new series that would be a) ridiculously expensive and b) impossible to find as it could only be bought in a leap year, in Australia having been imported there after being hand picked by a Nubian virgin in Peru. I remember trying to find ingredients when her Christmas collection came out - liquid glucose?? ginger wine?? odd cuts of meat?? 70% chocolate?? (this was back in the early 90s lol, I don't think dried cranberries even existed back then )

But I do agree that Nigella does use a lot of odd stuff - it's not so much the booze that's a problem but I do baulk at the idea of paying £5 plus £6 postage for a bag of American chocolate chips. Some recipes will stay just for reading, not for trying lol Having said that though I have loads of cookbooks full of recipes that I'll probably never make. It's still fun to read them

npsmama

although i really enjoy Nigella's books and recipes they are never even attempting to be frugal.
I always substitute things but i do still enjoy her ideas.

A Posh ingredients substitute thread would be great!

Bella79

ive just made the chili jam put it in little kilner ars with ribbon and tag for a few freinds for xmas
and just pulled out of the oven clementine cake yum yum yum i love nigella if thers somthing on the ingredients too xpensive or weird i jst change to something else !

Rabbit

I've just ordered this from Amazon £9.99 free p&p for standard delivery, I have missed the boat for this Christmas but I will get organised for next year early LOL. Thanks for all your comments which helped me make up my mind :T. I fancy making the chutneys for xmas pressies too.

Hope you all enjoy your cooking. Can't wait to get it now! Those mini puddinis looked yummy on the tele.

Rabbit x

tinkerbell84

FZwanab wrote: »

I cannot see marsala in any supermarkets so I use a sherry instead.

I've always found it in supermarkets - even little ones