Can anyone recommend a good cook book for a beginner?

[Nbg]

I started a thread the other day about looking for a cook book for one but after searching, they arent very good.

Its for my friends xmas pressie. Shes not a very good cook bless her and it was her dh who cooked but he sadly died in the summer. So she's finding her feet in the kitchen and has a 15 month old to feed too.

I've just looked at Delia Smiths, How to cook book one.
Is this any good or is there something better out there?

how sad for your friend

what about this hamlyn all colour cook book

very easy to follow, good basic recipes and not scary for a beginner

Delia Smiths trilogy of How to Cook are brilliant...choose the book that covers the topics she'd like i.e. one has cakes, one has curries. The fact that all the dishes have pictures is also great for begginers I think.

I've got this one.

www.amazon.co.uk/Delias-Complete-Cookery-Course-Classic/dp/0563362499/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/026-4765774-35 63610?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194954968&sr=8-2. It has lots of basic recipes.

its the one with the eggs on the front cover.

does that cover a range of recipes?

delia is hard to beat.

nigella lawson's 'how to eat' is fairly good too.

just checking out your links.

think delia could be the way forward.

I have Gordon Ramseys and Jamie O's books but I think that would be pushing her.

If this is about her feeding herself rather than suddenly making Toad in the Hole then these books are also really great and again have a pic for every recipe....load of recipes in each of these....

www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Food-Quick-Everyday-Cookery/dp/174045149X/ref=pd_bbs_2/202-4280922-5651861?ie= UTF8&s=books&qid=1194955692&sr=8-2

www.amazon.co.uk/Bowl-Food-Comfort-People-Cookery/dp/1740451406/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-4280922-5651861? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194956017&sr=8-1

Another vote for Delia's complete cookery course. Although it's a bit dated now, it's still really helpful on the basics, whereas her How to Cook volumes are great but sometimes a little fancy for a complete beginner, whereas complete cookery course doesn't assume very much. I learnt to cook with Delia when I first got married and could only do pasta (and sometimes not even that!) and she was great. Most of her recipes are also free on her website. Actually Nigella's How to Eat is also good on basics, and I use it lots now when I'm cooking something new, but it's not quite as reassuringly auntie-like as Delia.

If she has a little one, she could try some Annabel Karmel recipes, which are not tricky and are very healthy.

TBH the most help that anyone gave me was to come and cook dinner with me, so that I could see what stuff looked like when it was done or what bring to the boil actually meant, etc etc. So if you had a chance to do that and she wouldn't find it patronising, you could go and make bolognaise with her one day.

BTW I was a really bad cook, and completely clueless, and now I often cook for groups of 4 to 40, and no one has died of food poisoning yet!

She can do some bits but she usually lives off frozen bits.
If she sees me cooking pasta and tomatoes she thinks its posh a'la carte food lol.

Will check out Nigella too.
Does she use all silly ingreadiants in that book though?

Yeah, quite a lot of it is a bit 'Cambodian hot and sour beef salad'. Also I love her purple prose now I can cook a bit, but it might be pretty offputting to a beginner.

She might get on with the BBC Good Food little cookbooks:

this

this

or this

I have the last one and it's pretty simple although there are not lots of reassuring instructions, so she would have to know how to do some basics.

Seriously, do think about Annabel Karmel - she does lots of standard recipes in a child friendly way, with not too much exotic stuff.

I did actually consider AK because alot of her recipes are usually in quantities of enough for "baby and you" kind of thing and I think thats another thing shes struggling with atm. Shes still trying to buy for just 1 rather than 2

My BIL had all volumes of Delia's How To Cook and found it really good for a beginner. He didn't do much cooking before and now he does loads.

I feel so sorry for her - what a horrible situation to be in.

Hope you find the right thing. She's lucky to have such a thoughtful friend!

Right, I've bought her Delias How to cook volume one
Just hope she manages with it.

Shes a good friend to me as well. I'm due baby no.3 in 2 weeks and shes taken my dd and ds for the day so I can have a rest.