Cookbooks
Looking for a cook book? If you consider yourself a dab hand in the kitchen and are on the lookout for some cook books then check out the dooyoo catalogue. Here you'll find reviews on recipe books from the likes of Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsey plus many more. Read some
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Reviews
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Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Cookbook - Levi Roots
by Chippytarka Ive always had a thing about baking since a young girl. Probably down to my sweet tooth is what inspired me to watch and learn how to bake. Im not the best baker in the world, but I know I can do it, and sometimes I make some lovely things for me and my family. When it comes to actual cooking, something that's savoury, now that's a ... different story. Ive tried very hard to get rid of the fear of things such as cooking a whole chicken, cooking lamb without turning into bonfire wood. All the simple and basic things I had to start from scratch, but its been worth it. I bought this book around 4 years ago at work, as they regularly had someone from a book club ( probably The Book People ) come out with a leaflet of books on offer, all of which were at a reduced price and nowhere near what the rrp was. I remember seeing this book, and having a flip through the recipes and I had to buy it, purely because this type of food is what I love. And at a price of £5.00, I thought it was a good buy. So who is Levi Roots? I recall watching Dragons Den years ago. A slight cheeky, grinning man with a guitar and a head full of locks, came bouncing through the room to meet the Dragons, and decided rather than a boring talking pitch, simply sang and then followed with his idea of a sauce, a sauce with a kick, that potentially could rival the big guns out there as there wasn't that much out there like this. I remember thinking to myself-they will either love him or hate him. Probably hate, as people dont normally come into the Den in that fashion, but strangely enough they all warmed to him and he was given an investment to move forward with his product ' Reggae Reggae Sauce ' which has been a hit even years later. Since then his name and product have been collabrating with many other companied and products such as Birds Eye, Subway and Levi ( or the people behind him ) have brought out other sauces, food products and even drinks. With his passion for music, but more so food, it was only a matter of time for this gentleman to come out with his very own cookbooks, and even cooking shows. What is this book like? I like the mix of the recipes, pictures and the information on Levis life. He mentions his life in Jamaica, his family, coming over to England.Not in huge depths e.g pages and pages long, but enough to get the idea of who he is but more importantly to get a better idea and feel of his cooking and love of food. How and where we are brought up has an effect on everything about us, and what we cook is a prime example. If someone hasnt had, for an example, any form of Caribbean food, then they wouldnt know why certain fish is used, where does the idea of certain drinks come from, why is curry powder a staple ingredient in many savoury dishes served up in the Caribbean etc. I think the balance is just right between the recipes and his background information, and its great to see lots of colourful and birght pictures which look true to life. The recipes are varied, and covers drinks, main courses, deserts, snack type food, breakfast. Some recipes are alittle on the basic side, as mentioned in a previous review about roasting sweet potatoes. I think its important to have just afew very basic recipes because some people need it! I find it scary some people out there cant boil an egg, but this happens and it exists. Theres plenty of receipes in here, all not complicated, but will help you to make some very tasty, delicious Caribbean food. Some of the recipes are as follows: Festivals Salmon St Jago De La Vega Salt Fish Fritters ( I make these and they are yummy! ) West Indian Christmas Cake ( my all time favourite cake, baked it once was amazing, but need to adjust my cooking time to make it more moist ) Guinness Punch ( wow-how I make it you will be in an alcohol induced coma for a week! ) Ital Stew To be fair, Levi does drop the whole Reggae Sauce into alot of his recipes, but who wouldnt? Its all publicity, and if he never mentioned it in a cookbook with the title ' Reggae Reggae ' I would have to wonder. He does also mention in the ingredients list that you can use something else, so you wont feel as if you have to use it. For anyone that may be daunted with some of the wild and wonderful ingredients used in this book, at the beginning theres afew pictures but more importantly an explanation of what some foods are called and what they are.Good thing with our supermarkets and markets today, they tend to stock pretty much all of the ingredients in this book, so its not an issue. So what do I think? Its a good book.Its clear and easy to read and understand.Plenty of pictures to show you what the end result is supposed to look like. Alot of these are traditional recipes from the Caribbean. Maybe not exactly the same, because everyone does there own version, but give you a great base to work from. Its easy to change things if something isnt to your taste e.g I hate heat, so something with scotch bonnet peppers is a no no and swapped with something much milder. We have had cookery books on English cuisine, French, Indian, Chinese, why not Caribbean? Great book giving you a good insight to the delights of food within the Afro Caribbean culture! Read the complete review |
