Delia’s Complete Cookery Course

Delia’s Complete Cookery Course, Delia Smith, ISBN 13: 978 0 563 36249 4

Where would I be without this book or without Delia?

I can remember being in my young teens and spending a lot of time cooking in my parent’s kitchen whilst at the same time talking to the imaginary camera, describing everything I was doing, just like Delia. I hope that other people used to do the same and that I wasn’t being a particularly strange child.

I don’t think you can go wrong with a Delia recipe and, of course, she has been a central figure in the world of cooking for decades in the UK. This particular book was first published in 1978 and my copy, which I finally got in 2008, after many years of ringing or running to my mum’s to look at her copy, shows that it has been reprinted pretty much every year since then, sometimes as much as five times a year.

It’s a book I turn to if I need a recipe for a classic, as I know that Delia’s recipe will work. The pastry pages are particularly grubby from use. I have quite a number of Delia’s books; the How to Cook series, the seasonal collection and the Christmas book.  However, it is this one that has helped to form me as a home cook.  It is this book that I grew up with and it is these recipes that have provided much of the backbone to my adaptations.

There was quite a Delia backlash here in the UK when she launched her How to Cheat cookbook, but for me Delia still stands as an icon for home cooks and this book is one that I wouldn’t want to be without.

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