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MNHQ

The Mumsnet family cookbook is now out!

42 replies

SarahMumsnet · 26/04/2014 09:29

Morning folks,

A quick heads-up. Some of you (particularly those of you who put in the hours testing the recipes Grin) may recall that we've been working on a Mumsnet cook book of your favourite, foolproof family recipes for some time now.

Well it's being published by Bloomsbury on Thursday 8th June and you can buy a copy of it over on Amazon.

Thanks again for all your help with the book - it literally (and we mean that literally) wouldn't exist without you. And if you're after a warm glow, check out what no less a kitchen superstar than Yotam Ottolenghi had to say about it:

"Family recipes - tried and tested... and tested... and tested - win hands down in any tasting competition I have ever attended. This book is an ultimate collection of such winners: reliable, useful and, most importantly, completely delicious."

ANOTHER UPDATE: We've added another video of the lovely RebeccaMumsnet demo-ing which we ate and was utterly delish.

UPDATE: We got the lovely RebeccaMumsnet to try her hand at the - see the (rather good) results for yourself...

The Mumsnet family cookbook is now out!
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MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 26/04/2014 10:41

And please do let us know what you think and spread the word if you like it (and keep schtum if you don't Grin)

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 26/04/2014 15:06

No, usernames not to be found in the book except for those of the testers. You'll be able to find some of these recipes pretty much as is on the site but often the recipes are a mishmash of a few or quite heavily adapted following feedback and testing (so it's definitely worth buying the book Wink).
(and thank you Southeastdweller - very nice of you to say so Thanks)

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 28/04/2014 10:51

In response to Spiderlight and Schilke - there are 83 vegetarian recipes in total - so 69%. And of those, the veggie recipes which aren't cake/biscuit/dessert amount to 49 so 41% of the total. We have a whole chapter devoted to Lovely Veggies too.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 29/04/2014 09:26

SueDNim - we took recipes from Mumsnet as a starting point, but the book's authors reworked and rewrote them. There's more info about its publication here

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 29/04/2014 09:28

schilke - I made NancyMumsnet do that for me :)

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 30/04/2014 08:39

PennySillin - you should have! Although watch out, as there'll also be a few opportunities to win copies over the coming weeks.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 30/04/2014 14:58

We've just added a behind-the-scenes video from one of the book's photoshoots if anyone would like to .

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 01/05/2014 16:09

PennySillin - that's what we like to hear! If you like it - PLEASE review it on Amazon too! Think you have to wait until publication date next Thursday to do - but the link is here.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 01/05/2014 16:09

alcibiades - love the idea of the book being used to pamper and cosset your daughter's family. That's just what it was made for.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 06/05/2014 11:13

Ancientbuchanan, SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius - very pleased to hear you liked the recipes.

Willem - the book's actually published this Thursday. You can buy it here.

Cozietosie - we'd love to do another book if folk like this one. Have you put that recipe on our Recipes section on Mumsnet?

And Serin - do try and grab a look at the book in a shop if you can. We think you'll like what you see. We're very proud of it.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 07/05/2014 15:19

Gold star for Mignonette!

Can'tdothisagain - very pleased to hear you liked it. And clearly starting with chocolate is the only way to go.

Reastie - can we persuade you to revert to ye olde print? It really is the most beautiful looking book

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 07/05/2014 21:23

So - here's my attempt from the book that I knocked up tonight. Speedy soda bread - p208. Start to finish about 35 minutes.

The Mumsnet family cookbook is now out!
MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 07/05/2014 21:31

Cantdothisagain - super easy. Whole point is not to do too much to it - so my kind of recipe.
Amazed ANY biscuits lasted for longer than a day. Impressed by your family's willpower.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 08/05/2014 10:43

And may we make a plea - if you've got the book and like it - PLEASE do pop along to Amazon and post a review which you can now do.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 08/05/2014 12:25

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Nooooo! If it makes you feel any better, I left the sandwich I'd made for lunch with it at home on the counter in the kitchen today and only realised when I arrived at MNHQ.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 08/05/2014 14:17

Viviennemary - if you look at our cookbook page there's now a sneak peek inside the book.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 08/05/2014 17:08

@funnyperson

I think the usernames of those who contributed the original recipes should be included, because even if the recipes were reworked and tested, the inspiration came from the contributors. Mumsnet is nothing without its contributors, the contributors are mumsnet. A recipe book by a corporate person is so much less interesting than a recipe book by a group of real mums. It has made me stop and think. We share ideas and knowledge as well as opinions and experience on the mumsnet threads. When it becomes 'the intellectual property of mumsnet' does that mean that mumsnet is going to assume the right to the business exploitation of its contributor's posts without any acknowledgement? This would seem a bit extreme to me. Also of course it makes for a better book if the contributors get their byline (as long as they agree to be named)

Hi funnyperson,
Completely see where you're coming from and in our other books we've always taken this approach. We did just think this time it would be too hard to attribute recipes that often were combinations of many on the site and sometimes heavily adapted after testing by the books authors so as not to really look too much like the original any more.

If you read the book, though, it's absolutely clear from the foreword on that it's a collaborative effort and the 1000s of recipes posted on Mumsnet over the years are the book's inspiration - the last thing we'd want to do is to deny credit where it's due.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 08/05/2014 18:39

@RockinHippy

It looks great & love the video, though TBH not sure I'm so keen on the title

& I can vouch for the recipes needing to be tweaked, the ones I tested just didn't work at all & needed to be changed, added a few cheap cheats to make it cheaper & easier too - so if you are not a confident cook, the books probably a better idea as you wont be wasting ingredients, as tried, tested & fixed too :)

Ha! Strictly entre nous there were few, shall we say, raised eyebrows to the title here at MNHQ too. I'm afraid I have to take responsibility as I actually threw it out there (amongst a lot of other ideas) and didn't really expect the publishers to like it but they really did and there was no turning back! We took the view that they are the experts - Bloomsbury really are the doyens of cookbooks. So fingers crossed it doesn't put people off.

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 08/05/2014 18:53

Hellooo

Here's a video of RebeccaMumsnet making the fabulous Three-Minute Sponge from Top Bananas! I think it's fair to say that she's quite a serious fan of this recipe Wink.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 12/05/2014 10:25

So pleased to hear the recipes are going well. Can we please, please ask you to pop along and post a review on Amazon to get the ball rolling? Who's going to be first?

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 12/05/2014 12:14

BerniesBurneze - you can read about all the books Mumsnet has published so far here.
We did run a competition on Twitter last week to give away a few copies.

MNHQ

CatherineHMumsnet · 12/05/2014 13:31

InspirationFailed - THANKYOU!! And to everyone who's reviewed so far.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 13/05/2014 08:10

That's fab - am so pleased. Please do review on Amazon and/or Mumsnet.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 13/05/2014 08:11

@Armadale

I made the Malt Loaf tonight for DH from the packed lunch chapter- literally the easiest baking I have ever done- using a teacup as the only measurement and the same quantity of each ingredient was inspired.

It is very, very good. too much has already been eaten

Ace. The whole raison d'etre was to find ways of making cooking easier. (Please share and review if you can - Amazon and/or Mumsnet Smile)

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 13/05/2014 08:12

@Mignonette

Local book shop has sold THREE over the weekend.

They be vair vair pleased.

Fab - hope they put another order in. It's No. 1 in Best Sellers in Cooking for Babies & Children this morning. Whoop!

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