No odd ingredients here - a true classic cookbook (The Dairy Book of Home Cookery - Clark Gellings)

Member Name: Vixstar

Product:	The Dairy Book of Home Cookery - Clark Gellings
Date:	04/10/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good everyday recipes; Easy to use

Disadvantages: Hard to find

Having moved into my own place and enjoying (at least every now and again) cooking new things from scratch I'd built up quite a collection of cookery books from Chinese to Rick Stein via biscuits and muffins. But it wasn't long before I realised something was missing from my bookshelf - I could do amazing, exotic things with lamb but couldn't find a recipe for a basic moussaka and not one of my books seemed to acknowledge the existence of the humble Victoria Sponge. What I needed was The Dairy Book of Home Cookery(DBHC), a book which I had used at my mum's hundreds of times. Getting my mum to part with her copy was impossible; I believe the latest edition had been sold by milkmen in the early 90s so that was a no go; I resorted to trawling charity shops and got lucky - the latest edition for just £2. I now realise I could hve easily picked up any of the editions on Amazon but as they seem to be selling for at least £10 I think I did well.

So why have I made all this fuss about this cookery book and why are second hand copies so expensive on Amazon?

The DBHC was first published in the 60s by the milk marketing board, reprinted in the 70s for metrication and then again twice in the 90s due to popular demand.

It's a very traditional cookbook starting with soups, then mains and so on through to preserves and drinks. Prior to the recipes there is a 40 page ish section of useful information. Now you probably won't use this section much but there is plenty of information varying from weights and measures conversions to cuts of meat and types of cheeses to basic food safety. At the end of the book there is a short glossary of cooking terms, it's interesting but you almost definitely won't need to look through this to use the recipes as they are very easy to follow.

And whilst I'm on the topic of the recipes they too are mostly traditional family and dinner party favourites with one or two twists (can heartily recommend the Oriental Pork). The recipes haven't changed much from edition to edition but the 90s edition now contains instructions for microwave cooking for many of the recipes (it was obviously the in thing in the early 90s). Each recipe also has a clear indication as to whether the end result is freezable.

Over several years I have tried out many of the recipes in this book and can truthfully say I have never had a disaster with them, even as a young teenager there were easy enough to follow. Unlike some books all you have to do is follow the instructions to the letter and success (and favourable comments about your culinary skills) will follow. On the whole the recipes don't require any specilist equipment to do them it even gives alternative methods to using things like sugar thermometers.

The book does look a little dated, I'd put good money on the fact that they've recycled the photos as well as the recipes. This doesn't really detract from the book as the purpose of the photos is to show you what the recipes could look like and this is achieved.

I am not sure how many recipes are within this book but there are 350 pages full of recipes and their suggested variations so plenty of choice for any cook. The book is a wipeclean hardback which can be made to stay open at a certain page with a minimum of effort. Some of the copies have two integral ribbon bookmarks which are very handy if there is a lot of cooking going on.

The DHBC has been a staple of my mum's kitchen for years (many judging by the state of her seventies edition) and is now one of my best loved most used couldn't be without cookbooks.

Summary: Every cook should have one (plus a spare to lend friends!)