Decent simple cookbooks

weringo

weringo

weringo

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I can't help myself but I am forever buying cookbooks only to end up being disappointed. My common gripes are:

- impossible to find ingredients
- ingredients involving "leftovers" (seriously so I have to make a another meal first to make this one?)
- ingredients which cross reference to another part of the book which is a whole new recipe
- cookbooks containing mostly vegetarian recipes

Maybe I am simpleton, but if I get in from work one night and want to try a new dish I just want a hassle free experience.

I like BBC Goodfood, but there's only so many recipes on one website. I detest Jamie Oliver. I have no preference for cuisine.

Sorry for the rant but if you can recommend any cookbooks or websites which fit my criteria I will be forever grateful.
 
I hear ya weringo. Jamie Oliver's are poncey as all hell, and my local Tesco doesn't sell half the stuff required. Morrison's on the other hand is becoming excellent for variety of ingredients.

Some less than excellent reviews on that Toms Table book..
 
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While there are still some stellar examples out there, the influx of fame or trend-driven cookbooks have made finding something genuinely worth owning a difficult task. Unless it is for something really specific, be that a cuisine or a particular restaurant or chef, I find them to be much of a muchness. And far too many of them are written by food economists with minimal input from the supposed author.

So with that in mind, I would suggest to get yourself a subscription to Good Food Magazine, Olive or Delicious - you'll find plenty to inspire you within each. All the recipes are tested properly and feature a mix of seasonal, fashionable and revamped classics.

I can't recall offhand which publication it is, but one of them features a really handy set of recipes that make the most of all the bits and pieces you might have left over from cooking the other recipes in that or the previous issue.

That said... have you really run out of ideas from the Good Food website? There are thousands of recipes on there and it's usually my first point of call for, well, pretty much anything. I'd be lost without it.
 
weringo said:
- impossible to find ingredients
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A lot of beginners' cookbooks will keep things simple.
I'm not a fan of Jamie Oliver's stuff, but I do find Gordon Ramsey's recipes surprisingly turn out very simple, easy and consistently yielding decent results... whatever you may think of the man.

weringo said:
- ingredients involving "leftovers" (seriously so I have to make a another meal first to make this one?)
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A lot of Polish recipes seem to be like that. Things like kopytka using left over mashed potato.
Not necessarily a bad thing, although I take any leftovers to mean people didn't like the meal!! :D

weringo said:
- ingredients which cross reference to another part of the book which is a whole new recipe
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Like what?
Many will detail cooking things like rices, breads and pastries separately, if that's what you mean?
If they mention things like coleslaw, it's probably just a serving suggestion anyway.

weringo said:
- cookbooks containing mostly vegetarian recipes
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Don't buy tree-hugger cookbooks, then...?
There can't be that many veggie recipes where you're unable to just slap a steak or some bacon in alongside?

weringo said:
Maybe I am simpleton, but if I get in from work one night and want to try a new dish I just want a hassle free experience.
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Ah, see, there's the problem, IMO...
A new recipe requires multiple readings and often a few attempts at, before you get it down to a result you find to your liking. You can't just 'program' the ingredients in and press the 'cook' button. It's never as straightforward as that.
There are also many variables in your kitchen, which the recipe cannot account for unless you are painstakingly precise in everything... at which point you might as well either become Heston Blumenthall, or just go out for dinner!

Typically, I find I tweak and change things so much, the recipe is merely a guide or a basic idea anyway.
 
I'm not usually a fan of Mr Oliver. But his "Jamie at Home" book is really good, and can be had for a couple of quid used from Amazon.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Like what?
Many will detail cooking things like rices, breads and pastries separately, if that's what you mean?
If they mention things like coleslaw, it's probably just a serving suggestion anyway.
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I think it will be more likely referring to recipes which require other recipes within the book as ingredients - something that has become increasingly prevalent as a way of writers filling out their quota of recipes for their new book.

A lot of the time you can substitute something shop-bought but I've seen an abundance of books recently where the cross-referencing of recipes has got rather tiresome.

ttaskmaster said:
Ah, see, there's the problem, IMO..
A new recipe requires multiple readings and often a few attempts at, before you get it down to a result you find to your liking. You can't just 'program' the ingredients in and press the 'cook' button. It's never as straightforward as that.
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I think people forget this when buying cookbooks - they want to be able to flip open the page and start cooking without any degree of preparation or planning. And they tend to be the same type of people who slavishly follow a recipe to the letter and can't see when you need to use your own judgement.

There are however plenty of quality cookbooks by sensible authors who have written for people who don't want to spend hours in the kitchen before a meal and have a desire to utilise common ingredients that are easy to get hold of - Donna Hay and Bill Granger spring to mind as good examples of that style of cooking.
 
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Excellent no fuss starter book
 
glitch said:
I think it will be more likely referring to recipes which require other recipes within the book as ingredients
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Yeah, that's what I mean - Breads, pastries, fries, chips, thrice-cooked chips, Dauphinoise, gratin, Jamie's Special Sauce.... All the accompaniments that can be used for multiple recipes.

So long as they're included in the same book, does it matter?
Or should the accompaniment recipe be repeated on every 'main' recipe that it goes with?
 
Gordon Ramsey's Ultimate Cookery Course and Fast Food books are great. I've had them for ages, keep picking them up and finding about 3-4 new recipes to try. All very simple and straightforward.
 
I have a number of Jamie Oliver's books and can't say I have ever had trouble finding the ingredients. Can even get 99% of it in Aldi which is notorious for not stocking the same kind of variety as "normal" supermarkets. Generally I think his recipes are great.

That said, my advice regarding cookbooks in general would be go in charity shops and have a browse. I've got a shelf of cookbooks worth several hundred pounds in retail prices which has probably cost under £20 in total :D
 
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I like The Ducksoup Cookbook. Simple and interesting flavours and most things are easily obtainable. Also Persiana and Scirocco have some very good simple recipes if you like a little Middle-Eastern something.
 
Nice thread i was about to make a similar one. Im moving out at the end of may and would like to be the cook in the house. Bought Jamie's ministry of food for a penny plus £2 postage along with two other very beginner books.
Can eating freshly prepared meals nearly everyday work out cheap and not cost the earth?
 
Skillmister said:
That said, my advice regarding cookbooks in general would be go in charity shops and have a browse. I've got a shelf of cookbooks worth several hundred pounds in retail prices which has probably cost under £20 in total :D
Click to expand...

You can't go wrong at 50p or £1 for a book that someone probably paid £10+ for! :D
 
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