Mumsnet Talk

you can only own one cook book. which one and why?

me: Hugh F-W's "Everyday" as it is diverse but does the basics well.

caveat: just got my first nigel slater books this christmas and if i had had more time to get into them i suspect they would have been contenders....

would love to know anyone else's choice....

I love reading cookbooks but seem to use The Dairy Cookbook far more than others. Covers everything

kahlua4me already beat me to my choice! It does all the proper food.

Appetite by Nigel Slater. We love to cook and consider ourselves foodies, but this book really taught us to cook.

kahlua do you mean this one?

I've never heard of it!

Delta smith complete cookery taught me how to cook.

Another Delia Complete Cookery fan here.

Mine does not look like that on the cover.
If you type in Dairy Cookbook in Amazon it is the one after that one on the list, sorry dont know how to do the link!

I love cookbooks and have loads but was recently given the bero book of baking- its recipes are simple and classic and cover all the baking basics.
So for baking it would be that.
For family cooking it would be Rachel Allen's home cooking.
Sorry that's two books. Neither of them are flashy or pretentious and both cover the basics and some more besides.

I should add that the bero book is a few pounds at most so super cheap too!

I have "the stork book" called something like the new art of cooking, it has all the basics and is the recipe book I consult most often. (It's quite a lot like the dairy book)
Otherwise I think I use Nigella express the most.

I agree with kahlua4me I use the dairy cookbook all the time. My mum bought it for me when I left home and it's fab for basics and as a reference book. it's the one I always turn to...

40nottrendy's pick is my second choice!

i have a couple of Delia books and do use them but I find her a bit objectionable after she stated that battery chickens were perfectly acceptable.

thank you very much everyone - now have a few more books in my Amazon wishlist!

very interesting the same books have popped up more than once - given such a small statistical sample!

Delia, totally and for ever.

All this rip it up and chuck it in Jamie does, and just tell it to fucking cook that Gordon does just don't work for me.

But if I follow a Delia it's perfect every time.

ooh i really, really, REALLY dislike Jamie.

and his Dad's pub is really, really poor value for money (shameless anti-plug)

Nigella's How to Eat would be my desert island cookery book. The only one without pictures that I use, but brilliant nonetheless

Yea the dairy cookbook for me as well. (one my second copy as worn my first copy out!!!)

this one

Nigel slater 'the kitchen diaries' is the book I've cooked from most. Having said that I really couldn't cook indian food without a recipe book but my fave indian book isn't a particularly well known one. I also second nigella's 'how to eat' is full of good basics from the days before she got into chucking together pricey deli-bought ingredients and putting 'twists' on all her old faithfuls.

I have never been a Jamie fan but I really like his 30 minute cookbook. I use it a lot for family meals. Its simple stuff but tasty.
I also love Nigel Slaters books. I'd be struggling to choose

Another dairy cook book lover here, it even has my class name written in it age 13!!

BUT
I love a book called
A slice of cherry pie by Julia Parsons - she's a blogger who then got a cook book,
So so simple but so so delicious!

I'm really intrigued by the Dairy Cookbook - it looks so "seventies dinner party"!! (if you forgive me for being so blunt!)

but so much praise....!

why is it "dairy" - is there dairy in every recipe or is there some other reason?

I'm not sure but is it because you can get The Dairy Cookbook via the milkman?

I've got a dairy cookbook too, and still use it more than any other. My mum bought it for me from the milkman in the 80s.

And its really good because it has recipes for things like stew in it - the sort of basic stuff everyone one cook - but of course you can't if no ones shown you. I searched high and low for a cookbook that made no assumptions about basic abilities (as I have none ).It doesn't get carried away with what I call fancy recipes,with fancy names,and fancy ingredients....