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Two Fat Ladies: Gastronomic Adventures - Clarissa Dickson Wright, Jennifer Paterson
by jillycat This cook book is one that has been on my cook book shelf for many years since I first bought it back in the late 1990's. Whilst it is not an everyday cook book of mine it is one I always go back to especially in winter when some of the traditional hearty recipes are especially appealing. For those of you who don't ... remember the "Two fat Ladies" from the TV series in the 90's they are Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright. Sadly Jennifer Paterson is no longer alive but at the times these two ladies were the opposite of the healthy thin brigade and cooked with full cream, butter and are very posh though they had none of the airs and graces that you seem in some celebrity chefs nowadays. Jenifer's background was as a food writer and Clarissa was a professional cook and food writer too. The TV series saw them travelling the country on an old fashioned motorcycle and side car and cooking for various occasions and was full of fun laughter and great recipes for which this book was the accompanying guide. The book is divided into 7 sections the first tells the story from the point of view of the TV series producer about the two ladies and how the series came about it is definitely is worth a read as it makes me chuckle. The next sections are not really arranged in any order but are Fish and shellfish, meat and Poultry, Cakes and baking, Fruit and Vegetables, Game and finally Food in the wild. At the start of each section there are a few pages by either Jennifer or Clarissa telling you about the type of food, buying tips about what to look for and some interesting anecdote about their history such as gather shrimps on holiday. I personally re read these periodically as they are interesting to read and do remind me of what to look for in say game when buying it as this is not something that features often in my cooking. Also each recipe is preceded by a couple of lines about the history of the recipe where is comes from and acknowledging if the recipe has been given to them by someone in the past. Fish and shellfish ****************** There is a good selection of fish recipes here from the striking center piece called Trafalgar Salmon to a rather more modest Mackerel run. What I like is there is a huge variety of fish involved from the nice and cheap mackerel to the more expensive halibut. All the recipes I have cooked so far have worked out with the amounts given and have proved popular. Meat and poultry ******************** There is again a good selection of beef pork lamb and chicken and duck recipes. The pork stroganoff especially is a recipe I go back to time and time again due to its simplistic cooking that is exquisite to taste with interestingly gin instead of a more traditional vodka or similar for the alcohol. There is also a great slow roast shoulder recipe that is prefect I find for popping into the oven before going out for a wintry walk and is there for when you come back just to eat with some green beans and a nice loaf of crusty bread. The two ladies have it right in that the lamb is so tender it just falls of the bone. Again this recipe is simple with very little by way of faffing around so is great dish to make on days when you are short of time. Cakes and baking ******************** This section is prefect if you want a great cake of afternoon teas or a celebration as there is a delicious devil's food cake or a walnut and coffee cake. The recipes are again written in a simple straight forward way that is easy to understand and follow. A couple of the recipes are also ideal for desserts such as the orange fool or lemon roulade. I don't use these as often as other parts of the cook book not because I don't like them but that I personally am a better cook than a baker. Fruit and vegetables ********************* Mostly of these are side dishes that are great accompaniments to the some of the main meals in the book but there are also a few soup recipes too and a simple desert recipes such as melon and raspberries. Not all of the dishes look pretty and some are good basic recipes that are great to have such as a bubble and squeak recipe that is straight forward and easy to do and a great dish for using left overs. My favourite in this section is the beetroot gratin which is a great dish to eat even if the presentation with its pink and red creamy sauce looks like something out of a CSI's crime scene. Game *********** This section contains everything from Rabbit to grouse and even a recipe for Jugged hare. These in our house are the thing of treats or if we get given a brace of grouse occasionally a source of inspiration to go to. They are not for me a regular part of my cooking routine but it is a good go too section if some game comes our way and is an invaluable reference guide I find as it tells me what to look for and what to do with this food that is more unusual for me to cook. The one that always goes down well is the venison with blackberries a great combination that sums up some of the joys of autumn days. The roast grouse recipe I find is fabulous at stopping these often dry birds becoming dry and disappointing and instead