Delia's How to Cook Book Three [Hardcover]

This will set pans clashing by the millions. Delia Smith's eagerly awaited How to Cook Book Three concludes her exploration of cooking techniques and ingredients in the reliable manner that has made her the queen of domestic cookery instructors. Compared with the knockabout music-hall antics of some of her fellow presenters, she has all the charisma of an Open University lecturer--but this sobriety, of course, is one of the reasons for her success. She remains resolutely in the kitchen, never distracted from her ongoing project of helping readers and viewers prepare interesting and wholesome food.

An exhaustive introductory chapter on equipping a kitchen (rule: don't skimp, but don't buy anything on impulse that you don't really need) is followed by a more personal one on Gadgets That Work (and a few that don't--step forward slow cookers and sandwich toasters). The recipe chapters encompass some wonderful traditional dishes as Delia investigates the cooking of pulses, preserves, patés and starters, while including less familiar flavours from the Far East. In writing this final volume she has taken advantage of the Internet to get closer to the community of her viewers and readers, gathering their opinions on what they would like to see covered. The two chapters that have emerged from this research, on low-fat cooking and entertaining, form the highlights of a book which, like its predecessors, is self-recommending and--it goes without saying--beautifully illustrated. --Robin Davidson

What is there to say? Guaranteed idiot-proof recipes from the Queen of TV cooking. Invite people round for a "Delia" and you're ensured a successful dinner party and friends who will want to come again and again. But just because the title lends itself to beginners, the more confident cook ignores the book at their peril. Fresh slants on recipes such as brulees, sorbets, beef stews and cheesecakes remove their dated image and bring them to the forefront of food fashion. Traditional recipes are re-examined and explained with clear instructions thus ensuring perfect lemon meringue pies, potted crabs and smoked collars of bacon. For those with a more exotic taste, pulses are examined and recipes such as hummus, Mexican chicken chilli with yellow tomato salsa, spiced lamb curry with chickpeas and sesame blancmange are included. Covering the latest cooking gadgets, Delia explains the pros and cons of expensive investments such as bread-making machines, ice-cream makers and food processors, offering recipes which would once have taken hours but now take minutes to produce. Also covered, after consultation with her fans via her website, is a section on "Waist Watchers" - ideal for those with a guilty conscience... Gloriously illustrated and engagingly written, this is ideal as either the final addition to her "How to Cook" trilogy or as an introduction to her inimitable style. Budding chef or veteran gourmet, this book should appeal to all and brings an updated twist to today's cuisine.

In part three of How to Cook, Delia continues and completes her journey through the fundamentals of cooking, revising traditional areas that are all too often overlooked, as well as exploring more contemporary concerns for the modern cook. As ever, the principles remain the same to rediscover the simple pleasure of food, to take beginners through many of the basic techniques, and to offer inspiration to even the most accomplished cook. With stunning photographs to accompany each one of them, the recipes range from neglected classics like Old English Apple Hat and Smoked Collar of Bacon with Pease Pudding to exciting new flavours such as Teriyaki Grilled Marinated Salmon and Sea Bass with Puy Lentil Salsa. In Book Three, the reader can learn the techniques of pickling and preserving, how to equip their kitchen from scratch, and how to get the most out of food processors, bread machines and ice-cream makers. Here, Delia also focuses on first courses (pts and starters) and last courses (hot puddings), and introduces us to the wonderful world of pulses, from adzuki beans to pintos by way of many more familiar ones. How to Cook Book Three contains over 120 great new recipes, written, as always, to inspire confidence in nervous cooks and to extend the repertoire of more experienced ones. Those who already have Books One and Two cannot afford to be without this one, and those who do not can start right here.

Delia Smith is Britain's bestselling cookery writer, whose books have sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Delia's first job as a cookery writer was for the Daily Mirror in 1969 - numerous phenomenal best sellers and television series followed including Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course in 1978 and Delia's Christmas, Summer & Winter Collections in the 1990s. Towards the end of the decade Delia commenced work on a new major project - Delia's How to Cook, publishing three separate volumes and the accompanying tv series. The Vegetarian Collection and The Delia Collection followed. After a five year break concentrating on Norwich City Football Club (where she is a director) and Canary Catering, Delia returned triumphant in 2008 with a new BBC TV series and the fastest selling cookery book of all time 'Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking' - which has sold over 800,000 copies to date. Delia is married to the writer and editor, Michael Wynn Jones. They live in Suffolk.