British cookery book for a resident of African heritage

[Debbie7612]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any cookery book that will help me learn / try English foods?
Thanks

Delia Smith.

She has something called 'how to cook' or similar.

Personally I do not like her books because they are too finickity , but if that makes them excellent for a beginner eg she doesn't say,'pinch of salt' she will say, 'quarter of a a teaspoon'

Is there any particular dish you want to know how to make? YOu can always ask in the food and recipes section.

The Good housekeeping book or anything by Delia Smith are good for traditional British recipes.

That’s a tricky one as British cooking borrows from so many influences. This one might suit, though - it includes traditional dishes as well as the ones from other cuisines that have become traditional, if you see what I mean. Eg it has a roast and Yorkshire puddings, and moussaka.

www.waterstones.com/book/good-housekeeping-cookery-book/good-housekeeping-institute/9781843405924

Hi Sash, No dish in particular. My son is of school age and he has friends come over and more and more I am unable to think up something to make for them (besides bangers and mash) and when I go to the BBC good food website, I get so confused. Thank you 😊

You could get a children's cookery book and you and your son could learn together.

I also have a version of this

picclick.co.uk/Readers-Digest-Complete-Guide-to-Cookery-192549844927.html

It has very few recipes in it but teaches techniques and explains terms used in cookery books. It also shows you where different cuts of meat come from on various animals.

What is your cooking like? Are you confident with your African cooking (and being nosy where in Africa)?

What do you cook?

Jamie's Ministry of Food is quite a good one (Jamie Oliver). He had a series where he taught people basic recipes then how to tweak them . So for example there's a stew recipe and he suggests four combinations of meat/herbs/liquid (eg red wine) that you can add to the basic recipe.

I found Jamie's Dinners a good one.

I didn't know how to roast a chicken or make roast potatoes or apple crumble or even an omelette. All those things are there. It's pretty easy to follow and a good beginners' book for traditional recipes. In fact I've just bought it for my brother who's learning to cook!

Mary Berry's Family Sunday Lunches has lots of traditional British food in it. Reliable and delicious recipes without hundreds of expensive ingredients.

For family cookery I actually really like the Little Dish book! I turn to it whenever I have kids coming around that I don't know.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SHL3W2W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?encoding=UTF8&btkr=11__

Also - it's tried and tested for a reason, I still make a lot of the recipes even though my kids are much older now:
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Food-Kids-Will-Love/dp/150988842X/ref=laa_B001H6OCLY11_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537168786&sr=1-3

Thank you so much ladies. I will definitely look at all the books suggested to find out what works for me.
Yes MarthaSrew to hundreds of expensive ingredients. That was a huge turn off with the book I bought on a whim. Just ended up never using any of the ingredients after one dish and was pretty demoralising.
Hi sash I’m Nigeria , West Africa and its mostly tomatoes based rice dishes or stir fry rice, stewed beef or chicken and stewed beans. Mostly savoury stuff really.

I was just coming on to recommend Good Housekeeping, Jamie'sMinistry of Food and Delia's how to cook series. All v useful. Faye Ripley also had a cookery book out years ago which had lots of child friendly food. I can't remember the name of it. I take cookery books out from the library and photocopy recipes.
These days I'm quite lazy and just opt for pasta and a plain ish tomato sauce, cheese grated for them to add and a ready made garlic bread. Also a very plain version of jollof rice has gone down quite well (no scotch bonnet ).

Ministry of Food is good.

Most after school teas I would opt for are

Shepherds or Cottage Pie
Spaghetti Bolognese
Chicken Pie
Homemade chicken nuggets
Pasta with Tomato sauce

Depends on the age group, but some of them may love to try something home cooked from a different country/culture

Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook. It’s huge and has pretty much every British savoury and sweet recipe you could think of. Think there’s something like 750 recipes

OP make them jollof rice and stand back as they inhale it. Very lovely memories of dinner at my friends' house and we used to beg for her jollof rice!!! And we put cheddar cheese on top 😂

Loool! @ nononthestairs and xia. The last time i had dinner guests over, I made some jollof. Then for a bring and share at work, I took jollof. Then for an after school play date ....... (fill it it) lol I’m getting predictable facepalm
BeachyUmb, I’m dying to make a good pie. I love the stuff but I can’t make it. I already ordered the Good Housekeeping as was out of stock with Waterstones but amazon has got it.

Cheddar on jollof? I’ve got to try that

It might sound silly but it might be worth looking for a student cook book as they tend to have simple, filling dishes that will suit most tastes. So a good starting point.

My fiance is Nigerian, he sometimes eats my English dishes but usually waits until my daughter and I have eaten so he can add a lot of chilli! Other times he cooks for us, Nigerian food is also really tasty.

I’m dying to make a good pie.

Well buy ready made and ready rolled pastry - so much easier.

I have arthritis in my hands so don't really have the option om making home made pastry which is cheaper and probably better but frozen/chilled ready rolled is fine.

Tomatoes, rice and stewed meat you are half way to curries and casseroles.

Hot pot is quite easy to make and quite forgiving too.

This is going to sound totally ignorant but what are you used to cooking with? Ie gas, electric, hob, oven, slow cooker, etc

I once house shared with a Chinese guy (born and brought up i Manchester but parents were Chinese) and everything was cooked on the hob.

I bet your sons friends would love to try whatever your native dishes are. Nice for them to learn about different cultures

Try the Good Food series. Loads in WH Smith's with rest of cookery titles. These are smallish books with pictures. There are loads in the series www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Good-Food-The-Collection/dp/B003C7IQL8?tag=mumsnetforum-21