What cookery books do you recommend?

[batoutofhell]

Love to snuggle up in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a good cookery book to read.

I know quite sad.

What cookery books can anyone recommend as a good and informative read?

Mrs Badger, we love Claudia Roden too. And Valentina Harris
We have a lot of cookery books!

The River Cottage family cookbook is great but a little daunting at first as it is so big. I love looking through Rick Stein's books as the photography and local info is fab.
I have my granny's Dairy Cookbook from the 50's and in the back is a etiquette section which ponders, "should i offer my 13 year old and his friends a cigarette at his birthday party? would it be rude not to"?

I love Nigel & Nigella. Great food but not too poncy. Relaxed blurb & tempting photos. The Book People is always good for top names at bargain prices. Fab to treat yourself or for presents. Unfortunately had sold out of the Real Fast.. set as was going to introduce someone to the joys of Nigel for their birthday as they wanted basic everyday help & inspiration. I got Home Cook by Alastair Hendy instead. She loved it & I ended up getting myself a copy too.

Anything by Katie Stewart - books are mainly 1970s and 1980s and out of print but the recipes work. Great for basic stuff.

Nigel is definitely the most used in my kitchen, also agree about Elizabeth David.

If you want books to read as well as to cook with, Jane Grigsons books are brilliant. I like The Vegetable Book, because it contains everything you're ever likely to come across, but the Fruit Book, (and Meat and Fish) are all great. I love the way she writes, very simple. I like Nigella and Jamie food, but they're prose irritates the pants off me........

Claudia Roden had a Mediterranean Cookery book which wsa a fantastic mixture from all the relevant countries, but I think it's OP now, but you can get it on ebay sometimes. All her books are very evocative.

Our favourite is Living and Eating by Annie Pawson and John Bell. The recipes are all really easy, but the results delicious and impressive. There are dishes for every type of occasion - from great salads and soups to dinner party menus. We have just about cooked our way through the whole book, and have not encountered a single bad recipe.

Gordon Ramsey's Sunday Lunches is quite good - and I am NOT a GR fan at all!!
Apples for Jam is a really nice foody one (and good to read)
Nigella and Jamie always a fav here
Can't think of any more at the mo

another thumbs up for Nigella and Nigel.

Had a look at my shelf and my most used book is Rose Elliot's 'Cheap and Easy'. We are all veggie and this book is..well..cheap and easy.

I love Tessa Kiros's books (Apples for Jam, Falling Cloudberries, Twelve). As much coffee table books as cookery books but fab for family recpes

Nigel is King, then there's a fabulous book called Don't Sweat the Aubergine by Nicholas Clee, no pictures but fantastic recipes for all the family standards like roasts, mash, shepherd's pie and loads of useful advice, really, really good. Also book just out which someone gave my by Jo Pratt called In the Mood for Food has loads of delicious easy recipes thatI make every night at the moment - not a dud yet

Nigella Bites, Forever Summer and Feast

Anything by Nigel Slater

Les Halles by Anthony Bourdain is just divine

Antonio Carluccio for straight forwards unponcy unpretentious Italian stuff

Agree with Sernity re the Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

Otherwise am fairly run of the mill as I have most of Delia's books....made her old fashioned lemon meringue pie on the weekend and it was delish.

My desert island cookery book would be "The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcelle Hazan. I am a bit of a cookery book freak and probably have over 100 (yes including Nigel and Nigella, very good too), and I had an obsession with finding a good Italian cookbook until I found this. No pictures but recipes that just work wonderfully and a complete education.

Silvana Franco's Family food is really worth a look too. Everything made from there has been gorgeous

I like pictures that show every recipe..
Sam Stern's cooking up a storm... for teens but good ideas in there..
complete comfort food Bridget Jones(!)
got this yesterday from the book people..

Hmm so I am thinking of asking for one Nigella one and one Nigel Slater one - 'tis my birthday and Mother's Day this month. Which ones would you recommend as the best?

My most used one is 1001 Recipes for £1.99 from Asda but it is falling apart. Following this is Delia's Complete Cookery Course. Was mildly disappointed by Jamie's Dinners and also the Dinner Lady which I found a bit basic. There are only a few recipes that I a) don't already know how to make in my head and b) want to make.

Has anybody else tried "Cooking with Mummyji" by Vicky Bhogal? It's brilliant for "family basic" recipes with an Indian twist - curried baked beans are fantastic and very, very cheap!

I have just bought Leith's Vegetarian Bible. It was recommended to me, I wouldn't normally buy a book with so few pictures, I like to see how the reciepe should turn out! However this is fab, I have tried about six dishes and they all came out delicious. The book is sorted by vegetables, so if you have a box delivered, or have a glut of something, this is ideal.

I also love Nigella, she is very witty, even if I don't want to cook a reciepe I enjoy reading it!

For reliability you can't fault Delia, she obviously tests every reciepe. If I follow her, it never goes wrong.

For reading in bed: Nigella's How to Eat and Domestic Goddess. Not so great for consistency though - some recipes work, some don't.

For reliable recipes: Delia's How to Cook series, and the Good Housekeeping books. Jamie Oliver's Naked Chef is also very reliable and a good read too.

I find with most chefs, their best book is their first one. So IMO How to Eat is the best of the Nigella books, and Naked Chef best of the Jamie ones.

Nigel and Nigella are good reads and Nigel's recipes a lot more reliable.
Leith's Cookery Bible is brilliant as is the GH Step-by-Step.
I like Simon Hopkinson and also Lindsey Bareham (sp?) who I think have worked together on a book recently.
Ramsey's Sunday Lunch is okay but have tried three puds now and have been disappointed each time (heavily annotated with my own corrections). The beef casserole is superb though!
Delia is reliable but not a bedtime book.
I use fair few JO books - I like all the Naked Chef ones and his new one looks promising (apart from cheesy peas - bleurgh).

I'd love to own a shop selling cookery books and equipment. A lovely dream..

I like Jamie, because of the sheer volume of veg hidden in his dinners! I also buy the BBc Good Food mag.

Henrietta Greens' New Country Kitchen. The photographs are spectacular.

I quite like Hugh F-W and Mary Berry's Aga books.

For veggie cookbooks you can't beat Annie Sommerville Greens series - i have three and I love them all. Or Celia Brooks-Brown is also great for veggie fare. Even though I'm veggie I still love 'normal' cookbooks - Georgio Locatelli 'Made in Italy' is fantastic!

Best new book - Jamie's Dinners, everything has gone down a treat with the children.

For a bedtime read, suggest Freud on Food by Clement Freud. The only recipe book DH will use.

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