Books on HOW to cook - the basics?

[natura]

A good friend of mine (mid-30s) has started to really enjoy cooking for the first time ever.

He's jamming about in the kitchen, making things and having a great time doing so, which is obviously a great way to learn. But I've noticed a lot of the 'basics' of how things come together, he's never known.

I call them basics, and perhaps that's unfair, but they're things like starting a sauce or soup with onions and garlic rather than adding them in once the tomato base is already cooking, or browning meat before adding other ingredients, or how to add a 'bassline' to a meal that tastes sharp and bright...

I'd love to get him a friendly, easy-to-read book for Christmas that covers these kinds of things, but everything I've found is either a recipe book or pretty heavy going and scientific.

Any ideas / recommendations? I appreciate it's a pretty specific ask!

I instantly thought of Delia too. My mil gave me her old dog earred copy. It’s a little bit dated but an absolute classic.

@Hatty65 off to Amazon to look for that one.

This book has everything you need. It's fantastic.

Leith's cookery bible. For interest Mrs Beeton's book of household management. It has the best Christmas pudding recipe in it

Jamie's ministry of food.

I can't vouch for the book, but I saw a couple of episodes of Gordon Ramsey 100 recipes to bet your life on and thought it explained lots of basics very well.

This is a nice idea of yours OP!

also, on YouTube, for cookery tutorials,

Delia, plain speaking, the Queen -
Jamie, always enthusiastic, now with an eye to cost, slid from Sainsbury to Tesco
Jacques Pepin, avuncular, wastes nothing, simple but delicious is his creed
Nigella - your friend will be too distracted to learn
Marco Pierre White - stock up on Knorr
Gordon Ramsey - frenetic - a perfectionist

so many more now - visual cooking has come a long way from the ghastly
Fanny Craddock - happy cooking !

As pps have said, Delia is the best. Unlike most, she doesn’t assume that you know any basics.

Delia Smith. She's a bit didactic, but her recipes work every time.

I inherited some from the real experts. the methods and recipes work every time.
Marguerite Patten Basic Cooking
Delia Smith How to Cook, mine is in 3 parts
Keith Floyd on France. They are not difficult

Definitely Jamie’s Ministry of Food, it’s laid out in an easy to understand way. And gives you the basic recipes then different ways they can be adapted

Always Delia.

I would still be single if it wasn't for Delia!

Agree with Delia’s How to Cook - there’s 3 books, the first and second are the best imo. Also agree with Jamie’s Ministry of Food.

I often google the ‘perfect’ Guardian recipes. It is a brilliant series.

Delia all the way. She taught me how to cook. I still refer to the bible (Delias complete cookery course) 20 years later!

I have referred back to the Good Housekeeping Step by Step one for method at least a couple of times a month since getting it in my early twenties.

I was going to say Delia all the way but others which I think have been mentioned are, Jamie’s Ministry of food or naked chef, Nigella’s how to eat or Nigella bites However, if you want him to know basics “First crack your egg” by John burton Race, Angela Hartnett is good and was based on the BBC 2 series ‘Kitchen Criminals’