Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course - Delia Smith

his is the classic cookery book, that if you only have one book, and you're not a trained chef, get this one. This second edition isn't wildly different from the first edition - I haven't done a direct comparison so I can't comment on what has been revised, but you wouldn't want this if you already had it, so i gues that's not too important. What is impressive is that this book is such a classic it withstands reprinting for 2007. If you are not used to cooking much or following recipes you will love this. a) her recipes always actually work as long as you follow them carefully. b) she never uses technical terms without explaining what she ...  Read the complete review

Full review -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not a great fan of Delia Smith, but I owe her a debt of gratitude. My mother always told me that I couldn't cook and in my youth constantly derided my efforts to produce anything edible. It's the sort of thing that sticks. One day in the late seventies I was flicking through the Radio Times and I came across a recipe for Gratin Dauphinois – a mixture of potatoes, butter, cream, milk and garlic baked in a gentle oven – and I had two thoughts. The first was that it sounded delicious and the second was that it looked so simple that I thought I could do it. I ...  Read the complete review

Ah, Delia - mention her name in our house and the immediate response is a giggly 'Where are you?' thanks to a somewhat tipsy TV appearance (nothing to do with cookery and a lot to do with Norwich football club!) some years ago. But what about the cooking? Well I have very little time for her how to boil an egg, or spending almost as much time creating a shepherds pie from expensive instant ingredients as it would take to make one from scratch that would taste much nicer. But these are more recent outings for Delia that smack of trying to eke out a few extra £££ from a well-known brand. In contrast, the Complete Cookery Course has been around for ...  Read the complete review

DELIA SMITH'S COMPLETE COOKERY COURSE The book that I am reviewing is more than 15 years old and is the hardback version. I have seen paperback versions in the shops and also ones that are a smaller size than my copy. However, I believe the content is mostly the same. ***What's it all about?*** This is a complete cookery course and my copy contains 576 pages. There is a conversion chart at the beginning and the book is then broken down into chapters. The chapters are the usual type: Eggs Bread and Yeast Cookery Stocks and Soups Pates and ...  Read the complete review

All our family own this book and it has been a mainstay of our kitchens for years. It is clear and concise, yet occasionally rather complicated. The pictures are good, but there aren't very many. They copy I have (paperback) has almost worn out and will need to be replaced soon as the binding is poor. That said, it is still used for something or other nearly every week. The ingredients are all easily obtainable and the recipes mostly simple and well laid out. Sometimes, the recipes can appear to overcomplicate things and simple things can be made more difficult than they need to be! Its content is possibly rather dated now and I have occasionally ...  Read the complete review