A thorough trawl

The first thing I couldn't help noticing about The River Cottage FISH book is how big and heavy it is - definitely not a book to take on a fishing trip but then that was probably never its intention. <br /><br />Written by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the appropriately-named Nick Fisher, they have a clear view of its"nitty gritty". Apart from the"delightful activity of cooking and eating fish", FISH is about understanding the business of catching and preparing them. Once we readers achieve this we will, perforce, get even more pleasure.<br /><br />Golly, FISH is comprehensive. One of its three sections, Understanding Fish, is divided into Fish as food; Sourcing fish; Fish skills; Shellfish skills. Within these, the authors deal with such diverse topics as Fish as brain food; Five rules for sustainable fish shopping; Fish to find; Fish to avoid; Fish prep kit...... and so on. A thorough trawl. <br /><br />Recipes are a real catch. Helpfully grouped under such headings as Raw, salted and marinated; Baked and grilled; Fish thrift and standbys (for maximising ingredients and minimising waste) they cleverly organise you into deciding what - and how - you might want to cook. They're also extremely alluring - Simon Wheeler's photos see to that - and make you want to rush out, buy (from a sustainable source naturally) and cook. Roll on summer for a burst of Roasted whole plaice with cherry tomatoes. Meanwhile let's be content with FoodLovers featured recipes Crab Bread & Butter Pudding or Drunken Smollack Toasts - a fishy version of Welsh rarebit.<br />

Baby & Toddler Food Bible

What a fabulous book! I bought this book when my little girl was 3 months old, after a discussion on food with my health visitor and fellow new mums. I started using it when my little one was 6 months old and haven't looked back since, and she's now 18 months old. There are so many recipes to try, and it's very good how the book has recipes for each stage of your baby. The dishes are delicious - I've even served the"Sweet Potato with Spinach and Peas" at a meal for friends and everyone loved it! Also check out the"Pineapple & Raisin Muffins" - they don't last long in our house! My little girl has loved most of the recipes and where occasionally she's not sure, I just wait a few weeks and try again. On the whole she loves the food I've cooked her from this book, and my husband keeps asking me to cook the recipes for him too as they taste so good! This most definately is THE baby & toddler food bible. If you don't buy any other baby/toddler food books, buy this one.

Simply superb! The best Italian book I possess.

I am a real foodie and think I could open a cook book shop with the amount of books I have. However, the Silver Spoon is certainly a top favourite of mine. I can cook but often want inspiration when faced with cooking another mid week family dinner. That is when the Silver Spoon really comes into its own. I have learnt so many new and tasty ways of cooking vegetables, for example by soaking pre sliced carrots in water for 15 minutes you can cook them for 10 - 15 minutes in a pan with no water. The result is superb as they are not too soggy or al dente but perfect. You can then add flavourants such as sliced garlic or lemon zest, butter etc to complement the carrots with the main dish. <br /><br />A Italian friend who lives in Nairobi, Kenya recently came to stay and she was so impressed with the Silver Spoon being in English and now being available that I gave her my copy as we did not have time to order another copy on-line and our local book shop was sold out. I realised then how much I missed the book when it was not in my kitchen for a few weeks. Luckily my new copy has arrived.<br /><br />One does however, need to know how to cook to use the book with ease. It assumes that you know how to do the basics and there are no photographs and pretty pictures. But if you can cook, invest in the Silver Spoon and you will use it every day in your kitchen. A sound investment! Highly recommended.

Buy this book !

If you are after easy to follow recipe which deliver authentic results, this is the book for you. I really can't recommend this book highly enough.

What a helpful resource!

I'd been looking for a lot of answers to my health and fitness questions and this is one book that has all my answers!<br /><br />Full of useful information and advice, this is one book I'd thoroughly recommend!

I am a Smoothie convert!

I have never really liked smoothies, milkshakes etc but as part of a healthy eating plan, thought I would be better snacking on these than crisps! This book is great, it has a good selection of both smoothies and juices and also a good insight on which fruit to use and what they are good for etc. It is very well written and has some delicious recipes- yes delicious! One thing to mention is that you will need both a smoothie maker and a juicer if you want to make all the recipes.<br />

The Gordon Ramsay we have long awaited for!