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200 More Slow Cooker Recipes - Sara Lewis
by cerys82 More Slow Cooker recipes is a book that I purchased after being impressed by the initial Hamlyn all colour cookbook. Mine cost around £3.49 from Amazon, however I have spotted it in Tesco stores as well for a similar price. The RRP is 4.99. The book itself contains 200 recipes. The book whilst thick is quite small in height ... and width. It is paperback. The inner pages are glossy. However, it being a bit of a cheap book, the binding does not stand for much pulling about so you are best to rest it on a cookbook stand. There is a detailed introduction which talks you through choosing a slow cooker, working out timings, caring for your slow cooker and how to use your own recipes within. To give you a good impression of what the book is like I will give you some example recipes from each section. Each recipe details its preparation time, slow cooker setting/temperature, anticipated cooking time and a number of them also contain ideas and methods for slight variations and serving suggestions. The main recipes also have photographs of the finished dish alongside them. Soups: vegetable broth with dumplings, mulligatawny soup, pea and ham soup, haddock and bacon chowder, Thai coconut and pumpkin soup, carrot and cumin soup, leek, potato and stilton soup. Light bites; red pepper and chorizo tortilla, baked eggs on toast, warm lentil and feta salad, chilled sweetcorn , Moroccan meatballs, chicken & sage hotpot, turkey and sausage stew, Indian spiced cottage pie. Shortcut suppers: chicken and sweet potato balti, balsamic braised pork chops/cider braised pork, honey glazed gammon, hot Spanish beans, fragrant spiced chicken with chilli, and smoked cod with bean mash. Vegetarian: vegetable goulash, tomato and squash curry, pepperonata, barley risotto with blue cheese, cauliflower and spinach balti, tarka dhal, Food for friends: salmon-wrapped cod with leeks, creamy chicken korma, chillied beef with chocolate, New Orleans chicken gumbo, tamarind beef with ginger beer (a favourite), and fish pie Puddings: mini banana and date pudding, jam roly-poly pudding, chocolate croissant pudding, rhubarb and raspberry oaty pudding. Drinks and preserves: apple thyme and rosemary jelly, orange marmalade, passion fruit and lime curd, hot spiced berry punch, cider toddy, skiers hot chocolate. It is finished off by an index ordered alphabetically by the principal components of the dish. The verdict I am largely quite impressed with Hamlyn cookbooks and have quite a number of them. I find that they are accessible for many different levels of cookery and seem to have recipes geared to fast paced modern lives which still want good homecooked food to be in reach. They are also incredibly reasonably priced. In fact, one of the primary reasons for buying this book is that I was particularly impressed by its predecessor which has been one of my most used books on slow cooking. This 'sequel' did not disappoint. I happen to think that these books have a lot more imagination than a lot of other slow cooker books which only seem to want to recycle the same stew, curry and suet pudding recipes. I now use this one at least as often as I did its predecessor. It also has a couple of touches that I really like. Firstly, it is made very clear on the recipe how long the dish needs to be cooked in the slow cooker for . I personally hate having to root through a recipe to work out the time needed overall. This is particularly important with slow cooking as some of the time I need to know quite easily whether it is feasible to leave cooking within the time scales whether that be whilst I am at work, or just out for the afternoon. Also, I really like the detail in the introductory section which is clear, really good for anyone who is a beginner to slow cooking and the recipe adaptation information is really useful even if you're a bit more proficient. There are a lot of recipes here which I would never have thought that I could do in a slow cooker - particularly the preserves and the tortilla ones, so this book has helped me to widen my scope and increase the versatility of the use of my slow cooker. I also like the fact that it has encouraged me to experiment a bit more with flavours e.g. the tamarind beef but never uses ridiculously hard to source or expensive ingredients (often it encourages the uses of cheaper meats which benefit particularly from slow cooking.) . Although I wouldn't have said that many of the recipes are particularly fancy when it comes to entertaining, and you do need one of the larger slow cookers for some of the chunkier whole meat recipes, I have frequently impressed people when I have told them the type of recipes that I have expanded my slow cooker use with. The presentation is clear but functional which is fine because you don't expect anything too fancy or elaborate in a book at this price. I would say that it is not just looking at the recipe title at the top of the page but also consider the variations at the bottom as sometimes these are better than the main recipe and also encourage a bit more experimentation. Let's face it, the slow cooker cookbook market is quite oversaturated with the numbers of titles you can buy; I reckon that myself I have coming up to close to 10 myself - which I know is excessive! As such there are always going to be some that I reach for more than others and I can confirm that this book and its predecessor are my favourites. I think that more than most, it really does try and show you just how versatile your slow cooker can be and does not have to just be relied on for casseroles and curries and making things overcooked, which I have personally found to be a misconception amongst my friends. However, this only goes to enable you to really surprise your guests with just what you can produce. I have a soft spot for books like this that can do that. All in all, I would highly recommend this book for anybody with a slow cooker that wants to expand their use slightly but does not want to go over the top with the fanciness. Read the complete review |
