Delia Complete Cookery or... what?

[HarrietJonesFlydaleNorth]

Looking for a starter cookery book for DS. Preferably one with techniques and info rather than just recipes.

I had the Delia How to Cook, at a similar age which was a good start. Plus a Madhur Jaffrey, and a couple of those St Michaels thin recipe books, but I'm thinking they are a bit outdated now.

I was pondering the Delia's Complete Cookery Course book but wondering how relevant it is now. I have cook books from my Nana, and whilst they are useful some of the recipes are definitely outdated!

So, if not Delia then who? Any recommendations?

Either of the Delia’s you name would be fantastic, I regularly use the complete cookery course for all sorts of basics. Or Nigella’s How to Eat is also excellent.

Same Stern's Cooking Up A Storm would be my recommendation. I bought it for DS (now 18) a few years ago when he started showing an interesting cooking and he's now very competent.

My first cookbook was phaidon silver spoon. I have almost all of their series, jp, China, Greece, India etc beginning of silver spoon has a lot of information, a looooot. The rest idk because I became extremely confident in the kitchen so by the time I got the rest of the books, I was only looking at recipes. I can go check if you like!
I do hear the ones mentioned are popular. My mum isn't a cook and she likes Jamie Oliver but I couldn't tell you if the books are any good. I heard Julia Child is also very good?

No idea if it still exists but the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book is great.

I've sound some recipes in Delia's complete cookery dated when sharing with my DC (I found it fantastic which is why I dug it out). I wonder if Jamie Oliver might be a more up to date option?

There's a book called How To Cook Without A Book by Pam Anderson (not Pamela!) which is brilliant - all the essentials in terms of techniques but with variations and recipes. It also explains how to knock up a meal from your store cupboard and what to have in there in the first place etc. I taught myself to cook from recipe books but really wish I'd had this first, it's so useful. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is also good on the why of techniques but I think it's more for enthusiasts/people who already enjoy cooking rather than beginners.

Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food is a good one.

I have the Complete Cookery Course. I don't think it's dated, I mean, maybe some of the things in it are, but it's massive and he's not going to be making everything. It'll tell him how long to cook jacket potatoes for and how to roast a chicken, etc. I still look things up in it now.

Another vote for Jamie Ministry of Food, or How to Cook.

Nigel Slater's Appetite wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Agree with Nigella's How to Eat, Ministry of Food is another good shout as it teaches you how to make simple dishes with mince etc (chilli, shepherds pie etc)

I have a very well thumbed version of Cupboard Love by Tom Norrington Davies. Second hand only now but shows you want to cook with eg a ton of tomatoes, coconut milk etc. Fantastic start for curries, pasta dishes etc

Ooh brilliant! Thanks all, so many recommendations, including a couple I hadn't heard of and will check out 👀 😊

Nigella and Jamie might be worth a look. And @TidyMouse you've reminded me that I want the Salt, Fat etc book for myself!

@Ddakji I have a 1978 copy of GH Cookery Book, and a 1966 GH New Basic Cookery - but there's no way I am parting with them!

Well, no, I wasn’t suggesting that! Steady on. They’ll be removing my GH Cookery Book from my cold dead hands.

Another vote for ministry of food by Jamie Oliver. It's actually aimed at this demographic and has some great ideas in it. Suspect you'll also be able to pick up secondhand relatively cheaply

Save with Jamie is also very good for the same purpose, it gives lots of ideas about how to use leftovers to make something different

My first student cookbook was called How to Boil an Egg.
I sent my 19 year old off to uni with it this year.

Nigella over Jamie IMO, I have six Nigella books and only made one recipe that didn't turn out nicely (her allspice turkey gravy). Jamie OTOH I find very hit and miss.

Nigel Slater's appetite was my first proper cookbook and still used for roast timings, it's good in the technique and advice sode. he also did one called something like quick cookery which has loads of simple and common recipes.

Finally a possibly sacrilegious idea - buy him a subscription to the good food app on his phone? I absolutely love cookbooks but nowadays I use GF app more than anything else - generally reliable, lots and lots of ideas, you can search and filter etc, and often has videos as well if he likes that kind of thing.

Should add: for me the thing I love with cookbooks is in part just reading them (if well written like Nigella, Rachel Roddy etc) and in part the inspiration for new ideas, in part the creative satisfaction I get from exploring and learning. If he likes that too then all great but if you just want to equip him with a resource to know the basics and reference the techniques that's where an app might be useful.

My first book was the Good Housekeeping one. It has all the basic techniques in it, plus lots of very do-able recipes. If he takes to it and wants to get a bit creative, I second Nigel Slater's Appetite, which taught me abolishing making food I'd like to eat.

Agree about Nigel Slater - 'Appetite' is really good. His quick-and-simple recipe book mentioned by previous poster is called 'Real Fast Food'; he's also written 'Real Fast Puddings'.

Delia's excllent how-to-cook instructions are available online, as well as in print: https://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook.

I've also found that many/most of Nigella's recipes are simple to follow and work well.

Loads of good rads on here - I also came on to recommend the Silver Spoon, which I've bought for s couple of people.

You could also look at Simon Hopkinson. I do remember learning a lot of useful things from Delia though, even if her portion sizings are often wildly off! Her pancake recipe is supposed to make 14-16 and makes about 8 normal-soized pancakes 😁

I find Jamie's recipes reliable. Some of Nigella's less so where she's cutting corners to simplify things. But you can't beat Delia's Complete Cookery Course. It's full of info which means if you follow the recipes things should turn out well and if they don't you can work out why. Yes some of the dishes are old fashioned, but this is the woman who has caused key ingredients to sell out in supermarkets due to the popularity of her recipes and been at the forefront of introducing foods to the UK. I still refer to the Complete Cookery Course over thirty years after receiving it.

I agree with @Needtosoundoffandbreathe and also I think Nigel Slater cites Delia as the cookery writer he most admires. I was a student when the How to Cook series was on TV and we used to watch it, make notes, and then cook all the things on that week's programme. (Yes, we had thrilling social lives in my shared house). Also my mum had to buy me my own copy of the Complete Cookery Course because I'd 'borrowed' hers and she wanted it back.

James May "Oh, Cook" is for people who can't cook. I think it's good, & would appeal to fans of Top Gear etc.!

I really like Felicity Cloake's Perfect book - it's maybe not a total beginner guide but she trials the various versions of staples (eg, Spag Bol, Fish Pie, roast chicken, sponge cake) and comes up with a 'perfect' version. I turn to it all the time, and really like the explanations of why things work and why they don't - and how you could vary it if your taste differs from hers.

Delia for teaching you how and Hairy Bikers for what to cook.

Delia cookery books are amazing - the how and why and excellent recipes

We probably use more recipies from the Delia than any other cookery book