How to Cook

We live in a time when everyone can buy food products from literally anywhere in the world at the local supermarket, when people can assemble instant suppers from food bars, where on almost every city corner there's a take-out or fast-food chain. But many people have forgotten the joys and simple pleasures of putting together a delicious, nutritious meal on their own. In a busy world where people have less and less time for cooking, many feel intimidated by even the thought of cooking. Delia's How To Cook restores a respect for food in its simplest, purest form, bringing everyone back to the basics skills of cooking. Adapted for the US market, Dorling Kindersley's How To Cook is a combination of two separate volumes Delia published in the UK on the basic art of cooking. In Book One, she starts at the very beginning, explaining in detail the staple ingredients of all cooking -- eggs, flour, potatoes, rice, and pasta. Book Two proceeds through the fundamentals of preparing fish, meat, poultry, fruit, and vegetables. In her typically friendly, accessible style, she guides beginners through the basics that will serve them for a lifetime of cooking. Boiling and poaching an egg, bread and pastry baking, making sauces and cooking all kinds of rice -- these are some of the many techniques she presents that will remove intimidation from the cooking process and inspire total confidence. For those who have already mastered these techniques, who are already accomplished cooks, How To Cook provides a sparkling collection of recipes, incorporating new ideas such as fat-free white sauces, french 'fries' you don't have to fry, and souffles that don't collapse, all presented in Delia's inimitable style.

when this book came out in England, there were complaints about how overly simple it was. I think those reviewers missed the point. How to Cook is not aimed at people who can whip up a souffle with ease. Its target market is people who have never been exposed to basic cooking, though it's also an excellent refresher for people who have been cooking for some time and want to get back to the building blocks.

The recipes are organized thematically--eggs, pasta, potatoes, and so on. This doesn't necessarily mean main ingredient--there may also be recipes that are complementary to it, for example trifle in the egg chapter (to illustrate custard) and roast lamb in sauces (to show different gravies).

However, many of the recipes are suitable for more advanced cooks as well and are clearly written and explained. Delia Smith describes herself as a cook, not a chef, and although she's a little didactic, her attitude and style is just what's needed to make a fledgling cook feel more confident.

Although she's a champion of traditional British food, and there are some very traditional recipes (toad in the hole, custard tart, trifle, rice pudding) the recipes themselves draw on a wide range of cuisines with the stipulation that they are all designed and tested for the home cook.

The book has been thoroughly Americanized. Ingredients are given in American style volume as well as metric weight (eg: 1 cup/200g sugar) and the introductory information in each chapter has been altered to suit American ingredients (discussion of heavy cream instead of double, for example). There are a few funny things: In the vegetable chapter names have been directly substituted, without reordering, so eggplant (UK aubergine) appears between asparagus and beets. On the whole, though, well edited; I have seen some British cookbooks that were barely touched in the transfer.

A couple of minor quibbles:

1) Lots of pork recipes, but no veal. Given her strong statements against battery chickens perhaps she's opposed to the conditions for veal calves but still, an unfortunate omission. (especially for us non-pork eaters).

2) She says use half lard, half butter for pastry, mentions that it `may be unsuitable' for vegetarians but does not say what to do if you cannot use lard.

3) I don't know if this was an error in the original or the Americanization process. There are 2 kinds of dry yeast in the USA, active and rapid-rise. Delia tells you to put active dry yeast in with the flour and add the liquid in her chapter on bread. this is NOT the correct procedure: active dry yeast should be dissolved first, then flour added. Only rapid-rise may be used directly. The rising times seem closer to active dry, but the procedure is for rapid-rise. I've sent a note to the publisher and hopefully this will be corrected.

On the whole, though, a good book for people who want to get down to the fundamentals of cooking.


A truly comprehensive "how to" cook book   November 21, 2001
Mark Publow (Phoenix, AZ USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I'm 40 years old and have been cooking since I was seven. I've tried a lot of recipes, and checked out a lot of cookbooks (usually through the library). However, when I checked this cookbook out, I knew it was one to keep What I appreciated most about this cookbook was that not only included many good recipes, but it also provided in-depth basics about how to cook various foods. As one simple example, I never knew until I read this book about how the age/freshness of eggs affects their suitability for preparing hard-boiled eggs. And I finally made "perfect" mashed potatoes through following the directions in this cookbook. The book has wonderful basic recipes, as well as interesting new recipes (e.g., Egg and Lentil Curry with Coconut and Lime).

Another very nice feature of this July 2001 U.S. publication is that it combines two previously separate volumes (1 & 2) that were published in the U.K. This provides for a truly comprehensive cookbook, which I highly recommend.