Foolproof cookery text books - help needed

silverjay

Has to be Delia everytime for me. She hasn't let me down in almost 40 years. I still use my original copy of her complete cookery course and her One is Fun book which is a book full of recipes for single portion meals.

You could also try borrowing some Slimming World recipe books from the library or flip through a magazine in the supermarket as some of their recipes are fairly simple. You can also find sample recipes on their website I think. Or pop over to the Health & Beauty board they have Slimming World thread there and they are usually happy to share tips and recipes.

babyshoes

I don't really use cookery books for everyday cooking, they are more a starting point for me, and from there I just bung things in or leave things out as I fancy. I also make up a lot of recipes just by thinking what will go well together. Being able to do this comes from learning the basics at school and experimenting with flavours a lot - I had some disasters, but you learn from them and next time you make it better! At worst the disasters are usually edible, unless they are completely burned!

It sounds like you are struggling with the basics though - why don't you let us know what sort of things you would like to cook, and we will see if we have an easy, simple recipe to help you out!

For me, one of the easiest (though not quickest) meals is a roast, believe it or not. I usually do roast chicken or pork, as lamb is expensive and beef can dry out too easily. I use a large metal roasting tray with sides which are a couple of inches deep, and a grid which rests on top.

I put a selection of veg underneath including some potatoes - little potatoes are nice for this (though they don't go crispy, I don't mind not having roasties for an everyday meal!) and the meat on the grid. The juices from the meat drip down onto the veg helping it cook, and you can collect the juices from both meat and veg afterwards to make gravy.

Veg which works well roasted (you can use any or all of these) include onions (chop them quite big, I usually do quarters of a medium onion), garlic, squash of various types, parsnips and other root veg like carrots, leeks, mushrooms (leave whole if small or chop into halves or quarters), coloured sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, normal potatoes or baby potatoes. All the veg should be peeled if necessary, washed if necessary and cut into somewhat similar sizes so they cook evenly, and bigger chunks are good for this, about 1-2 inches square is ideal. Bung the whole lot into your baking tray, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over them, then stir them around a bit to coat them in the oil. If you like, add some sea salt and pepper at this stage - I prefer to add seasoning after tasting the food if possible to cut down on the amount of salt we eat.

To prepare a whole chicken remove it from the packaging (but check the weight of it before you throw the packaging away) and put it above your veg either on a grid or straight on top of the veggies if you don't have one (I just use the grid to keep the bottom of the meat dry), and check inside the cavity as sometimes they put the innards in a little plastic bag and shove it inside the chicken - though not so often these days, especially with a bog standard supermarket chicken! Pat the chicken dry with a piece of kitchen towel, then pour on a very little ammount of olive oil and rub it evenly onto the skin. You now have a choice of seasoning. I like to buy 'chicken seasoning/chicken spice' from the supermarket and simply sprinkle that on so it is well coated - this gives the skin a nice flavour and makes it go crispy in the oven. You can leave it plain, or just put a bit of salt and pepper on. You can also experiment with other flavours like paprika, garlic, herbs, spices etc. I don't bother with stuffing, but if you like you can put things like garlic or an onion inside your chicken to subtly flavour the meat. It does increase the cooking time though if you have something big inside.

Put the whole lot in the oven on a medium heat (about gas mark 5). To calculate the cooking time, check the weight of the chicken on the packet. Cook your chicken for 20minutes per pound (approx 40mins per kilo) plus another 20 minutes - so for example a 2 pound / 1kg chicken would cook for 60 mins. Take it out of the oven (use oven gloves or a thickly folded tea towel) and check if it is cooked by poking it with a sharp knife in the deepest bit of flesh. Squeeze some juices out with the flat of the knife and if they are clear (rather than cloudy), then it is cooked. If it is not cooked, put it back in the oven to cook for another 10 mins then test it again. If there are no juices, it is probably over cooked! Another way to check is to pull a leg away from the body of the chicken and look at the flesh next to the bone. If it is pink or red next to the bone, it isn't cooked.

To make roast pork, prepare the veggies in the same way. Put your unwrapped pork on the grid or on the veg. Don't throw away the packaging until you know how much it weighs! If you want to make crackling, (though it is pretty much pure fat, so not very diet friendly!) start by turning your oven on high (gas mark 8), then use a very sharp knife to cut lines through the skin into the fat about a thumb width apart or a bit wider. Don't cut so deep you are cutting into the meat bit. Use some paper towels to dry the skin and fat as much as you can, then sprinkle a fair bit of salt on the skin/fat and rub it in, so the whole crackling bit is evenly salted. The drying then adding of salt helps the skin to turn into crispy crackling. Put the whole lot into the hot oven for 30 minutes, then open the oven to check it isn't burning. Turn the oven down to gas mark 5. Cook for 30 mins per pound (or 1 hour per kilo), plus the 30 mins of hot oven time at the beginning. (If you don't want to make crackling, don't bother scoring, drying and salting the skin then putting it in a hot oven - just put it into the oven on gas mark 5 straight away, and do 30 min per pound plus 30 min.)

To make gravy, put the meat on a carving board to rest, lift the veg out of the juices which will have collected in the pan, then pour the juice out into a pot. Pour some boiling water into the pan and if there is a bit of almost burned juice stuck to the pan scrape it out with a spoon because that has lots of flavour - the hot water will loosen it. Add to your gravy pot. Now top up to the required level with water, and add an appropriate quantity of bisto granules (according to the box) and stir well over a low heat until thickened. Add more granules if you want it thicker, or more water if you want it thinner. A splash of port or wine in the gravy adds a nice exra zing, I find!

