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Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking

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Author: Delia Smith
Creator: Photography Copyright John Kernick
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł20.00~~
Buy New: Ł9.96
You Save: Ł10.04 (50%)

New (31) Used (8) Collectible (1) from Ł5.46

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

144 reviews
Sales Rank: 200

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 7.6 x 0.8

ISBN: 0091922291
EAN: 9780091922290
ASIN: 0091922291

Publication Date: February 15, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: IN STOCK - BRAND NEW - SENT FIRST CLASS - IMMEDIATE DISPATCH

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 31-35 of 144

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Room for both! April 4, 2008
21 out of 27 found this review helpful

I enjoy using our Local to Ludlow market and support local butchers, farm shops and independent fruit and veg shops. I even make my own elderflower cordial, apple juice and gooseberry jam from my garden. BUT I love this book and will also stock many of the items suggested in the freezer. My husband will love using this book, and some of the receipes will be a godsend now that I am teaching my autistic sons to cook and don't fancy letting them use a knife just yet! I am proud to support fresh local food but am equally as relieved to be able to make the lazy summer soup just now and again!

5 out of 5 stars

Delia and the 'Real World' April 4, 2008
17 out of 24 found this review helpful

I can see why this book has proved so controversial, with most reviewers awarding it either 1 or 5 stars, with not too many in between.

For me, as a busy middle aged man with an equally busy middle aged wife, neither of whom are naturally gifted cooks, this book is perfect. Whether it's just for the two of us, or when entertaining friends, it is enjoyable to use and produces very successful, if sometimes quite expensive, meals.

OK, so a few aspects may be a bit over the top (e.g.frozen mashed potato?), and I'm a bit concerned over the product placement element (is the decision making re. what products are or are not included really as honourable and above board as is implied?). But some sections are absolutely fantastic (e.g. Asian Express, pronto Italiano).

Thanks again Delia, and I love the accompanying TV series as well.

4 out of 5 stars

We're home late! What will I feed the family?- thanks Delia! April 3, 2008
19 out of 26 found this review helpful

Come on, it's not that bad! In fact it's the first Delia book I've wanted to buy in a long time - and it's half price at the moment! There are some great ideas in here, and Delia has taken great care to find out how long to cook things from frozen. How many times have you taken something out of the freezer about 15 mins before you want to eat it, never mind cook it and it says 'thoroughly defrost before cooking'. Aaaaghhh!!! Here Delia tells you how to cook things safely from frozen and she has checked with the food hygiene experts to be sure she has her facts right.

I love to cook and I'm known in my family and among my friends as being a good and adventurous cook who likes to use high quality ingredients. But I'm not elitist, I'm a pragmatist, and I am a busy mum with young children. I have enough experience now to 'cheat' on even Delia's recipes - I never could stand the precision and bossiness of her recipes for years because they made me so nervous. But these are pretty simple, a novice could follow them, and an experienced cook can take the ideas and recipes and adulterate them to suit the ingredients they have to hand.

I had no idea just how many great frozen fish and veg were now available because I never really looked, and this has given me some new products to try out because, as ever, I know that Delia has done her research thoroughly. I don't agree with all her suggestions, but then it's a cook book, not the law of the land, and there are alternative bottled sauces and spice blends, for example, that you might prefer - just experiment.

I'm of the last generation to be given cookery lessons at school and I had a mother who cooked, but there are lots of people out there who didn't have those advantages but would like to learn to cook. I think this is a great book for getting people started. And if they like these recipes, who knows, they might even start making things from scratch like good mince, or mashed potato. In the meantime all the products Delia has listed that I have looked at in the supermarkets so far have remarkably few additives and chemicals added, and a very high standard of ingredients. So don't be prejudiced by what you read from some of the more negative reviewers until you've given it a fair chance yourself. Check out the latest shows on BBC iPlayer, too - they're pretty good! I've only given the book 4 stars because it's a fairly limited range of recipes and it would have been nice to see a few tables for cooking times for say different thicknesses of frozen fish, for example, broadening the book's usefulness. But I still think it's good and I've cooked several recipes from it since I bought the book last week (all of which worked, and were declared delicious by those who ate them).

1 out of 5 stars

Cheats shouldn't prosper April 2, 2008
15 out of 39 found this review helpful

Please think before you buy this book. In ten years time, perhaps five, the supermarkets won't stock fresh food - only the processed, tinned and frozen stuff approved of by Delia Smith. She is dangerous to farmers and farmers' markets, dangerous to local butchers and greengrocers, and most dangerous of all to those who actually MAKE time to shop and cook for those they love. These are the people Delia Smith is cheating, and she has set back the cause of good British food by years. Does she really need more money that badly?

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you Delia! April 1, 2008
27 out of 34 found this review helpful

Never before having written a review I just feel compelled to comment on this book. It is absolutely fantastic and a real hit in our house. My son particularly likes the 'bonfire steak'! I have done more cooking in the last 10 days than in the last 10 years! The recipes are easy to follow and the results are excellent. To be honest, I can't understand all the fuss about the 'cheating' element. 'Cheating' (if you can call it that), is really only a small part of each recipe and for us, with extremely busy lifestyles and little inclination to cook, it has been a revelation. Many thanks to Delia for encouraging me to cook once again and showing me that with little spare time I can still achieve a home-cooked and healthy meal!