recipe book recommendations please

Bargain_Rzl

I don't currently have a single staple book (though I did recently buy a recent edition of the Good Housekeeping Step By Step one, so maybe that will become a favourite.)

I keep meaning to pick up copies of the three books my mum brought me up on, all of which have already been named on this thread:

Cooking in a bedsitter (Katharine Whitehorn)
Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course
The Be-Ro book

shimmershelly

My fave book I have is my mums old 1953 Good Housekeeping Cooking Compendium, I am always refering to it although it could do with rebinding. It has recipes for anything you can think of, from boiling an egg to fancy iced cakes. I like my Nigella books for dinner party ideas and indulgence.

krispyg76

Delia without a doubt - every recipe I have made from Complete Cookery Course and How To Cheat has been a success

As I like curries I also reccomend - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Curries-India-Camellia-Panjabi/dp/1856265463/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209246807&sr=8-2

It's worth getting and reading through the first part of it as it explains all the different herbs and spices and what goes well together

It has also meant I have made countless top notch curries and when you are equipped with herbs and spices to make a curry you only normally need meat, tomatoes, onions and rice

dolly_day_dream

My first cookbook was the Paupers Cookbook by Jocasta Innes - mum figured that the ingredients couldn't cost that much!

When I moved into a bedsit Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn was invaluable. When I married (1978) I got my first edition of Delia's cookery course and I still use a lot of those recipes now. I still have a McDougalls baking book from that time which I use for scones etc.

Over the years our tastes have changed - I tried the Jamie Oliver books - I had about 4 of them before I realised that I just wasn't using them and gave them to my son who had moved out - he loves them. My daughter swears by Nigella and has her complete collection although she does go back to St. Delia when she needs to know How to cook a specific ingredient. She also likes HFW

As I am now vegan my cooking styles have changed again and thinking about the recipes I have used most recently it is the recipes from the BBC Good Food Magazines Vegetarian Christmas Specials - I have about 4/5 of them now and use them constantly. I also use the web if I have eaten a dish out somewhere and I want to replicate it at home. What I try to do is create my own cookbook. I photo copy a recipe that I will use again, put it inside a plastic cover and store it in a binder in my kitchen. That way I don't have to wade through my large collection of cookbooks to find the one that I want.

mathsus

I can't believe I've never found this thread before. It needs a lot of shameless bumping..

I agree with most of the posts... my faves are all here ... will now look for the BeRo book and the ASDA one & the slow cooking properly explained one ... even tho' I haven't got a slow cooker.. can never pass up another gadget opportunity!

I too have 3 different dogeared Good Housekeeping books ... my mother's from 1953... mine from 1977 and a '90s version.

Next must come the original Madhur Jaffrey from that BBC series she did 'Indian Cookery' 1982 I've managed to buy all my children second hand copies on ebay & they swear by them too. sadly out of print.

I, too love the Pauper's cookbook .... onion bacon & potato hotpot is to die for.

Now, two glaring omissions from what's gone before IMHO

1. a fantastic series of little paperbacks from Sainsbury's .. from the 80s? mostly by Josceline Dimbleby.. really good
2. I can't believe no one has mentioned Katie Stewart... I've got several books by her and they are all just packed with interesting recipes that work. My mother has some others too that I can't get anywhere... she used to write in Good Housekeeping I think.. I've got her recipes cut out & stuck in a book too. Her chocolate fudge icing is THE BEST RECIPE IN THE WORLD. sorry to shout.

1_step_closer

Hiya!

I have a £10 voucher to use in Amazon and need a decent cook book. The ones I have are "how to eat fancy foods related to all sorts of wierd andf wonderful allergies" which I bought on a whim. as you do!

So what would be the best one to get? You know, words of 1 sylable etc lol!

ALSO

what store cupboard ingrediants do you all have in all the time? I am realising more and more that I don't actually cook, I cheat and really need to get the pennies stretched more so.

Thank you!

1 step

Benthosboy

Howdy do one step.

I was given a fabulous book last month called "The classic 1000 student recipes". It's split into sections covering meals you can cook with a knife and a chopping board right up to meals you can cook with a full kitchen. It's written by Carolyn Humphries, it's priced at £6.99 and I'd recommend it to anyone who's as useless at cooking as I am

Martyn.

aliwali

I love my Mary Berry Complete Cook Book. I thas starters, Soup, eggs, Pasta, Meat, Fish, Baking and deserts. Lots of easy to cook meals with ingredients you can find anywhere. Traditional meals as well as things that are a bit different.

I use it for at least 2 meals a week.
Hope you find one you like.
Alison

catznine

The best one on my shelf for encouraging you to get the most out of your ingredients is "The New English Kitchen - changing the way you shop, cook and eat" by Rose Prince
rrp £18.99 but I got it for £4.99 from the Book People and I should think you can get a copy from Amazon.

the_cat

TBH all the recipies I have ever needed are on here!!

I would suggest kitchen equipment might be a good investment - I bought my slow cooker from Amazon.........