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

Lindsay Bareham - just one pot. Great book and a real go-to in our house.
Tamasin Day-Lewis - kitchen bible. Another great one!

[quote Karenity]@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.[/quote]
They don’t seem to make modern cookbooks as comprehensive as they used to. Now a book focuses on fast food, or curries, or Italian, or baking. The older books crammed everything in to 1200 pages of small print.

I’d love to do a compare and contrast with your mum’s 60’s edition, my mum’s 70’s edition, another poster’s 80’s edition, and your 00’s edition!

I am a huge cookbook fan! I love the big ones and buy every new one going. I'm a member of five cookbook clubs. But my unsung hero- one that none has ever heard of and I use a lot, but never mention- is MINCE! By Mitzi Wilson. When I'm poor it see me through. When I'm bored - there it is. My family's favourite meals (pork and apple with cauli mash. Mince and rosemary scones. Boboptie) they're all there.

Over 40 years ago there was a TV programe called Farmhouse Kitchen presented by a lady called Grace Mulligan. I bought the cookbook and it is dog eared and falling to bits but still used regularly. As a young newlywed it was my Bible. I have never had a recipe fail. Many of them were submitted by WI members. Grace taught me to cook

Another one for Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food here. And the monthly Good Food magazine. Love it.

I've bought countless cookbooks over the years and most of them have either sat on the shelves unused or have only been flicked through or read at bedtime. I've used them for ideas but I seldom follow recipes.

The only one that actually lives in the kitchen and gets used regularly is Be Ro. My version is about 12 years old and starting to fall apart.

Great thread OP. I have twenty thousand cookbooks but the only one I ever really use is my Good Housekeeping one. And probably once a year I'll get out Jamie's 30 minute meals, or Mary Berry's "everyday". I love reading them all though, just not ever using for recipes!

Elizabeth David "French Provincial Cooking" Reading this and another of hers on French Country Cooking made me want to cook.
Marguerite Patten I think called "Everyday Cooking" from 1960s
It taught me to cook.
Floyd on France enabled me to cook 'specials'
Floyd books and on tv inspired our son to join the Army to train as a chef.

The Green Roasting Tin- Rukmini Iyer
Leon Fast Vegetarian

I am new to vegetarian cooking and these are both really easy to follow with great recipes.

Glad to see so many RFF fans! I must have been in my early 20s when I bought it, and it was what got me beyond student food and set me on the path to proper cooking. So much of it is easy storecupboard stuff or simple lists of options - like loads of toppings for baked potatoes for example! It’s a really great book for young people who are just learning to cook, I think. But I also find the way he takes basics (eg. Things on toast) and then gives loads of alternatives really good for inspiration when I’m feeling bored and lacking in ideas. And it’s all simple so it’s perfect for weeknight suppers.

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

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

Yes same - so good :)

I think I'll give it to DC when they go to uni :)

A 1980s be-ro cookbook that used to be my mums.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

A 1980s be-ro cookbook that used to be my mums.

I've got one of those and the Milk Chocolate Cake is the best cake ever. I'm also in the Be-Ro cookbook Facebook group which is lovely. And terribly dangerous for your waistline!

Geraldene Holt's "Budget Gourmet" - the noisettes of lamb with nut stuffing is very good.

OK I'm clearly being unfair to Nigelso will revisit! I've my Bero book, lots of memories made with those recipes

Also totally agree re BBC Good food magazine, I use it lots every month.

Nigel Slater’s The 30 minute cook is, in my (probably controversial) opinion, even better than Real Fast Food. Lots of quick, easy interesting recipes that you actually get round to making.

My Delia smith bible "Delia smith's complete illustrated cookery course " ! It's very old (30 + years old now) full of rich menus with beautiful spices and adding cream but it taught me how to make the best lasagne ever (add nutmeg to cream sauce) and I've adapted it over the years.

"How to boil an egg" My young adult/ teenage children use this book as it's basics of how to cook most things, but has fantastic simple recipes and some surprisingly good ones.

Jamie Oliver "the return of the naked chef"and his "ministry of food". Can't beat Jamie Oliver's recipes if you can get the fresh good quality ingredients that it requires. Yummy though!

Oh we use BBC food recipes website all the time!

@Theunamedcat - dairy diary still sold by Milk & More, doorstep delivery company 👍

Michel Roux (senior) - Eggs.
Amazing, basic recipes for all things egg - definitively the best for meringues, pastry, custards, flans, etc. I rarely use cookbooks, despite having dozens... but my copy of this book is covered in flour (and egg!) and dog-eared - always a good sign.

@EnglishGirlApproximately I don’t think you’d find RFF too ‘Nigel-ish’ - as his first book, he didn’t have the leeway which he does now in terms of writing style. So it’s fairly snappy and straightforward.

@BringBackCoffeeCreams

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.

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This is my current bathroom book. I never actually cook from my many books. The recipes sound really good tho so I should give them a go. Think I've owned it for over 20 years!

I still have my mum’s Good Housekeeping recipe book from 1959!!!

We used it a fair bit when I was growing up and I do still use it for the odd thing, but I haven’t properly been through it in years.

The books I’m using the most at the moment are the What Mummy Makes ones, they’re focused on cooking for the whole family but including weaning/ young babies. I’ve just for the new one which is called Family Comforts. They are not fancy at all and are pretty simple stuff but everything we’ve made from there has come out well and they kind of do my thinking for me, I’ve not got the headspace for anything more elaborate at the moment.