Cookbooks!

What are your favourite cookbooks and have you picked up any real duffers? Do you use them or are they just good to have a putter through?

The books I go back to time and again are -

The Vegetarian Student Cookbook from Hamlyn

Slow Cooking for Vegetarians by Annette Yates

Vegetarian Cooking - Jo Middleditch

Dan makes all the bread here and he loves the River Cottage bread book.

Books I didn't get on with at all -

The Pauper's Cookbook, Jocasta Innes. There are some good recipes but I couldn't stand the way it was written. I'm sure some people love her style of writing but it got on my pip. It went to the charity shop

A Cook's Guide to Grains by Jenni Muir. Again a book with some good information but the way that woman writes, goodness me it's annoying! I do still have this but only for the reference tables at the back.

I took most of my cookbooks to the charity shop a few months ago. I have a photo album with my most used recipes in. They're written on postcards and slipped into the little plastic flap bits. Means I can swap things around if we go off something. Mostly now I get recipes online.

Books on the wishlist are -

River Cottage Veg Everyday - HFW

The Gate Easy Vegetarian Cookbook - Adrian Daniel

A New Book of Middle Eastern Food - Claudia Roden

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian Cookbook. Does anyone have any of these?

I could open a cookery book shop with all the cooking books I have, plus tons of scrap books with recipes from magazines in.
I don't think I have a favourite, but I do like the Good Food The Collection.
I love going through them all, and writing down recipes I want to do :-)
Anne x
PS COuldn't list my wish list, it's too long lol.

I have a real cook bok addiction problem sounds like we should set up a group for it Anne! I must have about 200 coobooks and can honestly say I browse most of them at least semi regularly. I use my Silver Spoon Italian one loads and love the way you look up the ingredient and find all the recipes with that in. I also use my more unusual cuisine ones like cajun, vietnamese, japanese etc as I still need actual recipes wheres as chinese, indian and good old british I've cooked so much it's more instinctive. In my previous incarnation I was a chef though so my excuse for buying new cook books when I already have so many is to keep up my skills!!!!
Only problem with all the cooking is

I love cookbooks sooooooo much I am pretty sure they number in the hundreds (I am too scared to count them)
I take them out regularly sometimes just to read
I am planning on doing the same, going through the books and writing down what I want to make and also write out the recipes i know we already like (this is another FROG)
I also gave away a lot of books about a month ago, one of my reasons for wanting to go through them all is to slim down my collection dont know if that will happen
I really like most of nigellas books and HFW stuff is always a hit here
I didnt like the paupers cookbook either, i dont think i even read all of it before i gave it to charity too
a lot of my cookbooks are actually baking books mmmm my fav

Excellent
Takeaway Secret by Kenny McGovern
Practical Cookies from Aldi 8 years ago
1000 recipes (http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=138322)
a selection of studentcookbooks (budget and simple recipes!):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Cookbook-Cookery-VARIOUS/dp/0600609650
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Student-Cookbook-Foolproof-Recipes/dp/075531056X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1315492541&sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Grub-Less-Grant-Cookbook/dp/0747261717/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1315492566&sr=8-26

Terrible:
anything by Delia.

Fricking Hilarious:
Natural Harvest by Fotie Photenhauer (google it, and commence either being sick or laughing)
Scrambled Brains by by Robin Konstabaris (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1065540.Scrambled_Brains)

I collect cookbooks as a hobby so it was very hard to compile this list.

i dont use them.

I have just bought HFW new river cottage cookbook veg everyday and i think it is really good, i havent had time to cook from it yet but a lot of the recipes sound really nice. i am trying to increase veg consumption in this house and thought it would help me with ideas.
Ok I was also giving in to my cookbook/shopping addiction but hopefully the results mean we are all a bit healthier here
I got it from tesco who are charging £14 (impulse buy didnt check for cheaper elsewhere!)
Maybe worth seeing if you can get it from the library

Thanks, I'm going to have a look through the River Cottage veg book as I don't eat cheese and so many lazy vegetarian recipes just smother everything in the stinky disgusting stuff so lots of veggie cookbooks are a waste of time for me. Glad you give it the thumbs up.

there are more than 200 recipes in it and 1/3 he says are suitable for vegans and another 1/3 can be made vegan if you change things about (so no cheese)
he does use cheese and eggs but more as a flavouring than as the main part of the recipe which is something i really like, he doesnt have any fake meat foods in it either it is all about veg, pulses and grains. I just have to pick what i want to make first, so much choice, then i will let you know how it turns out

It sounds good, looking forward to hearing what you make.

As part of my flylady de-cluttering I have just sorted through all my piles of cookbooks and ruthlessly discarded some. I'm doing the same with my recipe folders (1000's of cut outs from magazines) At the moment I am trying to cook new things 3 or 4 times a week. Also use up all those half jars I have when I bought a special ingredient for a recipe I never made again. Need to do something Morrocan this week to use up old harissa paste. Chickpeas I think.

My Bible for roasts is Delia, Rick Stein for fish, then I dip in and out. I have an amazing slow cooker recipe book which has never failed me. and Inverawes smoked fish cookbook which is gorgeous but limited.

i have about ten cookbooks and use the same old ones regularly.

i mostly get recipes of the internet now.

i like to search for a recipe with a particular ingredient rather that randomly searching for something.

say if i have a bag of prawns ill seek out a recipe for them.

If i feel i want any new ideas I will probably use the computer.

The Pauper's Cookbook, Jocasta Innes. There are some good recipes but I couldn't stand the way it was written. I'm sure some people love her style of writing but it got on my pip. It went to the charity shop

I remember being irritated by Jocasta Innes years ago when she appreared on some Kevin McCloud show, might have been a home interior design show that used to be on BBC2 years ago.. although I fear I may be talking about a different Jocasta Innes as I didn't get any 'pauper' from her when I watched her

HFW Veg everyday is on my library reserve list. I cannot wait for it. I may just see if I can buy it because I use River Cottage everyday.. all the time, although not everyday

The 'Saturday Kitchen' books.. I can't get away with those and Jamie Oliver books are not for me. I do fancy a look at Nigella's work though. She doesn't seem to over complicate things

(It was 'Home Front' with Anne Mcevvit)

I really like nigellas books i have quite a few
Express, Kitchen, Bites and how to eat but i didnt like Feast

Never been struck on Nigella but Nigel Slater is another matter - his books are wonderful, I can take them to bed to read instead of a novel. Or that could just be me being weird!

I have a huge pile of cookbooks beside my bed that i read like that too!

My Middle Eastern cookery book arrived this morning so I'll have a look at that and get back to you. Once I've left a my idea of "like new" and yours are very different Mr Amazon seller...