Just bought Fay Ripleys Family Food book...

[HollyBollyBooBoo]

...it's ok, not found it the most inspirational. Also she recommends a recipe for babies that has honey in it which makes me question either her knowledge or the editing! Another irritation is that some of the recipes are just page fillers...putting fruit on a skewer is not a recipe IMO!

Anyway, what shall I cook first?

The sticky ginger chicken (with soy sauce/garlic/lime juice) is a firm favourite in our house. Quick and easy - assemble and stick in oven. My kind of cooking!

You could cook the actual book AKAthrow it in the fire, or recycle it

Okaaaaay

Is the honey cooked?

I think so yes, not that that makes any difference as cooking honey by domestic processes and temperatures doesn't destroy botulism.

You have just confirmed what I thought (and I like Fay as an actress ) not to bother. Tbh I was a bit when saw she had won book award here.

I made the fish fingers, with the cereal coating, a couple of times, they were quite nice.

Fist cookbook for ages that I actually cooked from, rather than just looked at, so a good result really.

Some of the banter is a bit vom inducing though.

I really like some of the recipes.

Sticky ginger chicken is definitely a winner with us, as is the pancetta risotto.

I was thinking of ordering this on Amazon - is it a bit rubbish OP?

I think 'rubbish' might be a bit harsh but I just wasn't massively impressed by it. I just love getting new cookbooks, reading them and marking recipes I want to try with a post-it note (I know, get a life), there are a few recipes I want to try but I kinda feel my £10 could be better spent. There aren't a lot of new and inspiring recipes IMO.

I think it would be quite a good book for someone who isn't particularly into their cooking but now has a family and wants to produce good homemade food for everyone.

I am a pretty good cook now that I've been forced to cook cooking for us all for 10 years! So p'raps I'll give it a miss.

Yeah I wouldn't bother as you'll have a good repertoire of recipes already if you've been cooking for that long!

how did she win the award, then? i had literally never heard of the book before she was on here... all a bit weird, normally you see the chatter about products etc on here but it had never crossed my radar.

Surely she only won an award here because money changed hands?

i doubt that... would invalidate any value of the MN awards to do that in the first year... but it did seem to come out of nowhere.

I seem to remember there was a recipe for something with a willy...or maybe I'm getting senile.
Couldn't bear the references to her wondrous dcs " oh Parker will eat anything"

Well I really like it. No, it's not ground breaking cookery but it is a really good staple cookbook to turn to when I need to cook after work.

I can't believe it was voted for democratically, I'd never even heard if it

I think it was top of the Reviews list last year (a few MNers gave it top marks), hence the award.

Cooked the pork in mushroom sauce tonight, was very tasty. Just served it with broccoli and green beans instead of her pasta or rice.

Next time I would shave 10 mins off the cooking time by cooking the pork at the same time but in a separate pan.