Quite simply WOW!<br /><br />This book is a masterpiece.<br /><br />It is simply a sight to behold.<br />It just oozes class from the protective sleeve, the photography,the accompanying literature.... and then the recipes.<br /><br />This is the Ramsay we have been waiting for, we knew it was out there somewhere, and alas here he is.<br />Unlike his previous books, all great and very good, this steps up into the realms of ( im searching for an analogy here! ok i'll try a car one???? ) A Skoda to a Lambourgini! ( Hope that does it justice.)<br /><br />For all of the the commercialised Gordon Ramsey, this book gives an insight to why he has the right to be so commercially popular. Achieving 3 michelin stars is no mean feat,and this book shows us how and why he got them, and why Mr Ramsay is the best chef Britain has ever produced.<br /><br />Of course Marco Pierre White may be the exception, but we shall never know and that is because he dosen't allow us into his personal sanctum the way Gordon has done.<br /><br />Look at the masterpieces in this food bible, if you can get close.. then my utmost respect to you. You yourself will be a food legend.<br /><br />Until then , thank you Mr G.Ramsay

I feel I've read it all before

Nigel Slater is my favourite cookery writer, but this was a disappointment. I loved Toast but this book seems to be made up of its leftovers. There doesn't seem to be anything new in it - I feel I've read it all before. Toast was a much more personal reminiscence and was both funny and sad in places, but I really can't be bothered to finish this one. And I really do love Nigel Slater.

Not very impressed

All in all I wish I hadn't ticked the box and opted to take this as a suggested extra when I bought an ice-cream maker. Quite apart from strange US measures (cups) and odd descriptions of different types of cream (that don't chime with our UK system of single, double etc), the recipes are riddled with odd licquers and ingredients you would never go out of your way to buy. For my tastes, a lot of the recipes are over the top in cloying sweetness. If you're buying an ice-cream maker, you'll get some basic recipes with the machine anyway and then you can download plenty for free once you have worked out the basics. Still, at least it wasn't very much money wasted!

Great baking book full of simple, easy to follow recipes

I was given this lovely little book as a present and it has been very useful and rewarding. It gives you a wide range of unfussy, simple recipes for many different types of `bakes' e.g. tortes, loafs, muffins and cookies, suitable for many different occasions. The instructions are clear and helpful, including advice as to how long things keep, whether they freeze well etc. Personally, I like to follow simple recipes that work well which I can then adapt to suit my own tastes, and this book is perfect for this. Each recipe is accompanied by a picture which is always a help. The only thing I would say is there are an awful lot of recipes which include nuts. This is not a problem limited to this baking book (Delia's baking recipes are often brimming with nuts), and indeed is not necessarily a problem unless you are allergic, which unfortunately my housemate is. This book is excellent value for money and I would definitely buy more of this series.

Excellent Book!

This is my fist juicing book, which came free with my new Phillips Aluminium Juicer. I have read it cover to cover and it is excellent. I am new to juicing and this book has given me somewhere to start from. It contains some fabulous looking recipes which I will start making the weekend once I have bought the relevant ingredients!<br /><br />I am also very pleased with the Phillips Aluminium Juicer, and would recommend it - In fact, Jason Vale himself recommends this juicer.

Essential Kitchen Staple

In every kitchen there are essential staples that allow you to create really great food and without which no kitchen would be complete. <br /><br />This book is one of those staples. Every recipe sounds delicious but unlike some books, this one actually delivers every time.<br /><br />Because this is the sort of book that you can rely on without fear of disappointment, and because of the quality of writing and the recipes themselves, I highly recommend it and I have bought it as presents for friends who all agree.<br /><br />I keep coming back to the carrot cake muffins and the chocolate brownies recipes again and again-they're absolutely divine! People say to me they're the best they've ever tasted. Try them for yourself and see. <br /><br />

excellent book for the money

To date I have only used four recipes from the book,they have all turned out perfectly,so am looking forward to trying a few more. I like the fact that I'm not using sugar in plain everyday loaves,and, for me it will be the book to return to.

