Well, I have several of hers so have ordered it today. I Love Cookery Books

No, don't need it and certainly don't want it after her comments re battery chickens.

Delia Smith's astonishing attack on organic food: 'Battery chickens are necessary to feed poor families'

True but you can still use organic/corn fed chicks!!!!

A very true comment. If it was untrue,they would not be selling so well!

I looked at the book and it was a rip off of Nigella Express.

Rather unfortunate that Nigellla got her book out first!

Looking at some of the recipes ( http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/s...s,2113,RS.html) the books looks a mixed bag. Some like the lamb and Creole prawns recipes look great, whilst the Shepherds Pie one is ludicrous - I can't believe someone of her reputation should be encouraging people to use Aunt Bessie's ready made mash in her recipes - and it really so much quicker to use read ygrated cheese and chopped carrots, rather than just buy and grate/chop your own? Its certainly cheaper using the 'longer' method.

Oh Well Sod it!! I will just have to add her new book to me others!! Good grief ! Have soo many cook books

I read Delia's How to Cheat article in the Mail on Sunday but I'm unsure whether to take the plunge.

Having said that I have a vast number of Delia's recipe books, my favourites being her Christmas book and her Summer cookbook. However, I'm a really keen cook and there seems to be an ambiguity attached to me buying a book which uses items such as Aunt Bessie's mashed potatoes and tinned meat from M&S.

On the other hand I bought Nigella's Express and I regularly use this to make meals during the week - so who knows - it may yet be one of my impulse buys

I forgot to mention also that Delia's new book also involves shopping in different shops for some of her recipes. Waitrose,Sainsburys and Tesco.

I found that rather annoying.

Funnily enough I was in Lakeland today and a lady came in looking for a specific caramel sauce which Delia had a namechecked - she went potty when the assistant told her it was only in stock during the summer months and she continued moaning about not being able to do the recipe - I stood there thinkin - improvise luv, don't be a sheep

Probably was a bit uncharitable of me to think this!

I heard Delia on Five Live today and thought "Yes! This is the Delia book for me! At last!"

A Delia book for non-cooks. Hooray!

Saw a newspaper ad for this today at Asda, for £8 - dont know if its a limited time offer.

£9 on Amazon, one poor review.

I agree with Shazzyfiz's comments about people being like sheep, dashing out to buy an essential Delia ingredient - not very creative and not for people who truly enjoy cooking or good food. I'll watch the tv series with interest, but I don't think I'd give valuable shelf space to the book.

I personally don't rate her as a cook.

She's uninspiring, stuck back in the WI school of cookery IMO

Same here. Reminds me of DS teachers more than a quarter of a century ago.

Not that I've ever tried any of her recipes. The stuff she prepares on TV always looks totally unappetising to me.

I bought the book today but I'm quite dissappointed. Many of the recipes are using prepared foods like MCain's this or Aunt Bessie's that. It's not that difficult to peel and chop potatos surely and not that time consuming...

Anyhow, I will adopt a lot of the recipes to use the proper ingredients rather than the pricey prepared ones !

[
Not that I've ever tried any of her recipes. The stuff she prepares on TV always looks totally unappetising to me.[/quote]

I have several hundred cookbooks by all sorts of people, the current trendies and the old faithfuls like Delia and all the ones in betwen- what I use depends on what I feel like cooking. How you can criticise someone whose recipes you've never tried is beyond me. Delia is a solid traditional cook, who when you want a recipe for a traditional dish, never ever fails.

I won't be buying her new book, because I can cook and don't need to cheat at it, but I admire her for the reasons behind it - anything which gets non-cooks cooking has got to be good. I'm a bit sorry about her comments regarding out of season food, I would have expected more from Deila on this issue.

Yes it annoyed me too. Especially a recipe which said 2 Sirloin Steaks (Asda Extra Special) ------- why do they have to be Asda steaks? lol

I think Nigella Express is a much better book - if you want to make proper recipes using good quality proper ingredients but which don't take too long. Delia's recipes look quick, but many of them using quite unhealthy ingredients just to save time.

Which explains why she's backing battery chickens.

I won't be getting it. I have her Complete Cookery Course and that covers pretty much everything. I have way too many cookbooks anyway. Cooks/Chefs are bringing out far too many books these days and in my view are simply cashing in on the new popularity of cooking. Encouraging people to use Aunt Bessie products and naming supermarkets is blatant advertising and you can be sure she is getting handsomely paid for mentioning them. What the hell has instant mash got to do with cooking anyway? She has gone down in my estimation.

Yes me too also have her Summer Cooking book and one book that she bought out years ago ,Evening Standard cooking book.

This new book arrived this morning...b*gger I wish I hadnt ordered it now after reading all the comments Never mind.

I don't think I'll be buying it. Its for people with more money than me. People like me on a limited budget can't afford to "cheat" in the way delia describes. I have no problem with buying pre-cooked or prepared food like tins of beans, tuna or boxes of instant mash (emergencies) but I don't see any reason for cooking with entirely with preprepared/cooked items. Some of these so called "cheat" items aren't exactly time saving imo and definitely not wallet saving.

If you don't enjoy it,you can always stick up for sale on either Amazon or Ebay or Play.com.

Oh Yes! Thanks stud

I won't be buying it, I enjoy cooking from scratch and I think "time restriction" is a poor excuse. I work full time with a 2 hour commute each day and still cook from scratch.

i brought it today and a copy for a friend. you dont have to follow the recommendations in the book you know it dosnt mean you cannot do the recipes.

i think its a nice and cheap priced cook book and there are a few things (like frozen roast potatoes) that i buy, that i can now make more appealing.