Delia's Complete How To Cook by Delia Smith
| Delia's Complete How To Cook by Delia Smith | |
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| Category: Cookery | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: The How to Cook series has been amalgamated into one volume. It's a more than adequate course for the novice, but experienced cooks will find that some of the recipes are familiar. Recommended for the inexperienced cook. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 704 | Date: March 2009 |
| Publisher: BBC Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0563539070 | |
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At the end of the last century Delia Smith produced her How to Cook series – three volumes which gave the inexperienced cook the grounding that they would need to put good food on the table for any occasion. Produced in three volumes (volumes 1, 2 and 3) it always seemed to me to be a reworking of her Complete Cookery Course which began life in a similar manner. There were some new recipes, some reworkings of old favourites and some that were well known. The books were directed at the novice rather than the experienced cook, but found favour with both as this was a time when Delia could do no wrong.
The three volumes have now been amalgamated into one brick of a book which has the advantage for me that there is an index which covers the whole course. Trying to remember which volume held a favourite recipe became tedious and I resorted to sticky labels on the covers.
We have reviews of all three originals volumes and I won't repeat them here: the links to the reviews are above. Various topics are taken and you're moved through background, instructions and recipes so that you progress from complete ignorance to reasonable competence. Follow exactly as you're told and you won't go far wrong.
My preference is for the Complete Cookery Course but that's largely bias to the familiar as this was the book which first enabled me to put good food on the table with reasonable confidence. How to Cook does much the same thing but with recipes which are probably more in tune with current fashions than those you'll find in the Complete Cookery Course.
If you're looking for a decent cookery book for a novice then this book will be better than adequate. It won't inspire you to experiment on your own – that's not Delia's strength – but it will give you the confidence to cook from basic ingredients.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Delia's Complete How To Cook by Delia Smith at Amazon.com.
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