Nigella Lawson

I'm sorry this is going to sound like a gushing fangirl, but I love this book so much. Even though I'd cooked before (my mum is a cookery teacher I was hardly going to get away with not cooking), it is Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess that made me love it. Prior to this book the only cookery books I owned were those that my mother had foisted on me fearing that I might starve if she didn't, and were a bit on the dull side (my excuse for living on sandwiches for 3 years).
Then I found show more myself staring daily at this as it was sat on a shelf, on offer in the bookshop I worked in. Initially it was the cover picture that tempted me into purchase, but once I'd got it home I found myself reading it as I would a novel, something I'd never done previously with a cookery book. Lacking in an actual oven where I lived it took six months before I could actually try it out, but it was worth the wait.
Her conversational style may not be everyone's taste, but all my previous books had the aura of a dicatorial school ma'am.
I've found all the recipes easy to follow, and have had success with almost everything I've tried. My only failure was a courgette cake which was because I lacked the correct size pan and it ended up burnt on the outside and soup like in the middle.
The size of tins would probably be my only criticism, I had to search high and low for some of the tin sizes, and lacking as I am in Nigella's budget I've had to restrict myself to only a few.
However, overall I adore this book,and it opened the floodgates for my ever growing cookery book collection. show less

First of all, I have to say this - this woman is nuts! She may be a great cook and a very nice person, I don't know, but honestly, she is nuts.

This book, in case you couldn't tell right away, is about baking. She sets it up in several categories: cakes, cookies, bread, pies, Christmas, etc. The pictures are wonderful. But the writing? Wow. It's hard to tell you just how bad it is. So here's an example.

"Coconut Macaroons. These are a very English kind of macaroon, the sort you always used to show more see displayed in bakers' shops alongside the madeleines (those sponge castles dipped in luminous strawberry jam and dredged in throat-catching grated coconut, and so very different from those that inflamed the memory of Marcel Proust). The difference with coconut macaroons is that you need neither to be ironic or self-consciously retro-cool to enjoy them."

What?

I have SO many problems with this paragraph. First of all, I am reading a cookbook. I do not need references to Marcel Proust. Second, don't just assume I am English. I'm not. I have no idea what you are talking about. Third, I have never in my life worried about being ironic when I ate a cookie. (My daughter wondered if perhaps she referred to the IRON CONTENT of the cookie. But no.) And finally, I don't have any idea what 'self-consciously retro-cool' means.

So the writing is bad. Horrible. But if the recipes were good, you could just skip the writing and get straight to the recipes. Well, the recipes aren't bad exactly, but every recipe assumes that you already know what she's talking about. She doesn't explain things for a beginner.

Then there are some rather weird recipes. I don't plan on ever making persimmon or passionfruit curd. And I definitely will not touch a gin and tonic gelatin mold. Several of the recipes, most, in fact, call for ingredients that I would have a hard time tracking down. Like rosewater and some specialty jams. She also uses special equipment, but doesn't give you a picture of it or really describe well how to use it. I know most English cooks know what a pudding basin is. I don't.

And then I am never, ever going to make lavender milk. (You know, get a bowl of milk, put 5-6 lavender sprigs in it, boil, then strain. Yeah.) She skipped an important step there - make sure the lavender in question is pesticide free and has been washed thoroughly. But really, where am I going to find lavender sprigs?

This was without question the most self-important, preciously droll cookbook I have ever read. Wait, is that too close to self-consciously retro-cool? Maybe I should have said vain and complacent. Either way, I would not recommend reading it at all. I've never seen the author's show or read any of her other cookbooks, but after reading this, I heard from a relative that she is just the same on her show. Maybe that appeals to someone. Maybe it's meant to be funny and I just don't get it. But it was just awful. show less

I love Nigella Lawson so much. She has the unique gift among cookbook authors, of making me want to eat whatever she has just described. And she describes it in such detail that you can almost taste it in advance. I probably don't cook enough sensible food, but love an Occasion, where I can make something new and snazzy and really knock everyone's socks off - so this may be the perfect cookbook for me. Lots of ideas along those lines. Makes me want to celebrate everyone's holidays, so that I show more can try everything out. And why shouldn't we celebrate Easter and Rosh Hashanah? Better to be inclusive than exclusive (although having just watched the BBC Middlemarch miniseries, I wonder if that isn't the Mr. Brooke in me). ;) But I prefer to think of it as Nigella Lawson's talent for convincing me to broaden my culinary horizons! show less

When I borrowed the DVD set from the library I just thought it might be fun to watch. Then I saw one recipe after another that I had to try. Then we tried lamb steaks with the marinade she used in a different cut. Then I saw even more recipes I had to try...

I now own the cookbook, and have tried the squid ink pasta. (They must have cheated for the photo. My tomato pieces didn't show up as red bits.) Tonight we had the traybake. I've bought in several special varieties of pasta, and tomorrow show more will buy red and pink vermouth... Everything has been at least as good and easy to make as she says.

I suspect the real clincher for buying the book was the squid ink pasta. I always stuff myself on 'nero' food when we go to Venice. But even if that isn't your thing, there is a lot to enjoy here. (Then again, it could have been the chestnut ice cream. Or the pasta with anchovies. Or the cocoa pasta with butterscotch sauce... So much I still have to try!) show less