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Editorial Review:
Delia's How to Cook Book One is aimed at beginners: people whose staple diet comprises heat-and- serve or take-away meals. Television cook and bestselling author Delia Smith's aim is to equip her readers with the basic techniques of cooking which, after some practice, will help them discover the pleasures of home-made food. With the aid of very detailed instructions that accompany her recipes, readers are taught how to work with the staples: eggs, flour, rice, bread and pasta. But the book goes beyond boiled eggs and baked potatoes. There are recipes and photographs which will inspire: moussaka with roasted aubergines and ricotta, wild mushroom tartlets with poached quails' egg and apricot galettes with amaretto. Many of the recipes have several extra photographs which show the dish at various stages of preparation--these are useful if the recipe includes a gravy which needs to be "thickened" or if potatoes need to be cut into "chunks". Healthy options, like fat-free white sauces and chips you don't have to fry, are also included.
In an age when everyone can literally shop around the world for ingredients at supermarkets, where they can buy instant meals or their salads and vegetables ready prepared, when every other shop in the high street is a take-away or fast food outlet. "Delia's How to Cook" returns to the roots of cooking to rediscover the joys and simple pleasures of food. In this, the first of two volumes, Delia starts at the very beginning, explaining in detail the staple ingredients of all cooking - eggs, flour, potatoes, rice and pasta. Here, she guides beginners through many of the basic techniques that will serve them for a lifetime of cooking, right from boiling and poaching an egg, through bread and pastry making, to sauces and cooking all kinds of rice perfectly every time. For those who have mastered the techniques - and for those who are already accomplished cooks - the book provides a collection of recipes, incorporating new ideas such as fat-free white sauces, chips you don't have to fry and souffl s that don't collapse.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Delia really is the best I already had several of Delia's books, and I didn't really think I needed another. I received this book as a gift at christmas, and like many of the other reviewers have already said, it really is fantastic.
Her recipes are as always easy and simple to follow, written in such a way that inspires, even the most novice of cooks.
Sod Nigella! This book is fantastic- does exactly what it says on the tin and more. Delia does more than teaches you how to cook- she understands WHY you can't cook, and steers you away from a pitfall before you walk into it. We've all tried to follow a recipe and it's screwed up, but delia explains the techniques properly to begin with. I've never made one thing out of this book that has gone wrong. The difference between this and all the other cookery books i've read is that Delia doesn't say "beat the egg... more info
From Start To Finish I read this book along with the two other parts and although I already know how to cook this book taught me some things that I didn't previously know. It doesn't just cover recipes, but it goes into detail about different types of ingredients and freshnesses and when to use certain ingredients. One of my favourite parts is how to check the freshness of an egg in water and what they are best used for at each stage.
Where wouold we be without Delia? A truly rare thing, a chef who is not too arrogant to write a cookbook which actually explains in the simplest terms how to cook every ingridient, assuming you have no knowledge at all. I always found with other cookbooks that they just threw a bunch of long words at you and some complex ingridient lists and told you to get on with it. What if you dont know what sautéed means? not only does Delia exlain every step in great detaill, but also, like all good chefs, her passion for the food comes oozing... more info
