Delia's Complete Cookery Course

This is our 2nd copy of the book as the old one was getting worn and tired through overuse! If you're new to cooking we thoroughly recommend this book. Delia guides you through each and every step so, if you pay attention and follow, you will be rewarded with a good and tasty recipe. If you're an old hand at cooking you'll love it too. It's a 'must' for every cook!

Delia is as much a household name in Britain as Julia Child is in the U.S. These recipes will very much dispense with any myths about British food being tasteless and mainly boiled. Delia always graced my mother's cookbook shelf, and now years on I have my own greasy dog-eared copy that has become my kitchen bible. If you want an amazing desert that is simple to make, striking in presentation, and delicious to eat DO TRY the profiteroles recipe, and Pavlova Meringue. Her instructions for making a proper roast dinner with crisp roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding are also flawless (although I like to do my puds in muffin tins instead:)) Leek and potato soup, italian baked fish, risotto, potatoes lyonaisse, marinated mushrooms... I could go on and on. Each recipe simple to follow, basic ingredients, european flair with minimum of fuss and delicious results. Long live Delia!

Well researched, easy to use, perfect for the the seasoned cook or novice alike. She even advices you on what to buy in the way of cookware, a big boon to many a wedding list! It is a touch evangelical, Delia is always prone to giving you advice like a stern School Marm (so it feels like something you have to do rather than might do!) and this is reflected in her slighty dry, bossy and occasionalyy dreary writing, think cooking with a St Trinian's Head mistress if you have never seen Delia on TV. But I have to hand it to her, if you follow her recipes to the letter YOU WILL NOT GO WRONG! Just curtail the cookware shopping list or do as she says and get a MUCH bigger Kitchen!

I received this book as a gift when living in the UK back in the 90's and it has proven to be one of my favorite and most trusted. Delia's narration is what makes this very special, for example when she describes that her family comes from a long line of turkey farmers and then proceeds to share with us how to make the perfect bird utilizing varrying oven tempatures and foil pouch. The book reads like a novel and feels like it is notes from a friend's call on sharing a recipe. Very personal. The easy bernaise sauce is really easy and this combined with freshly grilled steak & asparagus has become our staple for entertaining. This book is not for someone who just wants a technical cook book, this book has personality and will become your friend.

Cooking is something I have always wanted to know how to do better, but could never find an appropriate resource to show me the way. I bought this massive book in a London bookshop, and have been using it frequently ever since. While some of the terminology uses "British" english as opposed to "American", which may have some of us running to the grocer to find out just exactly what that strange vegetable she is referring to is, the book is overwhelmingly useful and informative. Like the title says, it is a complete cookery course, and you learn more about the uses and methods of the various utensils and cookware than in any other cookbook I have seen. Granted, if you buy all of it, you need a bigger kitchen than I have just to store the pots and pans. Regardless, it's a fun as well as informative read, with practically everything you can imagine ever wanting to cook between its pages.