All-in Recipe Books

[Sakkarin Profile]

For the doughnut thread, I've been looking through my 350+ recipe books, and there's practically zero about doughnuts. In the end I could only find recipes in my Marguerite Patten "1000 family recipes", and my "Dairy book of home cookery", two of the very first cookery books I ever bought. It struck me that it is incredible how often those are the two books I always end up with ehen I'm looking for recipes for the kind of food I grew up with.

So those are my contenders for the most important "everyday" recipe book(s) in my bookshelf. Anyone got any other contenders for the best all-round recipe book? The 1970s Delia Evening Standard book is third on my list. I also go back to my Penguin Cordon Bleu often (which has the perfect creme pattiserie recipe for the doughnuts), but it only has posh food with a French accent.

If I were to compile a similar one for the 2010s, I suppose it would include the Chinese and iIndian dishes that have now become part of our life, and probably even Thai red curry and Pad Thai. I wonder if there is already one out there...

[Pampy Profile]

I love the Dairy Book of Home Cookery too. Another staple is a Sainsbury's book of Indian recipes (circa mid-80s and costing 99p) - it has some really good, and easy, recipes.
I had over 500 recipe books but when I modernised my house, I took an deep breath and gave most of them to a charity shop. It was painful at the time but to be honest, I haven't really missed them too much. I did keep about 20, including the Reader's Digest Cookery Year, Food From Your Garden and Easy Entertaining; 2 Dairy Books (from the milkman) and an old M&S Chinese cookery book. Thinking about it, nearly all that I kept are old ones (70s/80s).
I'm also in the process of scanning all my hand-written and magazine recipes so I can get rid of an 8" pile of them.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

If I went back to the food of my childhood I'd have to back to the Ministry of Food leaflets Mum learned to cook from in the forties, I did keep her secondary source the Radiation cookbook that came with the gas stove for sentimental reasons, but it fell to bits, as did the Fanny Craddock books we both used after we discovered food could be interesting

I think the book I consult most for basics is Leith's Cooks Handbook, but I don't have a single foundation book, perhaps Jane Grigson's English Food would be closest

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Depends upon the type of cookery for me. I'll always check out Delia's Complete Illustrated Cookery Course, which Mrs B put on the wedding list to keep me on the straight & narrow, but if it's oriental I'll check out the Ken Hom BBC book. OH refers to her Be-Ro booklet quite a bit for baking advice.

[Joanbunting Profile]

I have Mum's Radiation Cook book too Sue. I also have all her sepia Bero books and a few more modern ones to which i still refer.

My favourite book of Mum's and the one I use most often is Dorothy Sleightholme's Farmhouse Kitchen. She got it after watching the ITV series and it has scribbled notes all over.
ED's French provincial food is the one I turn to to make sure I'm dealing with local ingredients as I should,

[Sakkarin Profile]

That Radiation book - three quid and you get a book of Yorkshire Cookery thrown in too, eBay gum! Although the Radiation book looks like it has passed its sell by date...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Two-Vintage-C ... SwXYtY1BYt

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I think my go-to general cookbook would be Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook, although Mary Berry Cooks is looking decidedly battered and has a lot of notes scribbled in it. I also have the Farmhouse Kitchen book but haven't used it that much in recent years. The Be-Ro booklet that I have is another good one for basic baked items

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I've had to replace French Provincial Cooking and a couple of other ED ones, wore them out

I have one of the illustrations from the folio society edition on my wall, the artist is local

[Sakkarin Profile]

.French Provincial Cooking...I have one of the illustrations from the folio society edition...

Nice piccy to have!

When I was at college studying design, I did a 2 week "internship" at the publishers Paul Hamlyn (1973). I worked there with Tony Streek, who at the time was doing the illustrations for the Dairy Home Cookery book. I remember it very well, they were wonderfully crisp and minimal, that's one of them below, the lobster, the originals were all in black ink. He had me working on visuals for Hamlyn's new logo. Three weeks later I got my first studio job and left college, and lo and behold the first job I was given was to do the artwork for all the visuals I'd done at Paul Hamlyn - my new employers Outline Art Services were a sub-contractor for Paul Hamlyn!

