Anyone ever tried cooking through a whole cookbook?

jap200

I have got a bit stuck in the rut with cooking recently and started going back to some of my cook books - of which I have absolutely loads, for inspiration. I realise that I have only cooked 1 or 2 receipes - if that - from most of the books.

I was wondering about setting myself a challenge (like the Julie and Julia blog/movie) of cooking every single recipe in one book.

Has anyone else on MSE done this already?

As this is MSE it would also be interesting to do a real-life costing of each dish.

HeadAboveWater

I like your thinking! Haven't done it but great idea!

What kinda cook book you going for? A general book or a more specific indian/thai/potatoes sorta thing?

jap200

I think it would have to be something general really. I have 3 pre-teen/teenage boys who need filling up.

Maybe one of the 'economy' cookbooks - like the new Jamie Oliver, or Delia's Frugal Food or something like that.

I work 30-40 hours per week from home (freelance so it is variable), so it would be quite a challenge!

HeadAboveWater

I have a wee BBC Good Food something or other book. If I remember right there's starters, mains and desserts in it. Would you be doing all that or sticking to mains? There one recipe in it which is mine and OHs fav dish (and DD3 come to think of it!), and it's now one of my specialities (my version of it anyway!! ha ha)

jap200

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

Would you be doing all that or sticking to mains?

Well, that is a good question! I suppose it would depend on which book I went for. We don't bother with starters usually, so that would be an extra challenge.

To be honest I do not have a very good track record of actually sticking to recipes anyway as I tend to subsitute lots of things - mainly because I don't plan in advance and don't have the right stuff. I think if I did do this it would force me to do proper meal plans.

In reality I would not be aiming to do a book recipe every day as that would just be too stressful, and kind of defeat the object, but just to 'tick them off' when I did them.

HeadAboveWater

Best way I think.

I'm tempted to start something similar myself.

Usually it's just me and OH at home on a Saturday night, so I would probably pick a different meal each weekend and try it out. Get the ingredients that day when we're out and about anyway. Also means there's less noses to be screwed up at the veg/flavours etc! :rotfl:

jap200

I joint approach to this from both of us might be interesting actually!

I definitely want to focus on family meals, while you would be looking more at cooking for 2 people.

I am off to Tesco shortly so might have a brose through the new Save with Jamie (or whatever it is called) - not that I need another cook book, but I do feel attracted to his style of cooking.

Just had another thought - if we photographed the actual results and compared them with the book photos then that would make it even more fun!

HeadAboveWater

Oooooooooh now that will be a challenge!!

I have more time/patience to cook on a Saturday evening so I do think that's my best approach.

If you like the JO style then go for it. No point working your way through a book you're only half interested in!

[Deleted User]

Hi my first ever cookery book I bought in Woolworths in 1962 when I got married It was called 'Cooking for Two' and I think i still have got it somewhere, and cost me 2/6d (twelve and a half p) I did actually cook my way through it and practiced all the recipes on my late OH .most of them were very basic stuff none of the herbs and spices that you can get today.But it will be interesting to see how you get on
Good luck
P.S. my OH survived my efforts ,but then he would eat almost anything I put in front of him,his Mum wasn't a brilliant cook and either over cooked or under cooked things ,I did once blow up boiled eggs in the early part of my marriage but that's another story :):)

tryingtobethrifty

It's a good idea. I haven't done it but have picked two books and just cooked from them for a month. They were Jamie Oliver 15mins meals and a Rachel Allen one. This saved me going through tons of recipe books and I could just leave the two out on the counter rather than pile that usually lie about never used.

My plan, if I ever get time, is to pick out the meals I like in each cookbook and make my own book so I don't need to keep the actual cookbooks.

Good luck with your challenge!

Gigervamp

The problem I find with cookbooks is that there will be loads of recipes I can't use because they contain ingredients that are not liked, eg, although some of us like brocolli, cauliflower, swede etc, others in the family don't. It's not a problem when they're used as an accompaniment, but I can't make a cauliflower curry.

I love my cookbooks, but tend to only make a few recipes from each one because of this problem.