they are often surprisingly moist and tender to eat cooked the way suggested. Cooking in the wild ********************* This section I think is best summed up as part Ray Mears survival cooking with wild mushroom pancakes. To the I really need a butler and servants to do this Luau, which is cooking in a fire pit. I have to admit never doing the luau or the roasting a full beast on a spit in this section and I think there inclusion is great to show you perhaps what is possible if you are planning a huge party in an area with grounds. The recipes in this section that provide the most use are the salads that are great unusual recipes for livening up picnics or summer salads I find. Overall ************ This is a great cook book that though it is not full of everyday recipes is a great go to guide for some more unusual dishes for special occasions. However rather than being just a dinner party cook book there is also included some great ways of cooking with cheaper ingredients such as mackerel that mean I find it a useful book for some money saving tasty recipes. The style of writing is definitely casual and informal with lots of anecdotes and you can literally hear the two ladies clipped vowels coming through the book. This style may not appeal to everyone but I find it as amusing and enjoyable as I did the series. Whilst the recipe book contains lots of recipes with cream, butter and other frowned upon ingredients in this olive oil no saturated fat days a lot of the recipes are actually I think not bad for you using fresh oily fish, seasonal fruit and vegetables. I don't think you could cook from this book for everyday but you can make some delicious meals. I have yet to have a recipe fail on me from their qualities used and suggested cooking times and this to me is invaluable in a recipe book as I have found with some newer books the recipes just don't always work as the qualities or times just are not correct for example some recipes found in Jamie Oliver's books. This book is no longer readily available in current print but is available second hand from 1 penny on Amazon marketplace and I think this is great value at this price and a must for some different recipes and inspiration. Book Details ****************** * Hardcover: 192 pages * Publisher: Ebury Press; TV Tie-in edition (3 Oct 1996) * Language English * ISBN-10: 0091827930 * ISBN-13: 978-0091827939 Read the complete review |
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The Usborne Beginner's Cookbook - Fiona Watt
by passionate88 I was given this cookbook about 9 years ago for my birthday from a friend at school and have gone back to it time and time again for recipes (mostly cakes and biscuits). There are 195 recipes in total in this book and the book is split into four parts. The first is cooking for beginners which gives basic information about ... cookers, utensils, ingredients, taking care and measuring. It also has a double page spread of cooking hints such as beating techniques, peeling potatoes and chopping an onion. There is also a mixture of recipe types in this section as well, ranging from chocolate fudge cake to lamb kebabs in pitta pockets. The next section is pasta and pizza which contains lots of yummy but simple recipes such as mini pizzas, tomato and courgette pizza and Ravioli with tomato sauce. The third section is vegetarian cooking. Risotto, bread and cheese pudding, vegetarian sausages in batter and stuffed peppers are just some of the delicious recipes present in this section. The final section is cakes and cookies and this is by far my favourite section. It contains all the favourites such as chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownies, shortbread and sponge cakes. All the recipes start off with a list of the ingredients and then there is a step by step guide explaining how to make the recipes with diagrams for assistance. This layout with the diagrams is perfect for baking with children as its more interactive and will keep their attention as they know what they have to do to make the yummy cakes and meals. There are also images of the end product of each recipe. The lists of ingredients aren't too long either which is great when you want to cook something quickly and keep costs down. Read the complete review |
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The Cook's Book - Marcus Wareing
by Holland1 This is another cookery book which was donated to me by my mum during a recent clear out. It is a beautifully presented book containing step-by-step techniques and recipes by some of the world's top chefs. Examples of contributors are Ken Hom, Shaun Hill and Marcus Wareing. The first thing to note about this book is that it ... is MASSIVE! It comes in hardback and is over 600 pages long. Although this means you're getting excellent value for money with this book, it does make it a bit cumbersome to take off your shelf so you might find it not becoming one of your favourites for this reason. It's quite heavy to lift so some people might struggle to use this at all. It also takes up a lot of room on your worktop if you're following a recipe, because it's far too big to fit in a bookstand. Anyway, now the moaning's over...! The book costs around £20 on the likes of Amazon, although the inside cover