Cookery writers /chefs you rate or slate

[Amyw Profile]

It’s cropped up recently in discussion a lot of people praising Ainsley Harriott saying how well written and tested his recipes are , which surprised me a little bit as no offense to Ainsley but I wouldn’t expect him to be so well received .

Nigella is always someone I really rate . Her bakings really good and her recipes always seem spot on .

One who I do find a bit hit and miss Is Sabrina Ghayour . I’ve made a few things from her books . One was a Middle Eastern sausage roll where the spicing was way out , it was really oily and the cooking times were almost double what she stated . There was something else I can’t remember that I made of hers that clearly hadn’t been tested properly

[Hickybank Profile]

I agree with you about Ainsley although I admit I have tried very few of his recipes, I don't think ready steady cook did him any favours though.
Nigella annoys me with her fluttering eyebrows & look how gorgeous I am ( and that's coming from a bloke )
Nigel Slater I find a little creepy & hate to see him cooking with his long hair dangling over the food he prepares.

Gordon Ramsey I admire after reading his life story & the troubled & violent upbringing he had & I like a lot of his dishes'
Delia of course is a true legend & goddess of cooking, her recipes never seem to fail & js my No 1 port of call

[Busybee Profile]

I really like Nigella’s writing, and find her recipes spot on. Likewise Jamie Oliver recipes are usually well tested.

I loved watching Delia, I wish her series were repeated but who knows they may not stand the test of time. I think Mary Berry recipes are again usually well tested but think her recent series was a let down.

Sabrina Ghyour lives near me, and uses a lot of the same shops. I can’t say that I have tried any of her dishes, although she did some great videos at the start of lockdown using everyday things in your store cupboard with sensible substitutions.

BB

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think she’s only the pouting flirting Nigella when prodded into it by tv directors - I’ve seen her interviewed at the local book festival by someone I know, and she was lovely to all concerned, happily signing well used copies of her books. Oddly I don’t have any of her books

I too got into a mess with Sabrina’s “sausage roll” recipe“ I should try more of her recipes, I do like her flavours

Have to pick out Fuchsia Dunlop as a favourite cook book writer, interesting, different and close to fool proof.

I’m a bit ambivalent about Delia - I used to cut out her recipes from the Evening Standard and can still make her cheesecake from memory - with half the sugar as she has a sweet tooth. But I never really got to grips with her on TV, apart from the Christmas series; I hated her One is Fun book and generally I find her food a bit dull. Also she does a lot of sweet stuff which I ignore, and much the same goes for Mary Berry. I prefer Diana Henry for good basics really

I still go back to Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Great post, Amy!
I read somewhere that Jamie Oliver´s published recipes cost £1,800 each, because that´s what it costs to try and test them.
I have to admit I don´t worry too much about how a recipe is written. I follow James Beard´s recommendation:
" Follow the recipe exactly the first time around; then you´re on your own".
My evaluation of a cookbook depends on whether the recipe works, flavour-wise. Yes, sometimes the instructions can be a bit vague, but if the flavours are right, that´s it. Someone recently mentioned chicken stock, and I posted about a book I´ve got called " Hot Pasta". At least 40% of the recipes use chicken stock, even veggie recipes. Something seriously wrong there, and I think I´d object to any other book which slavishly uses one ingredient as a crutch.
On another tack, I´ve got a book called " A Meditteranean Feast"; a huge, 900 page tome, with hundreds of recipes from all over the Med.I don´t know whether it was actually written as a recipe book or as a history book; if it was the latter then it was my mistake buying it. As a recipe book, however, it´s a disaster - not a single photo of a dish in the entire treatise, just black & white recipes.
People love, or hate Gordon Ramsay. He´s like Marmite. His book recipes are brilliant, however, and I can feel that he´s an absolute perfectionist. There´s often a "Chef´s Tip" attached, like adding sage to the sage-infused butter at the last minute, to preserve the flavour & texture. THAT is what I´d want to read from a perfectly-written recipe.

[Amyw Profile]

Thanks karadekoolaid , yes I agree , Jamie’s recipes are always very good .

I agree , my recipe choices are always based on the dish containing flavours I like so if the proportions aren’t right , then I tend to think it’s the writing of the recipe rather than my personal taste . Cooking times are a bugbear especially when it comes to baking . Ten minutes either side I can deal with , with differences with cooking temperature etc but when it’s much longer , again I tend to think it’s the recipe fault

[Stokey Sue Profile]

As I tend to do all the prep before I start to cook I really notice any vagueness or ambiguity in the instructions

An early bugbear was “a bunch of herbs” - so is that the massive bridal bouquet sized bunch from the market or the little buttonhole from the supermarket? One of the things that endeared me to Sabrina is that she definitely recommends the market bunch but gives quantities in terms of supermarket packets on the grounds you can visualise it

Then there’s the instruction to “chop the onions “ - by which if not qualified I understand to roughly dice them. Then you see the video or a magazine photo and the onions are meticulously sliced into 2mm half moons and it makes a real difference. So many recipe writers do this - half those writing SE Asian foods and Rachel Khoi spring to mind