A few months later, our chief illustrator had to do all the illustrations for the AA Guide to Britain, again hundreds of them. He couldn't cope with the amount he had to do, and in the end they had me doing some of them too, copying his style, which was very similar to Tony Streek's. Below the dairy pic are a couple I did for the AA book. They were printed in brown as was the fashion in the 70s...

[Stokey Sue Profile]

That's really interesting Sakkarin, great pics and great memories

I remember buying Paul Hamlyn and other books with those illustrations, never really thought about who did them

I have a Good Housekeeping step by step cook book in which each recipe is illustrated by a series of drawings, a style that's pretty much gone I think. I was actually a bit disappointed when I got it, as at that time GH magazine was doing a series of step by step recipes, and I thought the book would be a collection of those, but it isn't, not as good, the drawings in the book don't really help much.

I really fancied getting the Folio Society Elizabeth David collection when it came out but very expensive, had a look on AbeBooks and second hand is very reasonable now, I should get the one with my pic in it at least, should have said that the artist is Sophie MacCarthy.
Here's one of the illustrations (not mine, which is a partridge)

[Sakkarin Profile]

I only posted that because I thought you meant these drawings - I can see the colour illustrations would look a lot prettier on a wall!

...as opposed to your version of the book which has the new illustrations too, side by side......
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WYUAAOSw~ ... -l1600.jpg

[Suelle Profile Website]

I've got a few 'generalist' cookery books which I've had since the 70s/80s - the early years of my marriage. The most used is Delia's 'Complete Cookery Course', but I've also got 'Cookery in Colour', by Marguerite Patten and 'Cooking for Today' which was by Good Housekeeping.

Oddly, 'Cooking for Today' now seems the most dated. The other 2 covered the sorts of basics of cooking which haven't changed, whereas 'Cooking for Today' tried very hard to be modern (for 1973) and covered a lot of things which were only briefly fashionable and are now forgotten.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I only posted that because I thought you meant these drawings - I can see the colour illustrations would look a lot prettier on a wall!

...as opposed to your version of the book which has the new illustrations too, side by side..

Yes the Folio Society kept the original John Minton sketches, and added Sophie's colour plates and cover designs

[Sakkarin Profile]

I vaguely remember many years ago reading about an auction item which was Cranny Faddock's personal copy of her favourite cookery book, full of her acerbic comments and adjustments handwritten throughout. I remember fancying it myself, I wonder how much it went for and where it is now! Can't remember which book it actually was.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The Sotheby catalogue entry is still on line, no cook books I know apart from hers

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/english-literature-history-children39s-books-illustrations-l09773/lot.20.html

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I vaguely remember many years ago reading about an auction item which was Cranny Faddock's personal copy of her favourite cookery book, full of her acerbic comments and adjustments handwritten throughout. I remember fancying it myself, I wonder how much it went for and where it is now! Can't remember which book it actually was.

Haha, I love the Cranny Faddock spoonerism Sakkarin, very apt ! Whenever I have seen clips of her in action she has always terrified the living thingies out of me !

I have just remembered another general cookbook that I use a lot - Nigella Lawson's Kitchen. It's not the perfect book because some of the recipes are a bit hit and miss for a variety of reasons; e.g. availability of ingredients outside of London, flavour combinations etc. The running order of the recipes are also a bit muddled in that they don't follow the usual principle of starters/light meals, main courses and puddings/baking. However, the recipes that I've tried that do work are great.

[Binky Profile]

From these shelves it's the Delia Smith book

[Binky Profile]

And from these shelves it's the Moosewood collection. Everything from Moosewood is easy, delicious and works perfectly

[Joanbunting Profile]

I don't know why I forgot the Cordon Bleu part work. Dad used to send it out to the bahams for me every week in the 1960 and I did learn a great deal from it. I still have all the bits in their blue holders. Can't fault the souffle and loads of other recipes.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

A book I didn't mention but used to refer to a lot is The Constance Spry Cookbook