Your favourite cookbooks

jaybee

I've just discovered the Beyond Baked Beans cookbook. It's aimed at students but it's got some fab, easy recipes in it - I think it will become a favourite even though I'm not a student (well, only in as much as I ought to be a student of cooKing!!!:o :rolleyes: )

Ticklemouse

My faves are The Good Housekeeping Cook Book - been loving used over the past (ahem) couple of years. I've also got a Delia one - as you say, good for dipping into if you have problems and I do like her marmalade recipe. I have a Nigella one, but that's more a good read.

Don't buy The Conran Cookbook! Mr TM bought it me for Xmas a few years ago (having asked for a completely different one!) Waste of space except it tells you what obscure ingredients and untensils are. Never cooked from it.

Like others, have had lots of books in the past, but sent most to a charity shop before we moved.

Curry_Queen

This thread has certainly raised some smiles and memories on reading it and there's so many messages I want to quote and reply to but I'll end up taking over the board if I do LOL! ... so I'll try to remember them all and just make the one post!

I think the Bero book was one of the first I ever used (aged about 10!) and where I learnt how to make victoria sponges, scones and ginger biscuits ... I used to bake every sunday afternoon while parents snoozed off their roast dinner

Mum then bought me a kids cookbook (forget the title now) with lovely big pictures and really easy to follow recipes and instructions and I used that for years, even as an adult! Lots of the old favourites mentioned have been in my collection too ... Dairy Cookbook, Farmhouse Cookbook, Delia's collection etc etc ... but unfortunately the whole lot (packed in one box) went missing during a house move a few years ago

I stopped cooking for a long time due to depression and illness and have only regained my interest in food and cooking in the last 6 months, so have been buying lots of cookbooks recently!

I currently have two River Cottage books (cookbook and meat book); Gary Rhodes About Britain (complete series); four Jamie Oliver - Naked Chef, Happy Days, Return of Naked Chef and Jamie's Dinners; Tamsin Day Lewis's Weekend Food; two Nigella - Domestic Goddess and Nigella Bites and Kris Dhillon's The Curry Secret ... can't you tell I'm a huge fan of TV chefs LOL! ... all the books were bought on either Ebay or on special offers at Amazon which has saved me a fortune! ... I'm still looking for cheap Rick Stein, Ainsley Harriot and Sophie Grigson books. (I need to stop watching UKTV Food LOL!)

I also search the net for recipes and ideas, especially the stuff posted on here that are tried and tested, and save them to file. One day I'll print them all out and make a laminated binder. what I have started doing though, prompted by an idea from Nigella (my idol!), is start writing down recipes I've tried (new or old) in a notebook, along with any comments about them, so I can eventually pass it on to my kids/grandkids for them to use one day.

Have to agree with others that I'm not a huge fan of Delia but I often find myself checking out her website to remind me of the basics as her stuff is foolproof.


PS Also have to agree about the eggs ... I always buy free range despite them being more expensive as I've seen the conditions battery hens are kept and it's disgusting. And anyway, if everyone started buying free range the cost would come down eventually


PPS Why do my posts always seem to be much longer than everyone else's ... I think I talk too much LOL!


PPPS Why are we only allowed to use 4 smiley icons per post <pout>

Austin_Allegro

I'm not much of a cook but my favourite book is called 'We'll Eat Again' and is a book of wartime recipes. I also have one my sister gave me as a joke, called 'Plain Cookery For the Working Classes' from about 1870, it's got recipes on how to feed a family for a week on gruel etc. :eek:

culpepper

Ive got the Bernadine lawrence five pounds a day one.Mine is falling to bits its been so well used:)
Good housekeeping picture cookery from 1950 which is excellent and has loads of biscuit recipes and sweets and shows you what to do with a freshly plucked chicken or turkey or a Rabbit still wearing its skin.
Aggies cookbook which was supposed to be aggie from 'life with the lyons' (radio show?) which has a vast collection of good recipes.
We do the ginger biscuit recipe from the brownie cookbook which is about 30 years old and the kids love Nannette Newmans food factory -Special sort of shepherds pie

Queenie

culpepper - I bought BL's book when she could claim to do it for £4 per day ... hmmmm, would that now be an antique?

Austin - I have that one, plus the following 2 in the series, they are great. The best one though really is the "We'll Eat Again".

Another tattered battered and well thumbed oldie ... "How to Boil an Egg", I loaned that to my son and his other half when they moved into their own place together - doubt I'll see it again.

Pegs_2

I love my mum's Be-Ro book for home baking. We have a v.v.old copy in sepia and one we call "The New Be-Ro Book" which is a mere 40 years old!:)

If you are cooking for veggies or non-meat-eaters, you can't go wrong with any of the millions of Rose Elliot cookbooks. The recipes are simple, straightforward and delicious - though she does love her garlic! I would particularly recommend her "Cheap and Easy" cookbook ISBN 0 00 637163 9 which we use practically every day.

Of the celebrity cookbooks I actually like Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat" the most.

Otherwise I ask friends for their recipes and keep in a scrapbook or old photo album. Oh and look out for any local WI cookbooks. These are especially good for baking and making preserves as you might imagine.

I have now made myself hungry, so I'm off to raid the kitchen.

filigree_2

Ooh, I forgot about my scrapbook. I collect recipes from all over and file them, admittedly I've only tried a few but I'm working my way through them. Sainsbury's magazine ran a series of economy recipes for a few years, I've kept some of them. I've also got the Good Housekeeping book for free with a subscription

I've got several books about rationing and wartime cooking in general, it's a bit of a hobby of mine. I've never actually cooked any of them, but I fancy trying the pigs in blankets just for the fun of stuffing potatoes with sausage meat! I'm not sure if anyone would thank me for mashed potato sandwiches though

Yoga_Girl

Our house is full of cookbooks and husband has just come back from the library armed with yet more - he's been watching a lot of UK Food lately!

Favorite ones are Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver, Good Housekeeping, Rose Elliot, Ken Hom, Rick Stein, Tony & Giorgio, plus a load of balti & curry cookbooks. For ideas for kids meals I really like Annabel Karmel - did her home made fish-fingers tonight when I found a piece of cod reduced in Sainsburys, you coat the fish in crushed cornflakes, both kids wolfed it down.

I always check out cheap bookshops for cookbooks, also charity shops usually have some in. My husband is a cook-book addict, he sits in bed reading them!

Caz2_2

Hi I have loads of cook books and have tried loads of the recipes. For me Tanzin day-Lewis is my preferred choice but equally if i need to get food spot on its Delia I have all her books. Last year i made pickles and chutneys and jams for xmas presents Delias were far superior. Gary Rhodes receipes for chutneys turned out ok but we are eating those, as best went for pressies. Worst of all i feel, for any recipe is Jamie Oliver his measurements are never right. I dont use his measurements but i look through his ideas then do them myself. I also like The organic cookbook but i don't always use organic stuff ,best recipe i have ever had was for chilli jam. I make alsorts of stuff and add this to it, it gives a sweet and spicy flavour and is easy and cheap to make.