Please give me your recommendations for a really good beginners cookbook

[Happyasahedgehog]

I struggle with cooking. I've just followed a recipe for a quiche, I have 1/3rd of the "custard" left over because it would not all fit in the pastry case, I have no idea how much pastry I need for a 23cm flan dish, so guessed and made too much so ended up making jam tarts as well.
I forgot that pastry shrinks, so cut the pastry rounds out too small, so the jam tarts are now miniature, and the jam bubbled over.
I need an idiots guide, that tells me things other recipes books presume that I know. Like how much flour do I need to make enough pastry to line a xxcm flan dish!

Delia's complete cookery course and/or Delia's How to Cook

Good Housekeeping Cookery Book - the complete cook's companion

Delia, www.deliaonline.com her recipes are exact and always work.

I learned to cook from a Sam Stern cookbook ( the veggie one but he has normal ones too). It was aimed at teenagers/young adults and the recipes aren't fancy but I found it perfect for building my confidence. I may have gone a bit too far because now I'm one of those people who will try to cook everything from scratch at least once, just to check if it's better.

Delia's Cookery Course. May not be the latest trend but explains all the techniques really well, so once you've made her recipe you can understand it well enough to adapt it to more adventurous stuff.
Never made a single thing from this that hasn't worked.

Another little handy book is the bero book.

Another vote for Delia's Complete Cookery Course and How To Cook.

Delia taught me how to cook and her recipes always work.

And yes to the Bero book for baking.

Jamie Oliver’s ministry of food.

I think you’re being a bit hard on yourself though. I’m a very good and confident cook and I end up with not the right amount of pastry a fair bit. That’s not a basic skill.

I think you just have to keep trying. You make it once and it sucks, the next time it's better, and the next time it's great.

You know, practice makes perfect!

Delia to learn everything there is your know about cooking.

Jamie for a bit of fun and more adventurous but still easy recipes.

Delia - how to cook.

Crikey, quiche is not what I'd call a beginners recipe so good for you.
I'd say Delia is the best for literally everything, I love her complete cookery course, but for easy family meals that aren't dated, then Jamie's Ministry of food.

Delia is good for going into minute detail - my favourites are Winter and Summer
Nigella Express is has lots of simple stuff that won't be ruined by little things being not quite right

Also do read Julian Barnes' The Pedant in the Kitchen, which is a genuinely hilarious account of struggling with cooking from recipe books. Makes you realise that most of us have the same problems.

I'd agree with the Delia book for basic baking recipes. Just remember that baking really is a science and basic recipes for pastries and cakes have been formulated that way for a reason. Don't try to change things until you know what to expect. Any other recipes my go to bible is the Good Housekeeping book (over 50 yrs old and still referred to every now and then)

I love Delia's winter and summer.

I think of cooking and baking as completely different, I'm a great cook, but baking doesn't come naturally to me at all.
I'm not very good at it and I don't enjoy it.

For me it is definitely delia - I have the Delia Complete Cookery Course which must be about 25 years old. She tells you everything you need to know, even down to how to boil an egg. You get a lot of bang for your buck in that book, there is so much content. So many times I have tried different recipes and adaptions but I always go back to her recipes for certain things as they are fail safe imho

Has Delia been made a Dame yet?
If not, why not?

Felicity Cloake's Perfect book is good too. She had/has a guardian column in which she tests out all the different versions of classics - steak pie, apple crumble - as well as basics - boiled eggs, tomato pasta sauce - and comes up with a foolproof definitive version. What's interesting is that she explains why things work, or don't, and includes her reasons for choosing or rejecting certain methods, so as you get more confident you can adjust back again, if you prefer your rice pudding sweeter or your quiche Lorraine cheesier.

Ministry of food

Everything Delia.

I'd still be single if it wasn't for Delia. And skint living on takeaways.

Dannydyer did you marry her?

@LakeFlyPie

Dannydyer did you marry her?

He married her and gets fed by her! Win win!

I like Jamie's Ministry of food and the Good Housekeeping Step by Step

Then there are other recipes I swear by eg Delia's pizza dough and Lorraine Pascal's cheat bakewell. I tend to stick to those

My main tip is to try a recipe and if it doesn't work exactly how you like then make it again in the days after. Its a great feeling to finally crack it and good for confidence.

I probably would if she wasn't already married! The woman can cook. And she explains cooking techniques so simply.

My two favourites were

Nigella’s How to Eat and Home Cook by Alistair Henry which appears to be out of print but there are used copies available via Amazon

For the basics- ministry of food.