I need a "go to" recipe book

[onedayatatime73]

I need a one stop shop recipe book - requirements are

Dd (8) interested in learning to cook and help- so not high end

Has some basics (e.g. Interesting pasta sauce/ interesting salads)

Less interested in baking (e.g. Cakes)

Lots of pics (for her to look at)

But a variety of options of fish / meat / roast etc.

Starters

Would like to "work through" one book with her.

Needs to be reasonably healthy. So not a H Bikers style suet option.

Doesn't need to be a celebrity.

But tried and tested so you know it's decent.

Does it have to be a physical book? The BBC good food website is my go to for tried and tested recipes.

Delia Smith's Cookery Course. It's old but it is good. My Mum gave me a copy when I went to uni. I've still got it and still refer to it (it is a set of 3 books, well my version is).

I came on to say the same thing as PurpleDaisies - BBC Good Food is how I learned to cook. The collections are very helpful for new cooks like your DD. If you want something physical then buying the magazine a few times, particularly when it has a mini recipe booklet with it, might be worthwhile.

Sorry, noticed the work through aspect! Jamie Oliver's cookbooks are really good (even though I find him really annoying).

The hairy bikers' healthy cookbooks are good as well.

Jack Monroe's recipes are very accessible.

Nigella Express is quite easy and comprehensive.

"My Daddy Cooks"

Diana Henry's 'Simple' is great. Really appealing, nice pictures and...simple

Same as elephant. It's really good but short on pictures though.

I'll have a think, maybe a book aimed at students? My boys liked Sam Stern's books.

Thank you. It definitely needs to be a physical book. She enjoys putting the post it notes in the pages / scoring them etc. Am keen to have an activity that doesn't involve a gadget or a computer. Just pages and pics. Thank you for the suggestions.

I have created my own recipe file with the things I've made and want to make again. She could get a nice scrapbook, take pictures and print them and decorate the recipe. Might she like something like that?

DramaAlpaca my version has quite a few full colour pictures, which is good as I knew what I was aiming for. I did say I have had them a long time.

I have the same set of three elephant, had them over 30 years I meant that not every recipe is illustrated, though many are of course. It's a real classic & how I learned to cook.

I know which recipes I like, as the pages are often stuck together or covered in grease. Hollandaise sauce is one such example.

My daddy cooks is great

Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food is excellent for learning to cook. It's sort of 'basic Britishy dinners' rather than uber fashionable, or overly healthy like some of his later things are.

It does things like teach you to make basic mince, then shows how you can tweak it into different dishes like lasagne, moussaka etc etc. And it's all in accessible language and has tonnes of pics and doesn't assume any prior knowledge or experience.

Delia Smith - failsafe recipes

www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Illustrated-Cookery-Course-Classic/dp/0563214546/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1500979257&sr=8-19&keywords=delia+smith&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Another one is the Good Housekeeping book, has a bit of everything from basics though to dinner party stuff.

www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Housekeeping-Cookery-Book-Institute-ebook/dp/B018GC5828/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500979744&sr=8-2&keywords=Good+housekeeping+cookbook&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Delia is a great place to start. I love Nigel Slater if you are a bit more happy to wing it - he's not so precise - Real Food is very good.

This is my go to book - dairy book of home cookery
my mum still uses hers too.
Good range of 'normal' dishes and also has microwave steps where possible as an alternative.

Good housekeeping is my go to book. But Mary Berry Cooks The Perfect might suit what you want to do.

Jamie Oliver ministry of food
here

Plenty of easy and everyday meals.
We actually use it quite a lot

Leith's Simple Cookery is brilliant - has hundreds of recipes, its very comprehensive.

Jamie's 15 minutes is full of good recipes (although the never done in 15 minutes!) and also Jamie's Save

River Cottage Family Cookbook is brilliant. Lots of kid friendly recipes and photos but also some great text on food generally.

I think Kitchen is my favourite of Nigella's books - there are lots of recipes which are easy and family-friendly (chicken fajitas, devil's food cake...). Photos for most recipes too.