I’ve moaned elsewhere about the ubiquitous, unnecessary, chicken stock

Then there’s water. Of course I don’t expect every splash to be listed as an ingredient, but it’s really annoying when a very specific amount is just slipped into the text “add 150ml water at 40C and leave to stand” - done by non- bakers writing baking usually

Some other writers - For Middle Eastern food Claudia Roden and Anissa Helou,I also like Jane Baxter (formerly Riverford Organics), modern eclectic food slightly similar to Diana Henry

[cherrytree Profile]

In Delia’s defence, when her first little BBC paperbacks came out in the mid 1970s, her recipes seemed far from dull. To be given instructions to use fresh ginger(!) even garlic, seemed extremely daring. Whole Indian spices which were impossible to buy in deepest Suffolk where I lived . She opened my eyes to a complete style of cooking. I don’t use her Complete Cookery Course that often now, but there it is, waiting to help me if I need it.
I have quite a few MaryBerry books, but the cult of personality has taken over. I don’t need to see endless photos of her in her newest books.
I love Felicity Cloake. Her Masterclasses in Saturday’s Guardian are always a treat. Her recipe research is admirable and my nine year old grandson would eat her Tarte Tatin every day of his life if he could.
And I couldn’t live without Elizabeth David. My greatest Cherrytree award though would be for Great Dishes of the World by Robert Carrier. I was a Saturday girl in Cheam WH Smith. I saved up my wages and bought it. That book, sitting opposite me now, and never used for years opened my eyes to a new exciting cookery world, full of garlic, salami and recipes needing ingredients that nobody in South London had ever heard of. It’s a magnificent treasure.

[herbidacious Profile]

I use Delia's Complete for instructions for basics that I don't do often enough to do with confidence without guidance. e.g. roast potatoes. Her wonderfully indulgent Vegetarian was such a favourite at one point that I bought a second copy for the French house.

I like Jamie Oliver's recipes, but hate his writing style.

I am on an Ottolenghi roll at the moment... the recipes work, and are, in spite of the long list of ingredients, simple to execute, and take me out of my comfort zone to places that are delicious. Yes, initially you need to buy a lot of stuff, but the reason you need to do so (in my case) is because it takes you away from your normal culinary stomping ground, which is a very good thing. I also like an excuse to buy new and interesting-sounding ingredients

I look at Felicity Cloake a lot, but I am not sure I quite trust her enough, so often end up making one of the recipes she rejects or trying to do my own mashup, which complicates things

Have never cooked an Ainsley recipe.

I quite like Alice Hart. Hugh Fearnley-Whittinwhatsit's first Veg book...

This is making me realize that although I own a lot of cookery books I don't actually cook from most of them - some have never cooked from - so can't assess their writing. I need to change this.

[smitch Profile]

I love Nigella, Ottolenghi and I really like Falastin by Sammi Tamimi who works a lot with Ottolenghi.

I also rate Meera Sodha, Vegan Richa (Richa Hingle) and Isa Chandra.

I make Delia's scone recipe plus her cheese and onion 'sausage' rolls at Christmas. For cheese scones, which I make a lot, I use Felicity's 'perfect' recipe from the Guardian.

[scullion Profile]

one of the few recipe books i have regretted buying was one called 'eat smart' by someone called naomi smart - who i don't think is a cook.
i paid a quid for it at a gate side plant stall on my way back from a meeting. i haven't cooked anything from it - i couldn't be arsed to find a recipe squeezed in between the 'aren't i wonderful' photographs and others of empty bowls (isn't my crockery/cutlery/taste wonderful?).
i hadn't realised it was a 'clean eating' book when i dropped my coin into the tin. it's the sort of book that would have me running to the chip pan.
it has quite a high star rating on amazon but i think she (and a few friends) may have bought most of the copies and given it those. i would say it was to cooking what vanity publishing is to fiction. maybe i should go and rate it on amazon but i don't think my wasted pound would count as a verified purchase.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I find it interesting that nearly all the people mentioned, though usually undoubtedly talented but not always formally trained, have made a name for themselves on TV and are now revered. It seems to be a necessity nowadays.

I find it all a bit if a minefield. Like many, I learnt to cook in a traditional British way and then global cuisines crept into our culture and my lifestyle, which did not often involve eating out, made it hard to keep up, especially outside a large city. First there was Italian, Chinese and Indian, then Thai and then Middle Eastern and African and South American, all with unfamiliar ingredients and methodology and then all the rest. It's easier to try and keep up now but I missed a huge amount in the middle which is commonplace to many but which I've never really caught up with. I wonder how younger people entering the world of global cuisine cope with it all when you can no longer own one decent book which will take you through everything you need to know.

My favourite food writer books are by James Beard, Clauia Roden, Lizzie Collingham (Curry).

I love Ottonlenghi but don't often follow his recipes fully as they always seem to need ingredients I haven't got or dislike. Controversially, I like Giorgio Locatelli for Italian cookery - great detail in the instructions and David Thompson for Thai- I know some said he was not authentic but it does for me.
Delia is pretty reliable for basic British cookery when you want something to work well, as is Mary Berry. Jamie Oliver is brilliant and innovative sometimes and sometimes not so but results are usually pretty good, same with HFW and Rick Stein who can be annoying but interesting at the same time. Nigella's results are usually reliable too and slightly different to the mainstream.

