Possibly the best cookery magazine on the market (BBC Good Food)

Member Name: cerys82

Product:	BBC Good Food
Date:	22/08/09 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent variety of recipes

Disadvantages: I suppose its not the cheapest on the market, but can be kept for future reference

BBC Good Food magazine is from the BBC Magazines stable. It comes out monthly, generally in the first few days of each month, and costs £3.20.

I would say that it is aimed at the averagely skilled cook who likes to both challenge themselves occasionally and also have cheaper, simpler recipes on standby for midweek. Alternatively, if you want predominantly simpler recipes I would recommend BBC EasyCook, and Olive magazine for the more adventurous.

I am a keen, though I wouldn't say overly skilled cook and buy this magazine from a few times to several times a year. I would buy it more or maybe even subscribe but as I tend to keep the magazines for reference afterwards, if I did this I would quickly run out of room in my bookshelf.

You can get the magazine from most newspaper and magazine outlets, although to get optimum value for money I recommend getting it from a place with a loyalty card scheme; I believe that some Waterstones and Boots stores tend to sell it, in particular as they have the most generous ones.

There are digital TV channels which are associated with this magazine - GoodFood and GoodFood +1 (formally UKTV Food) which are worth a look. The magazine also has a website - www.bbcgoodfood.com which is very comprehensive.

Each magazine typically has 120 recipes which are tested by the Good Food team. I have to admit that I have cooked several recipes of theirs over the years and have not yet found any errors; this is especially important to me as I need to follow recipes to the letter.

Near the beginning is a "This Month's recipes" section which lists all of the recipes in the issue with their page number. These are classified by type - vegetarian, fish and seafood, meat, poultry and game, baking and desserts, sides and drinks. There is also a key to indicate healthy options and low-fat. Normally, alongside this section there is some information which is meant to be applied to all the recipes in the magazine, including how to interpret codes and nutritional information.

There is then a cook's notes section which details things such as quirky new food products and utensils as well as general food news, details of events and mini-interviews with chefs etc.

The reader's letters pages of this magazine are particularly good as they respond to queries and even minor criticisms of the magazine.

Another regular feature is "here to help" which discusses a particular issue to do with cookery. In the particular issue that I am looking at (August 2009) there is an extensive and informative section on preserving and freezing fruit and vegetables; particularly prevalent in these "credit crunch" times and when this is a growing awareness of the issue of "food waste."

Then you get into the recipes good and proper. As a rule they are linked around a theme - eg everyday, modern vegetarian, 5 ways with.... And Great British cooking.

Each recipe is clearly laid out on the page and written in an easy-to-understand and non-patronising way. The recipe generally details how many it will serve, how long it will take to prepare and cook, its difficulty rating, information such as whether it is vegetarian, "healthy" or freezable. It may also contain additional information such as if it is high in any particular vitamin or mineral or how many portions of fruit or veg that the dish contains. At the end of the recipe there are also nutritional statistics and some short recipes which can act as a side dish or a quick way to amend the recipe to your liking. It does not feature nutritional information for any recipes that are aimed specifically at children.

Being a BBC magazine there is prominence on featuring chefs and recipes from BBC programmes. But as far as I'm concerned this doesn't override the feature and the recipes are still in keeping with the tone of the magazine, which is the most important thing. For instance, in the August 09 issue there was a feature on Levi Roots' Caribbean Food Made Easy which may have served as a promotion for the new show but also served as a really good introduction to Caribbean Food, with recipes to complement this.

Actually, that's another nice about this magazine as there is a wide variety of all different types of cooking. How much of this is "watered down," simplified and made palatable for the mainstream British market. Whether this is the case is down to the individual reader I think. Personally, I think anything which encourages people to try new ingredients and techniques in cooking is no bad thing.

Another regular feature is one by Gregg Wallace of Masterchef Goes Large, discussing a particular seasonal fruit or veg with associated recipes. There is a lot of emphasis on buying local and reducing food miles throughout the magazine, but this message is not preached at you.

On the whole compared to a lot of other mainstream magazines there are thankfully few adverts and those that there are are largely unobtrusive. There are also some advertisement features but these are clearly labelled and often include recipes themselves.

There is a grow-your-own regular feature is which very detailed and features excellent photographs to explain tricky concepts. In fact the photography throughout the magazine is excellent, making the food look wonderfully appetising but not too intimidating to make.

There is also a wine and drinks section with recommendations of wines, ales, mixers and non-alcoholic drinks.

A lot of specialist products that are featured come from small local concerns around the country. This obviously provides good publicity to small specialist suppliers.

Gordon Ramsey also does a feature of a recipe which is just a little special, but this is well photographed especially if there are techniques involved to master.

Towards the back, being a BBC magazine, there is a section on TV news referring to programmes like Saturday Kitchen and MasterChef, including recipes from these shows or the chefs involved.

There is a classified section advertising some interesting food related companies, cooking courses etc.

The magazine often comes with an additional mini book of recipes based around a theme. The Christmas issue which comes out at the beginning of November is a bumper issue, with more recipes as well as a recipe calendar and a Xmas day meal planner with lots of additional tips to make the main meal run more smoothly.

On the last page there is a regular feature called "My Life On a Plate" interview with a different chef each month detailing their own food favourites and memories.

All-in-all, and having bought all of them over a period of time I think that this magazine is about the best out of them out there. Not least because of the variety of recipes available and just how adaptable to everyday life that they are. I have picked up so many recipes which are easy and nutritious to make after a long day at work which are now in my staple repertoire.

Summary: Proud to have these on my bookshelf