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Food/recipes

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Original poster

The most indispensable cook book?

71 replies

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 20:45

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....

OP posts:

kahlua4me · 07/02/2012 20:48

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

countessbabycham · 07/02/2012 20:50

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

40notTrendy · 07/02/2012 20:52

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

Original poster

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 20:55

kahlua do you mean this one?

I've never heard of it!

OP posts:

bruffin · 07/02/2012 20:55

Delta smith complete cookery taught me how to cook.

OlympicGoldPennies · 07/02/2012 20:57

Another Delia Complete Cookery fan here.

kahlua4me · 07/02/2012 20:58

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!

myhandslooksoold · 07/02/2012 20:59

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.

myhandslooksoold · 07/02/2012 21:00

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

loubielou31 · 07/02/2012 21:03

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.

Jcee · 07/02/2012 21:04

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!

Original poster

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 21:05

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.

OP posts:

Original poster

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 21:10

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!

OP posts:

EnjoyResponsibly · 07/02/2012 21:12

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.

Original poster

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 21:15

ooh i really, really, REALLY dislike Jamie.

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

OP posts:

parttimedomesticgoddess · 07/02/2012 21:24

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

oooggs · 07/02/2012 21:28

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

this one

ZenNudist · 07/02/2012 21:31

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.

casawasa · 07/02/2012 21:31

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 :)

maydarnaychild · 07/02/2012 21:33

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!

Original poster

PoppadumPreach · 07/02/2012 21:34

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?

OP posts:

countessbabycham · 07/02/2012 21:37

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

chixinthestix · 07/02/2012 21:40

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.

countessbabycham · 07/02/2012 21:41

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....

maydarnaychild · 07/02/2012 21:42

its origins are indeed the dairy council via the milkman

When everyone had a milkman, he used to sell a diary every year and a cookbook.

My mum had a version from the 70's, mine is updated for the 90's (the yellow one someone linked to) and it seems it got updated again in the 00's but mine has way more than 150 recipes.

It shows all cuts of meat, types of fish, ways to cook them. It has sections on meat, veggies, pulses, soups, hot puddings, cold puddings, eggs, cakes, pastry to name about two thirds of them.
So when you can't remember how to make pastry or profiteroles or times to poach a salmon or yorkshire puds or meringue - you just get out your Dairy cookbook!

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