Product Description

Setting up home for the first time and feel lost in the kitchen? 'The First-time Cook' is a one-stop guide which shows you not only how to cook delicious food but also how to understand ingredients and techniques so you can feel completely confident cooking on your own. Assuming no prior knowledge,'First-time Cook' takes you through the basics of shopping and cooking equipment. Sophie Grigson then covers each essential cooking technique and food in turn, moving step-by-step through the basics with lots of incredibly useful advice on the possible pitfalls and showing variations and alternatives once you have mastered the essentials. From the perfect roast chicken to twenty variations on the quick-and-easy omelette and pasta of all descriptions, the recipes have been chosen not only to show core techniques but also to provide a fantastic collection of dishes that cover everything from quick (and cheap) supper ideas for one, to coping with Sunday lunch for six for the first time. Detailed, dynamic step-by-step photographs show how recipes should look at each stage and finished shots are of real food, not overly styled dishes that only a professional could ever achieve. Interest in cookery has never been greater but the number of people actually able to cook continues to decline. Sophie Grigson's TV experience has given her a natural ability to teach cookery in an informal and friendly way and, with this book, she fills the gap left by conventional cookbooks which assume a knowledge most people don't possess.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5909 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'Great step-by-step visual guides!a perfect entree into the world of cooking'. Independent on Sunday 'Friendly and chatty, Sophie Grigson is the cook any beginner should have by their side.' Good Food magazine

About the Author
Sophie Grigson is synonymous with great food, often using new and exciting ingredients in simple, easy dishes. Her TV career began in 1993 with the award-winning 12-part series Grow Your Greens, Eat Your Greens for Channel 4. She writes regular features for several magazines and newspapers, including BBC Good Food and Country Living Magazine and has been awarded the Guild of Food Writers Cookery Journalist Award. Sophie is the author of many successful books. She has two children and lives in Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Simply Fabulous!
As a self-confessed cookbook-addict, I feel I can say with some authority that Sophie Grigson's "First Time Cook" is one of the best out there.

Accessible without being over-simplified, educational without being patronising, this is a book that covers all the basics and a lot more besides. The recipes are easy to follow and, more importantly, utterly delicious, taking inspiration from many different cultures and food traditions, without forgetting homely British fare (I particularly reccommend her recipe for beef stew).

Amongst all this, Sophie still manages to take you through the correct boiling of an egg, how to make the perfect roast potatoes and all other manner of useful advice.

My only criticism of this fantastic book is that there is not more of it!

'.... fills the gap left by conventional cookbooks which assume a knowledge most people don't possess'
`Sophie`s accessible approach and ability to communicate both classic and contemporary cooking styles have made her a hugely popular figure in food today.'

`Want to feel more confident in the kitchen but don't know where to start?....Detailed step-by-step photographs show how recipes should look and finished shots are of real food, not overly styled dishes that only a professional could achieve....
Just like having one of the very best cookery writers and teachers standing by you in the kitchen, `The First-time Cook' will transform beginners into confident cooks and provides lots of fun along the way.'


240 high quality shiny pages, split over 7 main chapters:-

Soups, Starters and Eggs
Pasta, Pizza and Rice
Meat & Poultry
Stir-frying
Fish
Vegetables & Salads
Puddings, Cakes and Biscuits

sandwiched between sections entitled `Why Cook?' and `Techniques & General Tips' and a full index.
The Techniques and General Tips section includes `How to Read a Recipe', `Preparing Common Vegetables and Other Ingredients', 'Cooking Terms' and 'Recommended Kitchen Utensils'.

Each chapter opens with relevant text in Sophie's typically descriptive, often humorous style, e.g.

`Soups
I'm a great believer in soup. Here is a dish that fulfils a multitude of functions, the prime amongst them being that it satisfies the soul. Oh - and the stomach.
A big steaming bowlful of soup can really hit the spot. It makes a good first course and it makes the heart of a handsome lunch or supper, eked out with loads of soft-centred, crisp-crusted bread, a big hunk of cheese, and healthy fruit or something more indulgent to follow.
Make one big batch and it will feed a crowd, or just feed you on your own quickly and easily over several days.'

Then follows all the information you will ever need re types of soup, tips and techniques, `sweating without perspiration', `thick, thicker, thickest`, liquid essentials', `thinning down', `dressing up' and 'machinery'.

Headed in red, each recipe has an opening note and is clearly laid out with servings, list of ingredients - often split into 'base' and `main' - plus a step-by-step method, along with any extras e.g. `dressing up', `aromatics', seasonings etc.

The book also has informative `need to know' sections, easily found by their blue headings.

And there's more... much, much more........if you need to `prepare an egg`, it's all here:-

Boiling, frying, scrambling, poaching, separating, folding in or whisking, after a guide to buying freshness, even salmonella advice.
But, if the childhood memory of `scrambled eggs on toast' is enough to get you to turn the page - please do so - for Sophie's twist on a theme - the most superb recipe for `Lemon Scrambled Eggs on Toasted Bagels'!

A taste of the other recipes within:-

Roast Tomato and Onion Soup
Mushroom Omelette
Pasta Frittata
Salsa Cruda (Raw Sauce)
Tagliatelle Bolognaise
Good Pizza Dough
Egg-fried Rice
Grilled Steak - has summary of the timings for `blue`, `rare`, `medium-rare`, `medium' and `well-done'
Chicken Fajitas
Roast Leg of Lamb
Parsley and Lemon Stuffing
The Best Easy Roast Chicken
Thai Stir-Fried Noodles (Pad Thai)
Tuna Fishcakes
Roast Salmon with Lime
Fundamental Fish Pie
White Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Tomato and Basil Salad
Simple Chocolate Mousse
Blackberry and Apple Crumble
Lemon Ice Cream
Custard
Victoria Sponge
Shortbread

plus the most delicious `Double Chocolate Cake' -
`This chocolate cake boasts a double helping of chocolate (in the form of real chocolate and cocoa powder) for a `wildly big hit of chocolate heaven`. Swathed in a fudgy chocolate cream all over the outside and the inside, it becomes a king amongst chocolate cakes.
And with such tempting, mouth-watering description I do wonder, if Ms Grigson might turn her attention to the boxed chocolate market, in the near future!

Coming to a sweetshop near you....................., if so, you read it first at Amazon!

Best recipe book purchased
I recently purchased this book at Waterstones for £12.99 for a friend that had no idea how to cook (I personally did not put myself in that category- at first). I came home and browsed through it and was totally amazed at how many recipes that were usable. (Most cookery books I have bought I may have used half a dozen recipes at the most), I immediately got on to amazon to order it and realised I could save over £4.00. The chocolate cake is absolutely divine. It was the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted, the shortbread really is gorgeous. There are so many recipes I cannot wait to try as they are all pretty simple with accessible ingredients. This book definately sits at the top of my cookery books.