gives RRP of £30. I'm fairly certain my parents would have picked this up from a discount store or charity shop, as this is where I get my bargain-hunting gene from! On flicking through this book, you will be amazed by the number of recipes and techniques contained within. It also contains some excellent photographs which inspire you to try certain recipes. I think this book would make a really good present for a keen cook because if you couldn't afford many celebrity cookery books, this one would keep you entertained for a while. The start of the book introduces the many chefs who have contributed, and if I'm honest I only recognise a few of these despite being a huge fan of cookery programmes and books. The book is split into the following sections: · Sauces & Dressings This includes basic sauce-making recipes and thickening techniques. Examples of recipes are hollandaise sauce and béarnaise sauce. It gives good tips for making sauces using a blender if you are short on time, and hints on things like rescuing curdled mayonnaise. There are also step-by-step instructions and diagrams. · Foams This is a rather unusual chapter and not something I've got round to trying yet. It includes things like mousses (desserts) and slightly 'cheffy' things like mayonnaise foam with asparagus. Unless you've got a lot of time on your hands or you're hosting a party and really want to impress, you probably won't get much use out of this section. · Stocks and Soups This contains standard information on how to make your own stock, although I can't say I've ever had the time or inclination to do this when the likes of Oxo and Knorr do such a good timesaving alternative! · Flavourings This is quite a varied section including some advice and some recipes such as salsa verde and green herb oil. Most of the stuff in this section is quite specialised and mainly for using to marinate meat and fish. · Latin American Cooking This is a strange chapter with recipes for food I've never even heard of! Recipes include conch salad, hallacas and mojo-marinated chicken with congri & plantains. This is a chapter for when you're feeling adventurous and in the mood for trying something new. · Eggs & Dairy Produce This chapter ranges from basic preparation of eggs such as whisking, folding egg whites and poaching eggs, to recipes involving eggs such as bittersweet chocolate mousse. It also involves meals such as potato and celeriac gratin. This is a great chapter if you ever find yourself with an excess of eggs and you're looking for a new way to use them! · Fish & Shellfish This is of little interest to me because although I do like some fish, I refuse to put myself through the gory process of preparing fish so I rarely cook it myself. This chapter tells you all about how to cut the fish, and has some detailed (i.e. grutesque!) pictures. If you're the kind of person who has always wanted to cook crab but were never sure how to prepare it, this is the book for you. · Japanese Cooking As the name suggests, this chapter contains recipes for Japanese dishes such as prawn tempura with beer, and sushi. Some of the ingredients in this section are quite specialised, such as star anise, umeshu (plum liqueur) and japonica rice, but this would be good for a themed dinner party or special occasion. · Poultry & Game Birds The best bit about this chapter is that it gives some good info on jointing birds and tips on doing a roast dinner. The actual recipes aren't that useful to me personally because I'm quite boring when it comes to poultry and tend to stick to chicken, whereas these recipes are for things like pheasant and goose. · Indian Cooking This is a very useful chapter for anyone who fancies cooking Indian dishes from scratch. It includes well known dishes such as onion bhajis, raita and tadka dahl, and lesser known dishes such as meen molee (poached fish in sauce). There are also general tips on how to make coconut curry sauce and marinating spices, which is good for applying to other Indian dishes. · Meat There are some excellent recipes in this section, in fact it's probably the chapter I've used most. It also has good instructions and diagrams for things like how to bone a joint of meat and boiling and steaming meat. There is also a fantastic recipe for Guinness gravy. · Chinese Cooking This chapter is written by Ken Hom, and is relatively short compared to some other sections. It has a couple of good side dishes but nothing I'd bother cooking for a main course though which is disappointing as I love Chinese food. · Vegetables This chapter takes us through the different types of vegetables, but rather than giving recipes it tells us about slicing and preparing each kind of vegetable, and things like how to pod peas, rehydrate dried mushrooms, and skinning, seeding and chopping tomatoes. The recipes in this section are quite basic, for example roasted root vegetables. · Pasta & Dumplings I don't know anyone who has enough time or passion in cooking to cook fresh pasta from scratch, but there are recipes in here for doing so. There are thankfully some normal recipes which you can use shop-bought pasta for, such as fettuccine with sweetcorn and gorgonzola cream. I have actually made this and it is stunning. Other recipes include dumplings and