"Cover To Cover"

[Sakkarin Profile]

A week or so ago when I got "Lonely Planet World's Best Bowl Food", I mentioned that of the 100 recipes, I'd already made 41 before. I've been looking at some of my other books to tot up my totals, and it's been quite surprising.

Of the books that I consider I've almost done cover to cover, I am nowhere near having done that - for instance I've made 50 plus of Vatch's Thai recipes, and 40 plus of Fuchsia Dunlop's Szechwan recipes, but nowhere near the whole books, although of course my favourite recipes in them I've made countless times. It's the "unsourcable" ingredients that usually bring me to a halt, or the expense AND the unavailability when it comes to the seafood dishes.

I dug out "The Prawn Cocktail Years", and found that I've made 96 of the 130ish dishes covered, so I'm three quarters of the way through that one (although mostly using other recipes).

However I thought I'd check out Felicity Cloake's "Completely Perfect", and from the index on the Amazon "Look Inside" found that of her 122 recipes in it (although some of the recipes are not really dishes, e.g. stock, gravy, custard, pastry) there are only TWO that I've not made before, Beef Wellington and Aubergine Parmigiani.

So Aubergine Parmigiani is on the menu today, and I'll pretend that my Salmon en Croute I made at college was a pescatarian Beef Wellington. BINGO! FULL HOUSE!

What books have you attempted "cover to cover", and how far did you actually get? And do you get a Felicity Full House?

Felicity's 122 dishes:

Aloo Gobi
American Pancakes
Apple Pie
Aubergine Parmigiana
Baked Ham
Bakewell Tart
Banana Bread
Battered Fish
Béarnaise Sauce
Beef Stew And Dumplings
Beef Wellington
Blueberry Muffins
Boeuf Bourguignon
Boiled Eggs
Bread And Butter Pudding
Brown Bread
Burgers
Caesar Salad
Carrot Cake
Cauliflower Cheese
Cheese Souffle
Cheese Straws
Chicken Liver Pate
Chicken Pie
Chicken Soup
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chilli Con Carne
Chips
Chocolate Brownies
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Fondant
Chocolate Mousse
Christmas Fruit Cake
Coleslaw
Coronation Chicken
Cottage Pie
Custard
Dall
Egg Fried Rice
Fairy Cakes
Fish Pie
Fishcakes
Flapjacks
Fresh Pasta
Fried Eggs
Fudge
Garlic Bread
Gingerbread Men
Goan Fish Curry
Granola
Gratin Dauphinoise
Gravy
Guacamole
Hollandaise Sauce
Hot Cross Buns
Hummus
Jacket Potatoes
Lancashire Hotpot
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Lemon Sorbet
Macaroni Cheese
Marmalade
Mash
Mayonnaise
Meatballs
Meringues
Mince Pies
Minestrone
Moussaka
New York Cheesecake
Nicoise Salad
Nut Roast
Oatcakes
Omelettes
Paella
Pancakes
Pannacotta
Pesto
Pizza
Poached Eggs
Porridge
Potato Salad
Prawn Cocktail
Pulled Pork
Quiche
Ragu Bolognese
Ratatouille
Rhubarb Crumble
Rhubarb Fool
Rice
Rice Pudding
Risotto
Roast Chicken
Roast Pork With Crackling
Roast Potatoes
Rough Puff Pastry
Salsa
Sausage Rolls
Scones
Scotch Eggs
Scrambled Eggs
Shortcrust Pastry
Smoked Mackerel Pate
Soda Bread
Southern Fried Chicken
Spaghetti Carbonara
Steak
Steak And Ale Pie
Steak And Kidney Pudding
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Stock
Summer Pudding
Tart Au Citron
Tomato Sauce
Tomato Soup
Treacle Tart
Victoria Sandwich
Vinaigrette
Welsh Rarebit
Winter Trifle
Yorkshire Puddings

[Amyw Profile]

Do you mean that you’ve cooked the actual recipes in felicity’s book or you’ve cooked the dishes listed before ?

[Sakkarin Profile]

I meant cooked the dishes listed! That's all 122 from the book. You'd have to be a real fan to wade through the book following her recipes when many of them are already tried and trusted, or there's a better source. I have however made a fair few of her dishes to her instructions.

To be honest I would hardly ever cook a recipe from one source; even making the Aubergine Parmigiana just now I had her recipe and Antonio Carluccio's in front of me, and my dish is halfway between. For instance Carluccio gives the sauce 15 minutes cooking, and Felicity 45 minutes. I figured 15 minutes was probably better, for a fresher tomato taste, but gave it 30 minutes.