To serve, cut the meat into slices or pieces with a sharp knife. Don't worry about carving it 'wafer thin', chunks taste just as good! :rotfl:

Now, reading back, it looks like a lot of instructions, but if you break it down into sections and get each one into your head separately, you will find it is actually fairly simple! Good luck!

AlwaysAllie

kymbogs wrote: »

You might be underestimating yourself! If you actually had a go at a simple recipe, from a book or online, you might find it surprisingly easy. I'm imagining you looking at a recipe book like me looking at a knitting pattern - look at the whole thing and I'm terrified. If I take it one line at a time, I can do it. But you'll never know if you don't give it a go.

Hope this isn't too basic/patronising but what about trying a kids cook book. This may build your confidence and/or prove to you that actually you can do more than you think.

Like the idea of the cooked chicken!

Good luck and don't give up

AA

rozmister

I downloaded a free cookbook a while back (from a link from here) that would be perfect for you. It's designed for teens at school doing Food Tech and the idea is to give you the basic foundation cookery skills. Without sounding patronising you sound like you need to start from scratch and this book really does that in a clear and easy to understand way.
It has all the normal stuff in it like chilli, lasagne, spaghetti, soup, stews, casseroles, currys, salads, rice and pasta dishes, cheese and ragu sauce and desserts.
It starts with pictures of all the equipment in case you don't know what you're looking for (it's mainly obvious though!) and each recipe lists the ingredients, shows you pictures of what you need to use and lays out the recipe in basic numbered points.

The link to download it is in the following article direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_171713 You need to add the www because it won't let me because I'm not allowed to put links!!

The other good thing is that this is free except for printing it which is a pittance if you have your own printer and probably about £1 if you use the libraries. I keep mine in an A4 folder along with other recipes I find in magazines and such Hope this helps

madtrekker

The previous poster had a good suggestion to have a look at some kids cookery books if you want to start with the real basics. Why not get your daughter to help - it will help to reinforce the healthy eating if she's helped to prepare the dinners too.

Here are a few good ones, some of them even have photos to show step-by-step instructions.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Cook-Usborne-Cooking-Chisholm/dp/1409504972/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1294259779&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Things-Usborne-Cookery-Cards/dp/0746077556/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294259779&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginners-Cookbook-Usborne-Cookbooks-Fiona/dp/0746085389/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294259779&sr=8-1

lostinrates

swampmonster, I think like others, we could give you more help with more detail on what you can do, what will be eaten and what you' like to try Once you have found your feet you'll be fine, and might even love cooking!

e.g. do you think you could boil pasta? (I don't want to sound patronising if you most certainly could but..here you go ...)

Open pack, weigh out a portion dry (portions x number of people) and put in a large pan of water that is boiling (has big bubbles coming to the top) (with a pinch of salt and a dessert spoon of olive oil if you want.)

You want the sauce pan (a pan that is deep, not a frying pan!) to be as big as possible, partly for room for the pasta, remember it swells a littlem but also for the IMO short pastas (shells/twists/penne) ar easier than long ones at the beginning because if you are a non cook you probably don't have a big enough pan to fully immerse long pasta ...yet.;)

Pasta packets have timings on them, but you can start to test them early if you like them less soft (like an Italian).

When done drain into a colander ..or a sieve...or a steamer pan, whatever you have.

Could you do this? would your daughter eat pasta? A correct portion of pasta with any number of healthy sauces...we can help with that, is an inexpensive quick and healthy meal that is very easy to get you started in the kitchen.

suzybloo

I dont know about English WRI's but the Scottish WRI has a brilliant basic cookbook that covers, starters, main courses, puddings, baking, jam making,bottling fruit etc. It is not fancy by any means but it is well worth the price - cant remember what I paid the last time I bought one but think it was about £6, the one I have I received 25 years ago when first married and have bought others throught the years as presents. Sometimes ebay have them for a couple of pounds - money well spent, and once you get confident enough you can adapt the recipes to suit.

meritaten

I was lucky and was taught basic cookery skills at school. but my bible since I have married (nearly 35 years ago) was the 'Good Housekeeping Cookery Book', I am told that Delias book on basic cookery is good too.
In my experience you need to know
How to cook meat - weigh it and calculate 25 mins cooking time plus 25 mins over. at gas 6! for well done and poultry.
how to cook veg - plenty of water and only add about a teaspoon of salt then cook until the knife will just go through it. you can keep it warm without over cooking by reducing heat until its just below simmer.
pastry - bit tougher but a general rule is half fat to flour - rub in the fat with the flour til it resembles breadcrumbs then add water a little at a time until it rolls together..........then roll it out! you can wrap it in cling film and leave in the fridge for a day if you want to make it in advance.
pasta - get a huge pan of water boiling and add a good heaped teaspoon of salt.........fresh pasta only takes a few minutes, dried will tell you on the packet but usually its about 12 minutes. test it by tasting it.........any hard bits and it isnt done........its done as soon as you can bite into it easily! thats 'al dente'.

rosieben

rozmister wrote: »

I downloaded a free cookbook a while back (from a link from here) that would be perfect for you. It's designed for teens at school doing Food Tech and the idea is to give you the basic foundation cookery skills. ...

this is a really good book, thank you; I've put a link to the webpage and to your post on the January Grocery Challenge :T

rozmister

Awww I'm glad you liked it Rosieben Thank Martin he put it in a freebies list 2 years ago and I've used it ever since because it helps me so much!