The Really Helpful Cookbook - Softcover

Watson, Ruth

9780091885380: The Really Helpful Cookbook

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091885388 ISBN 13: 9780091885380

Publisher: Ebury Press, 2002

How often do you come across a really good cookbook, one that you want to recommend to all your friends? The truthful answer is, not very often. The Really Helpful Cookbook is destined to be one of those books, a genuine classic that you pick up again and again. Written by Ruth Watson, one of Britain's best-loved food writers, it contains recipes that are the very best in modern, stylish home cooking, along with priceless information on everything from the best brand of sugar to use for baking, to advice on whether it is really necessary to skin tomatoes. With over 150 recipes, the book is divided into Winter and Summer, and dishes range from Cod with Garlic Saffron Mash to Plums on Panettone. When time pressures dictate, cheating - with style - is fine in Ruth's book and there are many ideas for clever shortcuts. Ruth writes with passion and humour, always placing her recipes and advice in the context of our daily lives, making this a book that is as enjoyable to read as it is to cook from.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

In a crowded marketplace, facing competition from Nigella, Nigel and Jamie, media superstars all, cookery books are having to signal their virtues ever more desperately. Waving vigorously from the lists is Ruth Watson's The Really Helpful Cookbook, a volume hoping to be the one that the hesitant, reluctant or novice cook reaches for when fate requires them to take their place at the stove. They could do a great deal worse, though the bleak reality is that under the circumstances it will probably be Delia. Ruth Watson is an experienced chef, restaurateur and food writer with more than her fair share of attitude: she has produced a collection of stylish, eclectic, practical recipes designed to fit into busy lives. It deserves to do well, as it is chock full of wonderful things. Refreshingly, and unlike almost every other cookery writer, she divides her year only into winter and summer, giving for each a selection of starters, main courses, puddings, lunches and suppers. Here, for example, is a dish at once achingly fashionable yet comforting--Cod with Saffron Mash and Gremolata. Or what about Scallops with Sauce Vierge and Crisp Pancetta? Or Poached Strawberries with Five-Pepper Ice-Cream? These are seriously good things to eat. There is nothing difficult here, nothing pretentious, just fine eating. Ruth Watson's commentary is also to be relished, by turns wise, sporty and licentious. --Robin Davidson

Review:

"Ruth Watson is a brilliant new voice in the cookery world. She writes with warmth, humour and common sense. Her recipes are a sensual delight" (Nigel Slater)

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.