What's your most used, underrated cookbook?

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

I already have far too many cookbooks and loads of celebrity chef / famous restaurant ones but I'm always happy to buy more
So I'm after your recommendations! What do you use lots that I might not have?

I'll start - A Flash in the Pan by John White. I know he's a celeb but never see this book recommended or talked about and I use it loads. Just had a fab, easy Saag Halloumi for dinner and use it for quick weeknight meal ideas.
I'd love to get some recommendations

A 1983 copy of Jane Gregson's "Vegetable Book".
Veg is listed alphabetically, & includes buying & preparation guides as well as recipes - not just veg, meat dishes are included.
It's falling apart & covered in stains - not like some of my celeb cookbooks that I might just have used 1 recipe !

Eat happy by Melissa Helmsley- I also have hundreds of cookbooks but this is by far my most used. She gives lots of alternatives for ingredients, and everything is delicious, and nothing is too time consuming.

Everything Marcella Hazan ever published, especially Cucina and Italian Kitchen. Not underrated or unknown at all, but I don't see her mentioned much on UK sights. Her Essentials taught me to cook when I was a student, pretty much.

660 Curries is maybe a better example. Loads of homestyle Indian recipes that you don't really see elsewhere, but you need to be able to interpret a bit (especially with meat cooking times).

@LillithTheLynx I've looked at Cucina but I'm a bit intimidated by it! Is it worth buying?

Eat Happy looks interesting thanks, always in need of good, quick meals.
@Georgyporky does thie book seem.very 80's in the style of food?

@Caneparrot thank you - just checked out Eat Happy on Amazon and the kindle edition is 99p so that's my next cookbook to explore download

Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater - his first book I think. It’s really practical. Not big gourmet stuff, just very useful everyday ideas.

Oh I really want to like Nigel but I just can't get into him. I just don't get it but feel like I should!

I actually really like Jamie Oliver's ministry of food. Especially the different curry sauces.

@Caneparrot

Eat happy by Melissa Helmsley- I also have hundreds of cookbooks but this is by far my most used. She gives lots of alternatives for ingredients, and everything is delicious, and nothing is too time consuming.

This is also one of my favourites!. I picked up a copy really cheap in a bookshop and is the only cook book I consistently use.

I'm not on Weight Watchers - but my mom has been in the past and she got me into their cookbooks, very easy and delicious healthy food. I make stuff from "15, 20, 30" (time it takes to make the recipe, and that is accurate!) as well as "Everybody Loves Chicken".

Asian Green by Ching He Huang. Everything I’ve made has been delicious. Really great for fake away Friday.

I use ‘The Joy of Cooking’ (an American classic but unknown in the U.K.) a fair bit. Particularly for the banana bread.

I’m another for Jamie’s Ministry of Food. I use it regularly to remind me of the every day recipes I easily forget

A dairy diary recipie roundup from the 90s

Can you even GET dairy diaries anymore?

Soup broth bread I haven’t made the bread but made loads of the soups actual soup recipes I fancy making !!

I mostly just use my Good Housekeeping cookbook from the nineties and leaf through the others occasionally.

The Curry Secret by Kris Dhilon. It's how to cook curry just like you get from a takeaway and the recipes are spot on. My copy is so well used that it's falling apart.

www.amazon.co.uk/Curry-Secret-Kris-Dhillon/dp/0716021919?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

It's an old school one from the 60s of my mams, cover missing and pages loose, but it has a lot of basic stuff and lots if useful information

In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt. One of the first cookbooks I ever bought and one I still rely on many years later. So many of those recipes turn out great and nothing is complicated. I love Nigella and Jamie too, but can't really call them under rated, so Jo Pratt's book is my recommendation!

Good Things to Eat by Lucas Hollweg. Every recipe is a cracker and they are all things I want to eat. Would recommend it 100%

Love all of these recommendations, have a feeling this thread is going to cost me money!
Another one from me - the BeRo baking book. Great for straightforward, reliable bakes. I love baking and have a really sweet tooth but I'm not a fan of excessive butter cream or huge cakes with drizzled and chocolates on top etc so BeRo is perfect for me.

100 pasta sauces by Diane Seed
No photos, no tweaking, just the actual, extremely simple sauces that Italians actually eat.

Mention of Sophie Grigson reminds me of one of hers from the early 90s that I used so often it would give a forensics team weeks of work.

[quote EnglishGirlApproximately]@LillithTheLynx I've looked at Cucina but I'm a bit intimidated by it! Is it worth buying?

Eat Happy looks interesting thanks, always in need of good, quick meals.
@Georgyporky does thie book seem.very 80's in the style of food?[/quote]
Absolutely - great for pasta in particular, and not very expensive ingredients either for the most part. Marcella was a very firm lady, but that's why her recipes work. Def worth the few quid it costs second hand.

Some of my favourites from Cucina:

Pasta sauces: spring onions tomato and chilli (delicious); sausage and cabbage; spinach and tomato; peppers, parsley and pancetta; red pepper and goat cheese; broccoli and mozzarella; ham cream and pea; sardinian style raw tomato (my favourite summer pasta dish!).
Any of the risottos
Wild boar style pork tenderloin
Both scallop recipes
Marches lamb stew
Any of the chicken dishes
Leek and chickpea soup
Swiss chard soup

An Indian cookbook from one of those guys who dropped of samples of books at work, you’d order them and he’d bring them next time. I actually lost one copy but was absolutely over the moon to find another in a charity shop. It has the most amazing dopiaza and dhansak recipes, better than anything I’ve had in a restaurant. Oh and the pilau rice 😋😋😋

Came on to say Jamie Oliver’s ministry of food but I see a couple of posters have beaten me too it!
Really simple easy family no faff recipes, I have probably hundreds of recipe books but it is definitely my most used