Dear me, frying aubergines is a bind. How on earth do they make aubergine dishes to restaurant quantites?

EDIT: Whoar that was good! Another Veggie dish I'll add to my "Suitable for carnivores too" list...

[Renee Profile]

Your Aubergine Parmigiana looks so good Sakkarin!

I used to fry aubergines, but they tended to absorb a lot of oil, so these days, I brush with oil and grill using my halogen. They could be cooked in the oven of course.

I tend to read cookery books, rather than cook from them, especially books by Nigel Slater. I do of course make recipes from them occasionally.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Parmigiana looks good, it has been on my list of veggie dishes you can serve to the non-veggies for years

I’ve made I think 112 of the recipe titles, there are a couple of things I don’t eat (bearnaise, dumplings, steak and kidney puds)

I have made some of them decades ago and not since though.

Not sure which book I’ve cooked from most, probably an E David

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I'm about a dozen short, mostly sweet things, though I haven't made Béarnaise either. Probably haven't cooked chips for 45 years.

Parmigiana is something I do from time to time. I generally griddle or roast the aubergine slices.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

PS the first version of aubergine parmigiana I made was from a magazine, and it had some of the oddities that creep into magazine recipes, including layers of lasagne

This actually works really well if you want to feed a crowd

[Badger's Mate Profile]

We love aubergines but it's a hidden disadvantage of growing your own produce that there's always something else fresh or in the shed or freezer to use up. Consequently we eat less of the exotic stuff than we otherwise might. I have grown the odd aubergine and last year a lovely melon but this isn't really the country for it.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

That looks fantastic, Sakkers. I do adore aubergines -
aren't you clever to be growing so much of your produce Badgers.

As my eyes were drifting down the list, I know I've made most things. Even on the baking side I was surprised, as I only bake on a whim usually.

I realised I've not made blueberry muffins before. So this morning I've just baked them using this recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/blueberry-muffin
I've seen a chef on Saturday Kitchen back in Greg's day, and remember her saying not to over mix the batter.
So I just brought the dry and wet ingredients briefly together with a wooden spoon.

The jumbo blueberries haven't exploded either, so you get a lovely bite of whole fruit/ jam-iness.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

What's "winter trifle" then?

[Sakkarin Profile]

Seems she classified hers as a "Christmas" trifle, although the headline is just "trifle".

I haven't made her version - pomegranate seeds in a trifle doth not a Christmassy trifle make.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... ect-trifle

EDIT: P.S. There was a trifle in the marked-down section of Tesco last night, I award myself a brownie point for resisting it.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Blueberry muffins look good, though on this screen it looks as if the gas burner is lit, which is worrying

They don’t have to be cloyingly sweet if home made

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Lovely Aubergine Parmigiana, Sakks!
I had the same problem with the aubergines; soaked up half a litre of oil every time I fried them. So now I brush the slices with olive oil and pop them in the oven, covered, for 20 minutes.
I´m 30 short on your Felicity List, but then I´m not a meat eater - although I have done roast pork and pulled pork.
I don´t think there´s any book I´ve covered completely, although I´ve made 36 of the recipes in Camellia Panjabi´s " 50 Great Curries of India".

[Binky Profile]

I have never 'done' a cookery book from cover to cover. I am happy if I can find and use a half dozen recipes in any book. The reason being some dishes have no appeal for me, or contain ingredients I won't use - pork and crustaceans being two of them.

[Amyw Profile]

76/122

[Sakkarin Profile]

Just shows how OCD a cook I am - I could probably dig out pix of at least 70 of those dishes that I've made, although as I say NOT to her recipes, although I have made a fair few of her dishes.

I remember a blog many years ago where a blogger did "French Laundry" from cover to cover, I only managed two of the dishes

Then there's Ferran Adria's "A Day At El Bulli" which sits forlornly on my bookshelf, from which I've made NONE of the dishes, every single dish having about 8 constituents, each of which requires ingredients and equipment and probably expertise which are beyond my means!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Don’t forget Julie & Julia

Julie blogged working her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (actually by Beck, Berthelot & Child, as the movie made clear) and it was made into a very enjoyable film

[Sakkarin Profile]

I never got to watch that film, I changed from Virgin to Sky and it's on my old Virgin box. You've reminded me however that I bought the book a few weeks back and haven't really looked at it yet, in fact I can't even remember where I put it...