Jamie Oliver (1) (1975–)

While Jamie Oliver always has a certain appeal, this cookbook has so many problems for the average home cook. Initially, this premise is really great: everything is grouped into meals (usually an entree and either two accompaniments or a salad and a dessert) and the instructions are written to have you cooking all components simultaneously. Everything is thought out and planned for you! Awesome, right?

If you are part of a foodie couple, or a family open to all foods with no health concerns, show more it would work fine. If you are like most families, dinner hosts, etc. you are contending with special diets, picky eaters and other issues. It is very hard to go through and mark which ones can be cooked, as is. It is also very difficult to extract one aspect of a meal you want to try and mix with something else. It can be done, but even Oliver says it is best to make the meal at least once before trying to extract elements.

I don't want to poo-poo cookbooks that have planned meals, as life is tough, time is finite and we all need a little help. They make a great addition to any cookbook collection. However, they have to be part of a collection; this cannot be your everyday, go-to cookbook. It is equally drool-worthy to all his other books (Bloody Mary Mussels. Genius!) and, with some misé-en-place, the recipes can be made fairly easily (the instructions have his usual clarity). If you are trying to master cooking an entire meal with different dishes simultaneously, this is a good practice book to work through. I just do not see this as a cookbook you will be using daily.

Note: I don't know about different editions, but mine has American references, American terms and Imperial measurements. show less

I do love a good cookbook. I read them much like a read a novel. There is much to be learned within the covers of cookbooks - even if I never use a recipe I pick up tips and tricks and taste combinations I might never have thought of. Some of my favorite dinners have come out reading different recipes and combining pieces of them to come up with a whole. I am a collector of cookbooks and my shelves hold one more now.

Jamie Oliver's Great Britain is a beautiful cookbook full of stunning show more photography. Being a visual person I adore such books. They don't make for better recipes but they do make for more enjoyable paging. It is also helpful to a cook, in my opinion, to have a photo of the finished dish. At least for this cook. Photos, alas, are expensive and many great cookbooks don't have many but Mr. Oliver is a famous chef and his cookbook is crammed with photographs that make you drool. I was a happy woman making my way through the book. A very happy woman.

As to the recipes? They are pretty straightforward but this is not a cookbook for a beginner. It is a book for someone who has a bit of a clue as to what goes on in a kitchen. With instructions that include using a "knob" of butter and a "lug" of olive oil and cooking something until it is done you can certainly see that a certain knowledge would be required. But for a cook comfortable in the kitchen, for a cook that is looking to prepared simple, yet not so basic good English food this is a keeper of a cookbook. It is a collector's cookbook for sure and I am thrilled to be adding to my shelves. There are many recipes that I will try and play with as time goes on. From the simple like the Fresh Tomato Soup I show you here to the Honey Roasted Lemon Rabbit that I will try as soon as I get another rabbit in my hands.

If you are a cookbook lover, if you love watching Jamie Oliver on the TV (and I must admit that I have not seen his show - the horror!), if you have someone that loves cookbooks - this is a great book to buy as a gift or to grace your collection. show less

Fast and simple food--How does one define that? For me, it is something that is put together in a short time, perhaps with mostly ingredients one keeps on hand. It might involve a trip to the grocery store to pick up something fresh like a meat or a vegetable you may be running low on. To Jamie, it often involves less common foods. I'm not sure if it is a difference between what Americans keep on hand and what Brits keep readily available--although I will acknowledge that Europeans have show more smaller refrigerators and make more frequent runs to the store so picking up something less common is not quite as big a deal. I already had recipes for something similar in some cases. I enjoyed looking at the illustrations and even found a couple of dishes that I might try at some point, but for the most part, it was not a book I need to keep on hand. The library's copy will serve me fine until I have tried the dishes I wish to try. show less

While Jamie Oliver always has a certain appeal, this cookbook has so many problems for the average home cook. Initially, this premise is really great: everything is grouped into meals (usually an entree and either two accompaniments or a salad and a dessert) and the instructions are written to have you cooking all components simultaneously. Everything is thought out and planned for you! Awesome, right?

If you are part of a foodie couple, or a family open to all foods with no health concerns, show more it would work fine. If you are like most families, dinner hosts, etc. you are contending with special diets, picky eaters and other issues. It is very hard to go through and mark which ones can be cooked, as is. It is also very difficult to extract one aspect of a meal you want to try and mix with something else. It can be done, but even Oliver says it is best to make the meal at least once before trying to extract elements.

I don't want to poo-poo cookbooks that have planned meals, as life is tough, time is finite and we all need a little help. They make a great addition to any cookbook collection. However, they have to be part of a collection; this cannot be your everyday, go-to cookbook. It is equally drool-worthy to all his other books (Bloody Mary Mussels. Genius!) and, with some misé-en-place, the recipes can be made fairly easily (the instructions have his usual clarity). If you are trying to master cooking an entire meal with different dishes simultaneously, this is a good practice book to work through. I just do not see this as a cookbook you will be using daily.

Note: I don't know about different editions, but mine has American references, American terms and Imperial measurements. show less