Favourite Recipe Books.

DD and I were talking about the Marguerite Patten book I mentioned earlier, so I took it down and she was browsing through it. “What’s a gill?” she asked. I told her it was about four fluid ounces. She’d never heard of it!

Thank you for that idea. Rather than calculate smaller quantities and lesser cooking times this recipe book does it all for you, the meals fit into a very small pyrex dish or a miniature cast iron cook pot. Most of the recipes are for one pot meals, my favourite is Chicken stew with dumplings and Key lime pie pudding made in a ramekin. Yummy.

Welcome triciarose.
Pleased you have found a good cook book that suits you.

Welcome to posting I find it interesting and easy on Gransnet. Sorry to hear you are on your own it must be very difficult. Good luck with the cooking. You could try making something that can be added to the next day . I often make potato mash for two days or a ragu with mince.

Hello everyone, I am a long time member but first time poster. Sadly my husband died during the 1st lockdown. After 57 years of marriage my life is now very different. I am disabled and he was my carer so I am trying to arrange things so that I can be as independant as possible. Cooking was never high on my agenda but now if I don't do it I don't eat! I discovered The Ultimate Cooking For One by Joanne Fisk of OneDishKitchen.com. She is american but the book tells you how to convert to uk measures, the exact amount of ingredients needed for one person and how to use up any left over ingredients! If you are on your own try it. (available on amazon).

Yes to Delia, and her (all day) marmalade recipe in Winter cookery book, Mary Berry's Fast Cakes, Good Housekeeping, and has anybody still got their Battersea College of technology cookery book, we had it at school, a little blue cloth-bound book. I lost mine, it was just basic, sensible recipes.

I have the proverbial, ancient, hardbacked, stained, pages falling out copy of Delia's Complete CC. I also have a recently published paperback of same book but always refer to original. Love Nigel and Nigella, even if only for bedtime reading. Most of my actual recipes though come from pages of magazines or downloads from BBC Good Food. They're in 2 folders, recipes tried with scribbled notes and recipes still to try. I do review and do a chuck out of books and recipes on a regular basis as shelf and folders bulge. Last new book was Jamie's latest after watching the tv series. His take on Chicken Kiev swung it.

I'm still using this Home & Freezer Digest, now 44 years old.

In order of age:
-My Mum's Be Ro Home Recipe book,
-Good Housekeeping's 'Cooking is Fun' which was a prize for passing my Scripture Examination at Sunday School; it has lost its front cover!
-Marguerite Patten's 'Perfect Cooking' that I collected in parts when the garages gave it away with petrol when my husband-to-be and I were courting,
-the Dairy cookbook so many of you mentioned that came from the milkman in the 70's.

Fernbergien

I have many cook books. The older ones are best. The one I remember most- still have it- is Delia’s How To Cheat At Cooking. Has anyone else got it.

One of my first cookery books!
Along with Katherine Whitehorn’s Cooking in a Bedsitter (“Red or white wine has nothing to do with whether you are serving meat or fish. If you have Lino - you can serve red, but if you have carpet, it has to be white” )
Sums up life in 1970!

My first recipe book which I bought when I left home was a Margaritte Pattern (spelling may be off). Don’t remember name of it. She wrote many. It was lovely. Sady, I lost it in a move. After that it was Delia’s complete cookery course. Still got it!

Glasgow Cookery - I have 3 generations, Gran, DM and mine in the house and have given up to date editions to my 2 DCs.
Also love Australia Women’s Weekly ones

So what’s in J D’s mince pies, Callistemon?

Today I’ve assembled a mega bowl of Delia’s mincemeat, to sit overnight and go in the oven for 3 hours tomorrow, so after all that, if I should be making any special pastry come 1st December (I never make any before that*) it would be good to know!
*1st batch always accompanied by 1st carols on CD or YouTube, and mulled wine. ?❤️??

I must mention Jocelyn Dimbleby; who wrote (what has been for us) a very useful book, published by Sainsburys.

Jocelyn Dimbleby's mince pies are wonderful!
Sorry - Christmas

Be Ro flour cook book is still available and so many basic recipes that work!

I watch the Hairy Bikers British Classics too.
Good ideas but too much prep involved - there's 2 of them busy for ages. And who does the shopping and washing up?
I try to simplify their ideas which are basically brilliant.

Chewbacca

I wished you'd kept them too, in 1982 very pregnant new years eve and we went to a dinner party the starter was chicken with peppers mushroom in a beautiful cream sauce it was so good m&s recipe all these years later still trying to recreate gone online even contacted m&s no luck so I wished you'd kept them ? oh yes my favourite at the moment with winter coming is the hairy bikers British classic's I also pinch from the TV Nadiya Hussain

I have shelves of cookery books but the only ones which are stained and well used are by Delia or Mary Berry.

Like Lilypops and other GNs, we have the Dairy Cookbook: both the original (a battered first edition!) and the other ones which followed. (DS used our Dairy Cookbook for his GCE in 1984 - it was a "set text!) I must mention Jocelyn Dimbleby; who wrote (what has been for us) a very useful book, published by Sainsburys.

I have lots of cookery books but my go to bible is Mary Berry’s The Aga Book. I got it nearly 18 yrs ago with our aga and it explained how to cook on it! The recipes all work and from there you can adapt any recipe in any other book. It is very well thumbed!

Ayse on page one.- I still read Elizabeth David's books too.
French and Italian.
Not so much recipes, but a general attitude to goodnatural food.
Another is Super Savers Cookbook which one of my sons bought me with greenshield stamps, back in the '70s.

For basics i love the Be Ro cook books. The one i have is very tatty and stained and a lot of the pages are stuck together but i love it

I still have and use the Dairy Book of Home Cookery, obtained by getting tokens from the milkman (if my memory serves me well).
The chocolate cake in The Children’s Book of Cooking’s recipe is always complimented on as its so easy and so moist. It was bought for the grandchildren to use but now used by myself frequently now they’re older. In fact, I’ve just bought the new version as they never ask for a huge list of ingredients.
The Times Calendar Book of Cookery is still well used and useful for using the current season’s fruit and veg.
Last, but not least, The Microwave Book of Recipes from M & S has been well used.
What can I say? I’m a simple woman of simple means and I live alone and youtube is turning into one of my favourites for a fresh look at recipes.

For absolute basics I've got that Readers' Digest Cookery year. It was a wedding present from a friend whose father had done some of the illustrations for it. The book has almost fallen to bits but it's still great.
We've got a lot of Rick Stein books, Ottolenghi, Delia, Nigel Slater, Jamie O as well.

I’ve got an ancient Delia from the 70s which is my most used as recipes all work !
Do have others but otherwise these days tend to go online for recipes