Cook Books

[Spion]

That's odd - the recipe index is about 30 pages long.

My copy is about 20 years old, which probably explains it.

It's still not PRIMARILY a recipe book is it tho?

 

[Spion]

That's a bit complicated - why do that when I can look it up in a nice book full of yummy recipes?
And I will expand my repertoire cos I'll have a load of new recipes to cook regularly

Well, it depends how you work, I guess. I like to research stuff myself

 

[Orang Utan]

Well, it depends how you work, I guess. I like to research stuff myself

I do via cookbooks - then once I've got to know a recipe, I branch out and try my own alterations

 

[Biddlybee]

It's still not PRIMARILY a recipe book is it tho?

No idea - I haven't got it - it's just been recommended quite a few times.

 

[Spion]

No idea - I haven't got it - it's just been recommended quite a few times.

It used to be the standard for catering college attendees and was like a chef's dictionary. Sounds like they've updated it for a more consumer-y market

 

[Santino]

Ah, I love the smell of food snobbery in the afternoon.

I'd like everyone who eschews cook books to go and make me a parmesan souffle followed by a lamb keema without consulting any books or websites. Go!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

That's not really how I like to work TBH - I like instructions to follow

Bor-ing. You are the mindless drone following orders. I am the free fox, skipping accross the field eating rabbits.

 

[secretsquirrel]

Don't listen to them o orange-y one - go buy some books. The Great God Nigel is always a good bet - and who I use most. I also got Jamie & Nigella for Christmas - haven't had a chance to experiment too much yet as am currently embracing the 'GL Diet' in a fit of New Year's virtue. I'd highly recommend the cookbook for this actually - it's not 'diet' in the horrible, restrictive sense you might think - just a new way of looking at food - and every recipe I've cooked is quick, delicious - and good for you

 

[Pieface]

I am the free fox, skipping accross the field eating rabbits.

something like that

 

[Spion]

Ah, I love the smell of food snobbery in the afternoon.

I'd like everyone who eschews cook books to go and make me a parmesan souffle followed by a lamb keema without consulting any books or websites. Go!

Keema and peas for tea tonight actually.

I'm not saying you shouldn't consult written down lists of ingredients. I'm saying that books are not the only source - the web has millions of recipes - and the way one gains inspiration is not necessarily by flicking through a book

 

[Pieface]

the way one gains inspiration is not necessarily by flicking through a book

fucking newsflash

he was asking for cookbooks and all the freeform cooking tossers have turned up to tell him he's conformist.

OU - the only way to cook Indian is to immerse yourself in the culture for 6 years. Get packing or stick to pies.

 

[Chairman Meow]

I love cookbooks and probably have over a hundred of them. I'd say I use Nigel Slater, Delia and Nigella's the most, but I'm a decent enough cook to make it up as I go along. There's nowt wrong with following a recipe - saves a lot of wasted food IME.

Larousse is too french and technical I reckon though, and Leith is just boring, but handy enough I suppose.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

"Cooking Like Mummyji" is the one I always recommend.
It's a recipe book of Indian food that the writers family cook at home rather than your standard jalfrezi or madras or whatever.

Delicious!

 

[tarannau]

As long as he doesn't get the Delia cookbook, old Orang will be fine. They're become more for inspiration than detailed use I expect. I enjoying browsing cookbooks and then using the basic instructions as a base.

Delia, that prescriptive, passionless tossbag, with her anal measurements and prissy measuring spoons, has probably done more to turn folks off cooking than anyone else in this country. Cooking's meant to be fun, not an endlessly dull appoach of following a 'foolproof' recipe by numbers and relying on 'Saint' fucking Dullia

It's one reason why we're a nation who buy plenty of cookbooks, yet cook very little. Folks like Delia make the simplest recipe seem like an analytical, dull pursuit. At least you can sense the excitement and passion of cooking in people like Slater. And that's far more important than the recipes themselves imo.

PieEye - the Conran cookbook's worth a look. Loads of practical advice on sauce making and cooking principles, even butchery techniques. A good alternative to Leith's...

 

[Spion]

fucking newsflash

he was asking for cookbooks and all the freeform cooking tossers have turned up to tell him he's conformist.

OU - the only way to cook Indian is to immerse yourself in the culture for 6 years. Get packing or stick to pies.

Fucking newslflash to you

The first line of the OP said "I need some more recipes to expand my repertoire."

And another fucking newsflash. I have nowhere said 'don't use books', but have suggested other forms of written sources of recipes

so shove you stupid rolling eyes right up your rectum

 

[Pieface]

brilliant!

