I have to say that this is the first ever cookbook I've owned & was inspired by watching Gordon on The F Word. It's pretty good, although it isn't my most used cookbook in truth (bit too much fish for my liking. Worth a look though, but if you're looking for more inspired recipes, I'd look elsewhere in my humble opinion.
I'd give it an 8 out of 10 (I do quite like Gordon, but since I've got into cooking properly, I've realised he's not quite as good as I thought he was).
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This is a wonderful book - full of great stories about the food in Raymond's life and the life in his food. You learn something amazing about food on every page, all framed in the story of the great man's life. Anyone with even a passing interest in what they eat will find something here to get their juices flowing...
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Just the most dreamy book, I just like to look through it sometimes as it cheers me up. The recipes are all yummy, easy to follow and love Nigellas approach. Would not be without this book, refer to time and again.
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Gary Rhodes's recipes are always absolutely amazing, but usually they are fiddly and take loads of ingredients and effort to do. This book is more along the lines of "Keep It Simple", but is even more aimed at the home chef than that book was. I respect Gary as a top class restaurant chef, but with this book you can make his versions of normal home cooking. I tried out the Macaroni Cheese recipe this evening. Instead of requiring a fiddly roux-based cheese sauce, his version has a much lighter, quicker whipped together sauce of creme fraiche and strong-flavoured cheese. It was ready almost instantly, and tasted much healthier and generally just better than other Macaroni cheese recipes. I will definitely make Macaroni Cheese like that from now on. ... Read More:
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I looked around before I bought this book - I wanted something that had a lot more to it than the fish sections of general cook books, and I really wanted the sections on choosing fish and basic tchniques.
As you can see from the other reviews, it fits the bill very well
However, I mark it down one star because using it as a cook book is actually quite difficult because of the lack of a proper cross-referenced index showing fish types and recipes. What they do is give you a load of recipes, which are listed under the name of a single fish, but may recommend up to about half a dozen other fish that will work.
Suppose you have a beautiful grey mullet. You look it up in the index and find pretty much zilch. So ... Read More:
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This book is wonderful, imaginative, easy to read and understand. I also found it entertaining, for a 'non cook' that is praise indeed! Although I am no great cook, I do keep chickens for eggs, the wife wont let me eat them, (yet!)I do grow lots of stuff, and much of this is credited to the Author. A man who cherishes his food and where it comes from, and how. This book comes close to being my Bible
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What a fantastic book - brutally honest with the impression that nothing is held back I admire Clarissa for her strength in eventually facing her problems. She has a lust for life and a great sense of fun as well that makes you wonder what she could of achieved if alcohol hadnt entered her life for so long. An inspiring and interesting read I recommend this book whole heartly!
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This is an excellent book and one of the best about baking. I've made lots of the recipes and they've all turned out well. The photos of the finished items look inviting and inspiring. I think that the various writers of recipe have areas of cooking that they particularly enjoy and the books on that topic are their best and I feel that Mary Berry likes baking.
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This is a great book but if you, like me, cannot use alcohol even in cooking (Yes, I KNOW the alcohol burns off, some of us shouldn't even taste it!) then the majority of the hot recipes you simply cannot make.
Delia does state that, for the cakes, orange juice can be used instead of liquour. But, otherwise, almost all the other dishes involving meat (aside from the traditional turkey, of course) are soaked in the stuff!
For that reason I recommend Nigella Lawson's 'Nigella Christmas' a little more. Nigella always tries to provide an alternative to the alcohol, something Delia doesn't do outside of the baking section. (But then we know Delia likes a drink!)
You know the drill, you see a cookbook in the shop, pick it up and browse through, see about 3 or 4 recipes that grab you and head for the checkout... Then, when you get home and cook a couple you find the rest of the book overly complicated and ultimately it gets tucked away with the rest of the Gordon's, Nigella's etc etc to gather dust. Not so with the latest offering from Mr Oliver... I've bought most of Jamie's books and I've tried a fair few of his recipes over the years, but this book contains the best selection yet in my opinion. I actually bought this particular one for my husband as he'd promised 2008 would be the year he finally learnt to cook more than beans on toast! But I've also found it really comprehensive and easy to follow too. Our favourite ... Read More:
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