help

[Cook book]

Thanks for all the replies.  I checked out some books over the weekend and  am now even more overwhelmed.  Still have yet to buy one.  I guess I was hoping for a C. Book with a tried and true pasta sauce, a roast for idiot me who will soon have an oven to use (?)  (haven't used one for 15 years).  Some Asian dishes would be good too, a variety of dishes.  What do you think of Jamie Oliver and which book of his is the most BASIC???  Thanks again.

[foodforthought]

I have Mary Berry's Complete Cook Book, and of all the books I have, this is the one I go back to most often.  Everything is explained clearly (with photos!) and all the recipes I have tried have worked beautifully.  Highly recommended.

[Noo]

Wouldn't recommend Jamie for a person looking to learn how to cook.  I have 2 of his books (pressies) and have only used 1 recipe from them both.  I'm sure he is a great cook but he's not an easy cook.  Would try some of the other recomendations first - my opinion only  

[mrs craddock]

I wouldn't recommend Jamie either, he's too slapdash for my liking.  

I would recommend trawling through sites like allrecipes dot com so you can get an idea of what you would like to cook.  UKTV food website also has recipes by chef and some videos of cooking recipes.

[Delia]

Her first cooking for non-cooks book was a total sellout.  Buy that one.

It is called "how to cook" and starts right at the beginning with boiling eggs apparently.  It is the one with the photo of the eggs on the front.

[This message has been edited by BoardManager (edited 16-10-2006).]

[just a thought]

instead of buying cookery books I now borrow them from my local library.  I go to the Queenstown library as it is closest to me and they have several Jamie Oliver and Delia cook books.  I also love allrecipes.com as someone else suggested.

[paa]

CookBook - once again Stephanie Alexander cookbook that I recommended has everything you again requested for: baking (cakes), asian dishes, roasts, pasta and a heap more. Or does the book have to be British??  I have about 4 of Jamie's book, a couple of Nigella's which are great but contain about 1/50th of the information that a Cook's Companion does.

[momma]

I just got ``How to Cook Everything'' by Mark Bittman. It's really straightforward and easy to understand. I love it. It's a thick yellow book available at  that Japanese book shop that I can't spell...

[Surfer]

If it really is learning from the basics, then  get "How to boil an egg".