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

Hairy Bikers diet recipes, actually very good. I like their recipes generally.
WI cookbook. Nothing fancy but it all works.
DH loves an Ottolenghi.

McDougalls "The Better Baker's Guide".

I also use Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook a lot for everyday recipes, she's a very sensible cook!

@Beamur trying to get into Ottolenghi but his books annoy me. So much chilli in bloody everything. Sticking with it, but it’s definitely a Saturday night meal not a midweek, bloody knackered cook book.

We use this loads! Nothing fancy but nice meals.

www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Recipe-Collection-Sainsburys-Clifton/dp/0956630308/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3BOQXNVH2JN72&keywords=sainsburys+cookery+books&sprefix=sainsburys+coo%2Caps%2C122&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1642363949&sr=8-3

I can't be bothering with meals that take hours but DH can.
The guardian food bit on a Saturday used to feature an Ottolenghi recipe quite often.

As PPP, Diane Seed pasta sauces - the lemon cream sauce is now part of DH's culinary repertoire. She also has a veg book which is good.

Delia's frugal food - a df gave me a copy when I moved into my first home and I still use it.

Delia's complete cookery course for anything that needs accuracy - Yorkshire pudding, Victoria sponge, meat roasting times.

Cranks original cookbook - lots of good veggie staples.

Australian Woman's Weekly series, especially the Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian books. Really good recipes without 50,000 ingredients. The beef rendang and satay recipes are the mutts nuts.

The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook by David Rosengarten.

I love the Diane Seed pasta one too. I wouldn’t say it’s my most used but it’s stood the test of time.

most Nigella books are pretty hit and miss, but LOVE Kitchen. Like every page stained, the covers have dropped off, cooked every recipe love. It's brilliant

also, this thread is going to cost me money, and my cookbook bookcase is already stacked 2 books deep on all the shelves

@shepabear

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!

Second this one. Bought it and loved it pre-DC but most of the recipes are family friendly too.

@Georgyporky

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 !

Sophie Grigson wrote one on vegetables too which is one of my favourites.

Real Fast Food is the only Nigel Slater book I like and I used to cook almost exclusively from it.

I cook loads of Ottolenghi stuff from the Guardian but have never got on with his books. However if you are bothered about chilli, he generally uses Turkish chilli called pul biber which is not hot at all.

My most used book would be Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food. There are recipes for everything, you don't have to worry about it not looking like the picture as there aren't any and as it's a Jewish book loads of it is designed to eat cold so is ideal for lunch boxes/leftovers.

I have loads of recipe books, but my most frequently used are Madhur Jaffrey, Jamie Oliver, Delia Smith, Mary Berry and Nadiya Hussein.

My mum’s Good Housekeeping book from the 1970’s. It is about two and a half inches thick with small print and few photos but it has everything I need in there.

I’ve discovered that all my favourite childhood meals came from there - mum’s recipe for curry, mum’s recipe for beef stroganoff, mum’s recipe for bolognese, mum’s recipe for pancakes. I thought she had collected them over the years from the eleventy billion cookbooks she owned but, nope, all the good stuff was from that one alone.

Home Cook by Alastair Hendy

Not sure if counts as not a 'celeb' but Eating With the Kids recipe cards. Great recipes which DH and I love to eat as much as the toddler. Yes it is not gourmet fancy but good tasty not completely unhealthy food which doesn't cost us the earth or take hours stood at the stove.

Ah I'm a sucker for an Ottolenghi recipe and have most of his books, I've done 3 meals from him in the last week but they are very expensive and time consuming.
I don't really get on with Delia for some reason, I'm not sure if its the writing style or photography but I find the books pretty uninspiring. @annamagnani I downloaded The Book of Jewish Food months ago but haven't cooked from it yet - any recommendations to get me started?

Another vote for Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food.
Simple, easy & quick recipes that the whole family love. No fancy ingredients, just good hearty food.

Be-Ro Baking Book. It gets updated with new editions every now and then, and I think I've had 3 different editions over the years, but the everyday staple recipes are never taken out of it.

Can't cook, won't cook.

Got me through uni and a good few years since.

I can understand why you might not like Delia's chatty style @EnglishGirlApproximately, but I have made quite a few recipes from her How To Cook series.

@EmmaPaella

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

I have an 80s Good Housekeeping one! I do use loads of my others, but this is the default when I want a basic recipe (flaky pastry, marzipan, royal icing).

Another vote for Real Fast Food, I've had it since I was a student.

Sophie grigsons, Meat course. Katie Stewart, calendar cookbook. Both full of good recipes, admittedly more of the 'everyday' type but very well used. Bero for reliable cakes, scones, biscuits. Many of my cheffy cookbooks have fab recipes but need time and patience and skill!

I’m another fan of Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food. It’s been my go-to for everyday food for decades. I enjoy his writing style too, it’s pithy and colourful.

@Theunamedcat

A dairy diary recipie roundup from the 90s

Can you even GET dairy diaries anymore?

Yes! I bought one for my daughter when she moved out, along with Delia's Complete Cookery. Just as my Mum did for me!

I love both books.

@DifficultBloodyWoman those early GH books are hard to beat I think. I've got one from the 00s which is v good but not as good as my mum's from the 60s - the 00s one takes far too many shortcuts. You want to know how to fillet a fish/make a pavlova/chine a joint/get good stock ... you go to the old Good Housekeeping books.

That said, Save With Jamie is a fairly recent book that I use a lot because it's great for meal planning and has some genuinely good ideas.