Cook Books

[mrsfran]

I cook a lot and I own loads of cookbooks. I bloody love them. I love reading them, learning from them, using them for inspiration, adapting from them.

And the very best book, the book I return to again and again and again is Leith's Cookery Bible. It's never done me wrong, and its classic recipes are fail-safe bases you can work to exactly or use as a springboard to improvise on. The instructions are clear and concise, there are sections at the beginning of every chapter on techniques and ingredients, and it covers everything from how to boil rice to a 48-hour recipe for Peking duck.

Honestly, it's one of the best presents I've ever received.

 

[mrsfran]

I've discovered that you have to be a bit careful with loserweb recipes though; any old fuckwit can post up their recipe without it necessarily working or being any good.

I agree. I find it very difficult to trust a recipe from the internet, because you just don't know how reliable the poster is. I try to make my cookery blog friendly and accessible, and describe how I fail as well as succeed, and post pictures, so that people know that my recipes are tried and tested. I haven't yet had anyone say "I tried your quiche recipe and it was bollocks!", so hopefully it's working.

 

[gaijingirl]

Only because everyone kept saying "see you at the weekend", which made me paranoid that it was THIS weekend, not next. So to you too.

It's 'cos we're allotmenting this weekend... please do an anti-rain dance...

 

[Pie 1]

Waitrose's
recipe site is good.

 

[Spion]

I've discovered that you have to be a bit careful with loserweb recipes though; any old fuckwit can post up their recipe without it necessarily working or being any good. Most of the recipes I've had off the web have turned out good to great, but I downloaded one for lemon biscuits just before Christmas that was utterly nonsensical and didn't work. Which really pissed me off as the lemon biccies were supposed to be part of the homemade biscuits packages I was making for everyone as a cheap gift.

I think the lesson there is, be careful of recipes on the internet if they are for things where precision of quantities or time is important

 

[Orang Utan]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I bought Nigel Slater's Appetite and Real Food and Lindsey Bareham's Just One Pot. <salivates>

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

Being new to this cooking lark, but having a fair sized cookbook collection, used for decoration only up 'til now, I rely on Cranks, Nigel and Nigela. With Pru Leithes 'Cookery School' thrown in to tell me how to do the basics.

 

[Dillinger4]

I just ordered 1080 recipes off Amazon. It should arrive on Saturday!

I am so excited. I saw it in the shops and found out how huge it actually it. I am going to cook so many tasty things.

x million!

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

I just read this thread and was about to post when I saw that I already had. A year ago


eta, I can now cook better than before and use many more books than a year ago.