A must for every cook and their kitchen (The Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook)

Member Name: Tea65

Product:	The Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook
Date:	08/06/09 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to follow recipes, well laid out, lots to try.

Disadvantages: Most likely to add a few pounds to your weight

As a child I remember visiting my Grandparents at weekends and my Grandfather making lots of wonderful treats. This is one book I remember him using as well as the sequel 'The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen'. My copy however isn't something I got from them, my husband and I inherited ours from my father in law.

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This book is based on the Yorkshire Television series that graced our screens back in the 70's called Farmhouse Kitchen and it was presented by Dorothy Sleightholme and Grace Mulligan. As you open the book you are greeted by the contents, I won't list them as there are too many but will go into detail about each section further on.

Moving on to the next page there is an introduction by Dorothy Sleightholme with a footnote from the Producers of the television series.

~~Soup, Savouries, Salads and Cold Meats~~

This section is full of wonderful recipes; soups in this chapter include Mushroom Soup, Carrot Soup and Golden Vegetable Soup. There are two savouries recipes in this section; Cheese and Onion and Stuffed Tomatoes, both sound very appealing and tasty.

~~Cheese and Egg Dishes, Rice and Pasta~~

This section has recipes for Cheese Soufflé, Welsh Rarebit, Omelette as well as family favourite puddings such as Bread and Butter Pudding and Pancakes.

~~Pies and Pastries~~

This section shows you how to make everything from Cheese Straws to Treacle Tart. There are also recipes for basic Short Crust Pastry, Flaky Pastry, Rough Puff Pastry, Choux Pastry and Puff Pastry.

~~Poultry and Game~~

This section is probably the most useful as it has instructions on how to bone poultry and trussing poultry and game as well as jointing a chicken. There are two recipes in this section for Casseroled Wood Pigeon and Jugged Hare, neither of which hold any fascination for me but might tempt the more adventurous of you.

~~Fish~~

Not being a big fish lover I haven't really taken much notice of what this section contains but having a look now I see that there are recipes for Pilchard Crumble, Kipper Pâté, Cidered Haddock Casserole and Fish Pie.

~~Meat~~

This wonderful section has a lot of recipes including Beef Casserole with Dumplings, Casserole of Pork, Kidneys' in Red Wine Sauce. Some of the recipes in this section also include sheeps hearts, hares and wood pigeon...not something that I am particularly interested in trying but the more adventurous of you out there might.

~~Vegetables~~

This section is really good as it has tips on selecting the right potatoes and cooking them as well as recipes for Vegetable Hot Pot, Glazed Parsnips and Potato Croquettes.

~~Home Baking~~

For the more adept at cooking than the novice that I am, this section is probably like a gold mine to you. Here you will find an Aladdin's Cave chock full of recipes such as Gingerbread, Shortbread, Cakes, Biscuits and Scones. This section also has a recipe for basic white bread dough and a list of different recipes you can make with this one bit of dough.

~~Puddings~~

The section has puddings for every occasion; puddings in this section include Christmas Pudding, Ice Cream, Trifle and Baked Alaska and for the more money conscious there is even an economy version is the Christmas Pudding.

~~Fruits, Jams, Pickles, Preserves, Confectionery and the Store Cupboard~~

This section as you can probably gather is all about the above, there is also tips on Bottling as well as various recipes to tempt you and a whole list of store cupboard essentials.

~~Home-made Wine, Beer and Pop~~

As the economy crisis keeps looming more people and looking at ways to save what little money they have and this section should be of interest to you. Recipes included in this section, Mulled Wine, Elderflower Wine, Mild Beer, Light Bitter Beer, Lager, Gingerbeer and Lemonade.

~~Index~~

The index here is satisfyingly laid out in alphabetical order with the relevant page number next to it so at a glance you know which section or page you need to turn to in the book.

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My copy I didn't pay but I have had a look on Amazon and there are a few copies still floating about for as little as 1p as well as some of the second volume for relatively the same price. You probably can also pick up a copy of this book in your local charity shop or library (or Granny's kitchen).

~~My Opinion~~

I like the way that this book is set out and that the recipes are easy to follow; I'm not too keen that there is hearts and pigeons to be used for a few of the recipes but overall I do like the recipes and think that the majority are well worth a try, even for a complete novice like me.

Summary: Fantastic book with lots of interesting recipes