Enjoy your dinner if you can keep down Mr Bile

 

[Spion]

Yeah, brilliant. Don't read a thread properly then lay into someone on false grounds. Guess it makes you feel better tho

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Delia, that prescriptive, passionless tossbag, with her anal measurements and prissy measuring spoons, has probably done more to turn folks off cooking than anyone else in this country. Cooking's meant to be fun, not an endlessly dull appoach of following a 'foolproof' recipe by numbers and relying on 'Saint' fucking Dullia

Delia has her place though. There are tons of people out there - like my mother for instance - who don't have any passion about cooking at all but have to do it day in day out to feed their families.

All my mother wanted was strict, foolproof instructions - and I'm sure she's not alone in that.

 

[Pieface]

Yeah, brilliant. Don't read a thread properly then lay into someone on false grounds. Guess it makes you feel better tho

You are being a bit touchy here love - I have read the thread. If you choose to interpret my post as some sort of full on attack then be my guest

The other free form chefs don't seem bothered.

 

[lighterthief]

As long as he doesn't get the Delia cookbook, old Orang will be fine. They're become more for inspiration than detailed use I expect. I enjoying browsing cookbooks and then using the basic instructions as a base.

Delia, that prescriptive, passionless tossbag, with her anal measurements and prissy measuring spoons, has probably done more to turn folks off cooking than anyone else in this country. Cooking's meant to be fun, not an endlessly dull appoach of following a 'foolproof' recipe by numbers and relying on 'Saint' fucking Dullia

It's one reason why we're a nation who buy plenty of cookbooks, yet cook very little. Folks like Delia make the simplest recipe seem like an analytical, dull pursuit. At least you can sense the excitement and passion of cooking in people like Slater. And that's far more important than the recipes themselves imo.

PieEye - the Conran cookbook's worth a look. Loads of practical advice on sauce making and cooking principles, even butchery techniques. A good alternative to Leith's...

That Delia cookbook got me making bread, toad in the hole, bechemal sauce, baked cannelloni, buttermilk pancakes, gnocchi, homemade pizzas and a whole chunk of other stuff. Hardly time wasted, IMO.

 

[Spion]

Delia has her place though. There are tons of people out there - like my mother for instance - who don't have any passion about cooking at all but have to do it day in day out to feed their families.

Yep, Delia is very good for things that need a bit of precision - eggy things, pastry etc

 

[northernhord]

I aint a huge fan of cookbooks but I get a couple on me shelves, Alice B Toklas 1st edition French Cooking and an old Delia standard which explains really basic stuff

 

[Chairman Meow]

Another one sticking up for Delia here - her cookery course was my first cookbook, and I still refer to it - my copy is in absolute bits. She is a bit prissy, but her recipes work, and are simple to follow. I bloody hate chefs throwing in technical terms in the middle of recipes, especially when I was new to cooking - Delia never does that.

 

[tarannau]

Delia has her place though. There are tons of people out there - like my mother for instance - who don't have any passion about cooking at all but have to do it day in day out to feed their families.

All my mother wanted was strict, foolproof instructions - and I'm sure she's not alone in that.

The place is in the bin though. Does your mother enjoy cooking more now? Or has Delia continued the illusion that cooking's a joyless version of following step by step instructions.

Sometimes folks change from Delia and understand there's a world away from measurements and dullness. And many other - reeled in by the unthinking convenience of her prescriptive, supermarket-loving ways - sheepishly follow her every word. She's like the crack cocaine of the recipe world - you know you aren't really learning lateral thought or the full story of kitchen techniques, but you can't break the crutch and reassurance of her 'help.'

 

[Spion]

If you choose to interpret my post as some sort of full on attack then be my guest

How else might I interpret your higly selective quoting of me then starting your contribution with 'fucking newsflash' and rolly eyes?

Anyway, are you actually saying anything or are you just here to start a fight?

 

[Spion]

there's a world away from measurements and dullness

but some things won't work without quite precise measurements, as I said, like eggy things and pastry

 

[Pieface]

I was teasing. As we teased Suplex. I am terribly sorry lamb. I promise not to mention it again.

 

[Spion]

I was teasing. As we teased Suplex. I am terribly sorry lamb. I promise not to mention it again.

OK then. And I promise I won't mention your 'problem', luvvie

 

[Orang Utan]

Keema and peas for tea tonight actually.

I'm not saying you shouldn't consult written down lists of ingredients. I'm saying that books are not the only source - the web has millions of recipes - and the way one gains inspiration is not necessarily by flicking through a book

I might be more pro-interweb recipes if I had a PC at home, but I don't

 

[Orang Utan]

As for Delia, she's good for cakes and bread but not much else.
As for the Larousse advocates, I'm not a chef, so I'm not really interested in learning how to make sauce and shit - I want to cook real food, which is why Nigel Slater was mentioned in the OP - I was wanting similar suggestions, not a lecture on how to become a proper chef who invents his own deglazing technique