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Jamie's 15-Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver
by KLockwood75 Picture the scene... An array of fresh ingredients laid out on the counter top, all the required equipment ready and waiting to be used, recipe book open to the right page and the timer set on my mobile phone (well, I do like a challenge!) The basic premise of Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is that you can prepare a full, balanced meal using ... fresh ingredients in a 15 minute window which sounds ideal for our busy, everyday lives. However, friends who have his '30 Minute Meals' book say that you can't cook those in half an hour, so my expectations of actually being able to get one of these meals on the table in 15 minutes weren't particularly high. Of course, my husband had other ideas - with the timer ticking away on my first attempt ("Gorgeous Greek Chicken with Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki'), he was posting on Facebook saying that he'd "been waiting 16 minutes for his dinner and it was still not ready"... in the end it took me 21 minutes from starting cooking to serving that first recipe. Plus, I felt like I was racing round the kitchen, from one task to the next, like a contestant on some kind of bizarre 'speed-cooking' game show. * The Recipes * Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is designed to allow you to cook quick, tasty and nutritious food that you can eat every day of the week. It is not 'dinner party cooking'. You definitely wouldn't want to attempt the 'speed cooking' required for these recipes while trying to entertain guests at the same time. Instead it is the kind of food that you can prepare after a day at work and sit down to enjoy, safe in the knowledge that you are eating something that is fresh and full of flavour, all in approximately the same timeframe as serving up a plate of oven chips. In addition, whereas some of Jamie Oliver's books have been criticised for being unhealthy / too high in fat and calories, these recipes have been developed in conjunction with nutritionists and have an average of 580 calories per serving. The book is divided into chapters based on the main ingredient (type of meat / fish / veggie) or style of meal (Pasta / Soups and Sarnies / Breakfast) and I will talk about my personal favourites below. Chicken - The chicken section is my favourite part of the book so far and the one I find myself coming back to time and time again. The 'Gorgeous Greek Chicken' mentioned above has now become a favourite in our house (and I've shaved 5 minutes off my original personal best time for making it) and we also love the 'Spicy Cajun Chicken, Mashed Sweet Potato and Fresh Corn Salsa'. The 'Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad' is tasty too. I feel that I have learned some new techniques too from this section - such tenderising and flavouring the chicken breasts by shaking the spices over them in a greaseproof paper wrap before bashing them repeatedly with a rolling pin. The range of recipes is really varied - from 'Chicken Dim Sum' to 'Warm Chicken Liver Salad with Little Welsh Rarebits' via 'Golden Chicken, Braised Greens and Potato Gratin' and I feel that there really is something for everyone here. Quite a lot of the recipes do have an element of spice (always popular amongst the adults in this house) but there are also recipes which I feel are suitable for the whole family. Beef - The beef section of the book is also really good. There are simple recipes such as homemade burgers (definitely one for the BBQ season, assuming we get a summer this year), Chinese inspired recipes such as 'Sizzling Beef Steak, Hoisin Prawn and Noodle Bowls' and more classic recipes such as 'Steak Medallions, Mushroom Sauce and Spring Greens'. My personal favourites from this chapter as the 'Beef Kofta Curry with Fluffy Rice, Beans and Peas' and the 'Grilled Steak, Ratatouille and Saffron Rice' both of which were relatively simple to cook and tasted delicious. Again, you can use this section as inspiration for creating your own meals as well as following the recipes - we always eat steak with either chips or potato wedges, but it was delicious with the ratatouille and I have used the saffron rice recipe to accompany several other dishes since. Pasta - We eat a lot of pasta in this house so I am always on the lookout for quick and easy pasta recipes, and this chapter of the book is full of them. All of the pasta dishes in the book come with their own salad accompaniment, although you could obviously serve them on their own / with garlic bread just as easily. Personal favourites here are the 'Sausage Fusilli with Creamy Garden Salad', the 'Chicken Cacciatore, Spaghetti and Smoky