Other favourite books here are Richard Bertinet (who helped us make bread at cookery classes and is a good teacher), the Australian Woman's Weekly series for getting a first insight with good instructions into certain cuisines (Japanese is one if my favourites)and Betty Crocker (I know she's not real!) for everyday old-fashioned USA home cooking.

I'm not keen on Felicity Cloake and don't think I've ever even read an Ainsley cookery book. As has been said, he is talented but somehow missed out, possibly because his association with RSC is how people think of him.

[herbidacious Profile]

Ha! For a moment I was wondering if Ainsley had another career acting in Stratford! Doh!

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Doesn’t it also depend on how much money has been pumped into the books/series in the first place? It must be much easier for those backed by the BBC, such as Ainsley/Two Fat Ladies/Hairy Bikers etc because the money is there to get it right. Much harder for independents such as Sabrina who don’t have a TV series pre book launch.

Mind you that doesn’t excuse the awful Rachel Khoo.

Total Jamie fan here. Can’t be doing with a Gordon Ramsay’s recipes - they never sound like he’s written them although I’m guessing that’s the case with lots of books.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Ha! For a moment I was wondering if Ainsley had another career acting in Stratford! Doh!

I didn't notice that at the time, Herbi!. I did read up on Ainsley after writing that though and he seems to have been both entertainer and chef so maybe its fitting. An interesting life and his recipes look pretty good. I might try some. He really has passed me by.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

This is a great thread!
JO - colloquially written, (" season to taste and scrunch with your hands to slightly mush the tomatoes") well researched, his recipes work, but I always think of the Swedish chef in the muppets when I see him.
Ramsay - I´m a huge fan, but I think he gets a bad press because of his effin & blindin on Hell´s Kitchen. He was trained in France and his obsession with detail, IF one follows the recipe exactly, produces excellent results.
Nigella - the recipes I´ve tried have been perfect, first time round. Well I should think so too if she studied languages at Oxford!
Hairy Bikers - heart-attack food for me. Not very impressed.
Delia - her scones are perfect. Her piccalilli was too watery for me - but she´s a hero.
Elizabeth David - a total revelation when I bought her books in the 70s.However, a bit peremptory/condescending at times. On La bagna cauda, a Piedmontese dip: "(La bagna cauda) ...is excessively indigestible, and is indicated only for those with very resistant stomachs... with plenty of strong, coarse red wine"
Madhur Jaffrey: very practical, although at times a little vague.
Mary Berry: would´nt know - I´ve never tried one of her recipes!

[WWordsworth Profile]

I have the 3-volume Delia book, donated by M-I-L years ago.
I use it occasionally but find the index irritating beyond words.
The complete index is only in volume 3.

For me, the Hairy Bikers works every time.
Don't really like watching them though.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have the 3-volume Delia book, donated by M-I-L years ago.
I use it occasionally but find the index irritating beyond words.
The complete index is only in volume 3.

Don't get me started on indexing - aagh, too late

I have the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Fish Book - it's great, apart from the index which is appalling, and it's a book for which it makes a massive difference, as recipes are given for one fish, then he gives a list of suitable alternative fish, but the recipe is not indexed under the names of the second level fishes. So if you have, say, a grey mullet, there's one recipe indexed - but a lot more actual recipes for which it is recommended

Bloomsbury have a policy of not including an index in in Kindle versions of cook books - a mad decision, I (and MiMi's editor, perhaps more effectively) have complained. It came up because I bought MiMi Aye's Mandalay cook book in the Kindle version, If you want a Burmese cook book it's a good one, and has nice stories and pictures too and the Kindle version is on offer this week. My other Burmese book is hsa*ba by Tin Cho Chaw, very different style, but also good (though I can't get some of the fritters to work). There's also a book by Rangoon Sisters, I've eaten their food but not seen the book yet

Elizabeth David's books are mostly well indexed, due to the influence of the amazing Jill Norman, I love her books, I have them all, I have used them a lot but she does get imprecise, especially pre-Jill; "cut the meat in 2 inch squares" (no thickness indicated); "cook a moussaka in a loose bottomed cake tin" - really don't, even messier than you are thinking

If you love an index, Rose Elliot's your woman - a trained archivist, it shows. I ordered her Vegetarian Fast Food book, Chris the bookseller was doubtful - when I picked it up he admitted to having a browse and ordering it for himself as it contained "some really good suppers"

[miss mouse Profile]

Total Jamie fan here. Can’t be doing with a Gordon Ramsay’s recipes - they never sound like he’s written them although I’m guessing that’s the case with lots of books.

Jamie is all pasta which I have still to find the point of.

GR's recipes work IME whatever you think of him personally and my opinion of him is quite low. The books are mostly co-written according to the acknowledgements.

[miss mouse Profile]

For me, the Hairy Bikers works every time.
Don't really like watching them though.

Can't abide them. I am sure they are V nice people IRL however I don't know them IRL.