What cookbooks would you 'save' ?

thriftlady_2

newleaf wrote: »

Does anyone have the Ottolenghi cookbook? I have been browsing on Amazon again and it is calling to me.... :rolleyes:

I do:D I haven't used it much though-it's more of an inspiration book I think. I love the photos of the salads but I think they look so good because they are served in huge quantities on big platters. If you're making them at home for an everyday meal you won't make so much and the visual impact is lessened.

I made the green bean, orange and hazelnut salad. It was good but all the hazelnuts fell to the bottom of the dish- not apparent in the photo thanks to the food stylist. Next time I'll leave them out as I didn't think they added much. Tbh I think the beans on their own in a nice dressing would have been better.

I also took exception to their statement that you can't make meringues without a free-standing food-mixer.

Swan_2

I have it too & agree with what thriftlady said

I've made some biscuits, which were nice, but waaay too sweet for my tastes, nothing a little tweaking won't sort out though

Merrywidow

Now here is a first - I was flicking thru Gary Rhodes, Great British Classics or somesuch - came across Scotch Eggs and home made Salad Cream - just had to make them - they were so easy, couldkick myself for not making them earlier - shop bought are horrible. Made the salad cream too, took 10 minutes - SOOOOOOO easy and soooootasty with the eggs. Must be years since I tasted Salad Cream - will make some more this weekend.

silkbeast_2

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned - The Cookery Year in association with readers digest ..... I used to love it as a child - my mum used to use it for her dinner parties, and I used to love reading the beginning with all the different fruits, veg and meat and what to do with them! One of the first things my husband and I bought was the up-to-date version about 5 years ago - it was his mum's bible as well! We still use it loads, particularly the end sections with all the basic recipes for pancake batter, sponges etc.....

morganlefay

I just remembered Katherine Whitehorn's 'Cooking in a Bedsitter' which was one of the first cookbooks I ever got and tried to cook from (t was very easy and good). She said a really great thing which I love: when someone asked her what it was like, cooking in your bedroom she said 'I'm not cooking in the bedroom, I'm sleeping in the kitchen' ! And I had Jocasta Innes's 'Frugal Food', which was wonderful at the time tho I must have it somewhere but haven't seen it for years and I might not like it now - it was a v early bible for thrifty cooks as I recall.

Chris25

silkbeast wrote: »

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned - The Cookery Year in association with readers digest ..... ....

I was searching in the garage yesterday for a box that I thought contained baking trays and cake tins, but discovered that it was full of .................more cookery books:eek: .

I'm pretty sure that one is amongst them. Now I've got another load to sort through :rolleyes:

mother_noah

I have just started to sort out my cookery book collection ,I have so many I gave up counting at 1,000.!!! . About 10 years ago I got rid of a hugh collection when I split from my husband and moved house .I missed them so I have started to collect again.I read them like other people read novels .My favourites are the old tatty ones with pages stuck together with cake mix,these are getting harder to get as charity shops only put the clean glossy ones on the shelves.

i tell my daughters that they are my legacey to them when i die .They dont seem that excited ,I wonder why !

misspenny

i have a mcdougalls flour book that my mum got from saving tokens from the back of flour pack before i was born (im 24 now) i learnt to bake about age 9 or 10 from this book making biscuits and fairy cakes and when i left home mum gave me the book which is now very battered and has lots of tape holding it together there are also plenty of vintage samples of cake batter sticking the pages together, its affectionatly know as the orange book.

SunnyGirl

We used this book at school in the days when it was still called Cookery & Domestic Science :rotfl:

bunty109

The BeRo book is great. My aunt got me a copy and I use it all the time (it's out this afternoon to make cakes for the school fayre). Other fave is Nigella's Domestic Goddess. I don't usually like famous people turned cooks, but I have Fay Ripley's new book out from the library and that's pretty good for everyday family stuff. I am trying a chicken in orange and ginger recipe later ....