Tomato Sauce' and 'Prawn Linguini with Sicilian Shaved Fennel Salad'. The Prawn Linguini (or Tagliatelle / Fusilli / Penne depending on what we have in the cupboard at the time) is an excellent quick dinner option and one that we seem to have every few weeks, although I don't usually bother with the salad. Overall though, there are so many enticing recipes in this book. I have pulled out a few favourites above, but if I was to go through my list of 'things that I want to make', this review would be far too long. There is a good range of vegetarian recipes too, plus a lot of recipes which could be converted to suit vegetarian guests / family members by just substituting something else for the meat. Veggie meals include a 'Keralan Veggie Curry', 'Falafel Wraps, Grilled Veg and Salsa' and 'Spring Frittata, Tomato Toasts, Watercress and Pea Salad' * A Few (Minor) Issues * Overall, I think that this is an excellent cook book and one that I use regularly. There are a few issues though - not so much for me, but on a more general basis. The first is that you need a lot of equipment - there are very few recipes which don't specify the use of a food processor, for a variety of different purposes (chopping, blending, disc-slicing etc.) and, although all these tasks can be done by hand, you would need to allow a lot more time if you don't have a food processor. The other issue is timings - there are no defined timings in this book, which if you stick to the recipe and do things in the right order, shouldn't be an issue. However, if you can't do it as quickly as Jamie thinks you should be able to do it, you are likely to find that your chicken (for example) is cooked long before you have finished making the accompanying elements of the meal. Or, sometimes, you buy something and it takes much longer to cook that the recipe suggests it will - I did one last week which needed to have bulgar wheat put on to cook about five minutes into the cooking time, but the instructions on the packet said it took 15 minutes to cook. The other issue, which my husband is constantly pointing out, is that this style of cooking makes a lot of washing up - the average meal uses at least two (often three pans), plus the food processor, and all of that needs to be washed by hand. Oh, and while I'm here, you need to take his advice about 'serving' the food with a pinch of salt - seriously, who has a variety of different shaped boards to serve their everyday dinners on? * Price and Purchasing * Jamie's 15 Minute Meals has an RRP of £26.00 but you are very unlikely to have to pay that much for it, as it is usually reduced. Current Amazon price for the hardback is £11.96. It is available everywhere, in proper bookshops and online. * Final Thoughts * Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is a book that I would highly recommend. The recipes are mostly easy to follow and the results are impressive. I love the way that one recipe gives you a complete meal - it takes away all the indecisiveness about what to serve with a main dish, and it has certainly broadened our culinary horizons. We had slipped into a bit of a rut where everything was served with rice, couscous, pasta or some kind of potato, and it is refreshing to cook (and eat) a greater variety of meals. I have used this book at least once a week since I got it at Christmas - a combination of experimenting with new recipes and revisiting ones that have quickly become favourites - and I feel like it is one that I will continue to use. You do need to have a bit of confidence in your own abilities in the kitchen as there are a few tricky techniques in this book (it is definitely not as basic as 'Jamie's Ministry of Food' for example), but there is nothing that should make it inaccessible to a relatively experienced cook. So, if you want to make fresh, healthy, balanced meals which taste delicious, go out and buy this. Read the complete review |
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2 reviews Hardcover: 288 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Michael Joseph / Published: 27 Sep 2012 |
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1 review Paperback: 288 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Hinkler Books / Published: 23 Jan 2010 |
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Hardcover: 64 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small / Published: 10 Mar 2011 |
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1 review Hardcover: 96 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Rovio Mobile / Published: 13 Dec 2011 |
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Paperback: 192 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: MQ Publications Ltd / Published: 4 Oct 2006 |
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1 review Paperback: 160 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd / Published: 1 April 2008 |
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1 review Publisher: Parragon Book Service Ltd / Cookbook / Published: 1 Sep 2008 |
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1 review Author: Thomasina Miers / Cookbook / Hardcover / 256 Pages / Book is published 2012-06-21 by Hodder & Stoughton |
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1 review Hardcover: 192 pages / Cookbook / Publisher: Hinkler Books / Published: 1 Oct 2010 |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: James Wong / Hardcover / 272 Pages / Book is published 2012-09-13 by W&N |
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