How to catch and keep a man (seriously)

Sherry Argov freely admits that she uses the word"bitch" as a tongue-in-cheek way to grab your attention. She describes a bitch as a woman who is confident, independent and self-reliant, traits that men find sexy, attractive and intriguing. Argov portrays"good girls" as available, overly nice, accommodating and needy - characteristics men find off-putting and boring. Had this book been written 20 years ago, it would have been cutting edge, but you've probably heard the core of Argov's advice before (much of it is reminiscent of asking why a man would want a cow if he could get milk for free), from your mother and grandmother. She's just wrapped it in new rhetoric with a cute flair. Although her basic premise - men like independent, confident women with an"edge" - rings true enough, it's barely enough to fill an entire book. Argov disguises this sleight of hand with clever writing, witty one-liners, scattered"attraction principles," humorous stories, relatable examples, large type and a lot of repetition. If you don't find the whole idea a little passé, you'll have a good time. getAbstract recommends that you read this book in snippets whenever you need a chuckle or a shot of self-confidence as you play the catch-and-keep-a-man game. Of course, real women don't play games - as Argov would be the first to tell you.

Annoyingly preachy

A friend lent me this to see what I thought. The answer: not much. For a start, being naturally skinny I rather took exception to the title, which, it later transpired, seemed irrelevant to the main theme of the book. <br /><br />The first two chapters were quite amusing, albeit in language more colourful than was necessary or appropriate - telling us not to eat rubbish, rather than cr**, would have been just as effective. So I pressed on, but the book degenerated into a diatribe against all things non-vegan. There was no hint of this in either the title or the blurb on the back cover. Rather than argue the virtues of a vegan diet, the book adopted a preaching tone - a sure way to raise the hackles - and the ripe language began to irritate. It would doubtless offend many readers.<br /><br />There were some good points made, although little I had not previously read in other publications or articles. The admission that a vegan diet lacks the essential vitamin B12, which must be taken in supplement form, begs the question of whether a strict vegan regime can fully satisfy the nutritional needs of a human body. <br /><br />There is no way I would buy the book. All the information it contains is in the public domain and readily available elsewhere. It purports to be a slimming aid, but even the authors admit at the end that this was not their primary aim. Apart from everything else, it is geared to the American market so the lists of products are no use to people elsewhere, and the agencies referred to are irrelevant or unfamiliar (although no doubt with similarly mistrusted counterparts in other countries).<br /><br />Not recommended, I'm afraid!<br />

not worth the wait

Following Rosemary Conley over the last twenty years since her first Hip and Thigh diet came out, I waited excitedly for this new addition. Only I was very disppointed. The recipes are boring and not as good as the first book and she also seems to be selling her portion pots in every recipe. I think that her first Hip and Thigh Diet book was the best book she wrote and think this is by far the worst.

The best food/cook book you can buy

If you enjoy cooking meat dishes then you have to buy this book. It is far more than a recipe book, it is a bible about meat. There are plenty of recipes though and the index at the back of the book is excellent in its detail. He provides cooking times for all the varying types of meat and goes in to Heston Blumenthal type detail about why you should use certain cooking methods to get the best out of your meats, the half hour sizzle at the beginning of the roast and the unbreakable rule of resting the meat before carving for example, my roasts have hit another level on this advice. In addition there are lots of helpful extra recipes for things like yorkshire puddings, perfect mash etc. easily as simple to follow as Delia Smith.<br /><br />If you enjoy cooking then this book is a must, it really encourages and teaches you. Offal is a new friend.<br /><br />Top marks Hugh.

Absolutely Fabulous

This is one great book you can either get one for yourself or it makes a really unusual gift. Even if you never use it as a cookbook, it is a wonderful talking point.

....simple, effective, will impress your guests

I am a big fan of the young chap. He used to drive me nuts with his mock East End ramblings, but he is the real deal. Charity begins at home, he really does what he says he believes in. This book is excellent in many respects:<br />- the sections are clear, to the point and give you good basic information on where the food comes from, how it is cut (for the meats) and the trick and tips are good<br />- the recipes turn out exactly as given- that's not always the case with cook books. I have cooked 90% of the recipes here and have shared them with many friends at the dinner table - they all love them<br />- it is not pretentious, and being Italo/Swiss-French living in England I can appreciate this. Most restaurants or recipes in the UK"think" that my culture's cooking needs to be dressed up, detailed with exotic French words (which mean nothing) and presented as the height of elegance and unassailable. It's all rubbish.It's very ok to be"regional", to use food from the"terroir" and to think that your Mama's cooking is the best!<br />- the Italian cooking is true and pushes for fresh ingredients - that's what Italians want from their cooking<br />This books shows anyone that food is about fresh ingredients, preparing meals to share with other people - even it is just plain old pasta!<br /><br />As time goes on he is becoming an old hand at this, but so far he has kept innovating and researching his cooking and his ingredients - he really does like his food.