gnocchi. · Asian Noodles & Dumplings This is good for using up noodles as whenever I buy noodles I'm not too sure what to do with them! It has basic dishes such as seasame chicken and noodle salad, but also gets quite adventurous with things like noodle-wrapped tiger prawns. · Thai Cooking This is a very short chapter and not one I've used although it does have some generic recipes such as green curry paste. · Grains and Pulses This is mainly rice-based dishes such as paella and risotto, but also includes a section on wheat and couscous. I have made the Boston baked beans from this section and they were absolutely gorgeous. · Breads & Batters This chapter contains everything you need to know about baking bread, pizza bases and batters such as Yorkshire puddings. · Mexican Cooking This was the most disappointing chapter for me because I love Mexican food, but this section didn't contain any recipes that appealed to me. I was hoping it would tell me how to make fajita spice mix and guacamole from scratch, but it had more random dishes such as braised pork in red chilli sauce and courgette flower-filled masa boats (what?!). It's also one of the shortest chapters. · Pastry & Sweet Doughs As you'd expect, this chapter tells you how to make both sweet and savoury pastry, and also includes recipes for classic dishes such as tarte au citron, croissants and biscuits. It also tells you how to make choux pastry and brioche. · Middle Eastern Cooking This chapter had lots of food I've never heard of, such as pigeon bisteeya and none of the recipes in this section appealed to me. Luckily it's a very short chapter. · Desserts The best part of this section is the different flavours of ice cream, including mint, caramel, and almond. There's also instructions for making meringue, and some dark chocolate truffles. This is the section to use when you're having a dinner party and want to impress. · Cakes There are lots of different types of cakes here from cheesecake to basic sponges, muffins to doughnuts. · Fruit & Nuts I've never really looked at this section before because to me, caramelising a pear isn't cooking! I've just noticed there's a very nice looking banana mousse in here though, and a summer pudding which looks quite nice. There's the usual hints and tips on using things like gelatin. --Summary-- This is a brilliant book containing food from around the world and caters to all skill levels. There are a few sections I'll probably never use, but overall most of the content is useful and it contains so much more than just recipes. If you're ever wondering how to bone a lamb joint, prepare a fish, or roll sushi, this book contains step-by-step instructions and pictures for almost everything you could imagine needing to do in the kitchen. The thing I like about this book is that it has step-by-step pictures without feeling like you're being patronised. It is suitable for beginners as it contains all the basics on things like thickening sauces and the best way to slice vegetables, but it also has lots of ideas that will satisfy the more competent cook, for example sushi. This book is suitable for everyday cooking, and for producing a show-stopping meal for a special occasion. If you haven't got much room or cash to buy lots of cookbooks, this one provides everything you need in one big book, and it also makes a great gift. Read the complete review |
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Author: Weight Watchers / Cookbook / Edition: 4th Edition / Plastic Comb / 448 Pages / Book is published 2013-01-21 by John Wiley & Sons |
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1 review Author: Clarissa Dickson Wright, Jennifer Paterson / Cookbook / Publisher: Ebury Press / 192 Pages |
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Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: William Curley / Hardcover / 224 Pages / Book is published 2011-10-25 by Jacqui Small LLP |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Laura Washburn / Hardcover / 160 Pages / Book is published 2010-08-12 by Ryland Peters & Small |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Antony Worrall Thompson / Hardcover / 320 Pages / Book is published 1998-10-22 by Headline Book Publishing - Popular TV chef's guide to frustration-free cooking. |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: WWF Superstars / Edition: New edition / Hardcover / 224 Pages / Book is published 2000-11-06 by Willow |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: John Wright / Hardcover / 240 pages / Book published 2009-05-04 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
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1 review Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Carol Wilson / Paperback / 48 Pages / Book is published 1999-12-02 by J Salmon Ltd |
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Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Antony Worrall Thompson / Hardcover / 224 Pages / Book is published 2010-02-01 by Mitchell Beazley |
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Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Antony Worrall Thompson / Hardcover / 160 Pages / Book is published 2008-02-15 by Mitchell Beazley |
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