Completely Perfect: 120 Essential Recipes for Every Cook

by Felicity Cloake

'The nation's taster-in-chief title belongs unequivocally to Felicity Cloake' Daily Mail From the Guardian 'How to Make' columnist and author of an essential compilation of the best tried-and-tested versions of your favourite classic recipes How can I make deliciously squidgy chocolate brownies? Is there a fool-proof way to poach an egg? Does washing mushrooms really spoil them? What's the secret of perfect pastry? Could a glass of milk turn a good bolognese into a great one? Felicity Cloake has rigorously tried and tested recipes from all the greats - from Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith to Nigel Slater and Simon Hopkinson - to create the perfect version of hundreds of classic dishes. Completely Perfect pulls together the best of those essential recipes, from the perfect beef wellington to the perfect poached egg. Never again will you have to rifle through countless different books to find your perfect roast chicken recipe, mayonnaise method or that incredible tomato sauce - it's all here in this book, based on Felicity's popular Guardian columns, along with dozens of invaluable prepping and cooking tips that no discerning cook should live without.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food and Drink

496 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2018

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really useful book. It is a collection of Cloake's Guardian columns, but in some cases they have been updated or corrected. This is a great place to start if you need a tried and tested recipe for commonly made dishes. The instructions are very clear. No illustrations.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely Perfect is a collection of Felicity Cloake’s recipes from her column in The Guardian, How to Cook the Perfect... Felicity takes the hard work out of finding a recipe by combining the best parts of different versions of a recipe to create the perfect product. I was a little bit uncertain of this book to start with as I’m used to the standard format of a cookery book with pictures of the finished recipe. This book has no photographs at all, just a few drawings but instead it has a narrative with each item explaining why it has been made that way. The recipes are delightfully simple and sound really delicious and I can’t wait to get started cooking them. I intend to buy the physical book as I believe this will become a much referred to guidebook!

[Heather Nazmdeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, informative, well-written - not always what you get with a cookery book. This is a delight to read and will definitely help with my cooking skills.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect ... love this reference and ‘how to’ cook perfectly cookbook. Ideal kitchen accompaniment and guide for my two inexperienced (ok, lazy) cooks.
My only quibble is the lack of any real life photo pics, but has cute illustrations throughout.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have been 5 stars, but there was no coq au vin recipe, and the use of 8 Kashmiri chillies in the Goan fish curry made it almost inedible (will go with 4 next time!) Apart from this, some great staple recipes and I’m sure I’ll be using the book a lot.

[John Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felicity Cloake and the Hairy Bikers produce foolproof recipes. Her beef stew is simply devine.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything in this book: the style of writing, how it guides you through different recipes more or less complex, and the lovely illutstration.
It's perfect if you want to learn to cook or if you want to check other way of cooking something you already did according to "mama" :)
I want to try some of the recipes as I really liked them.
A very good reference, highly recommended!
Many thanks to Penguin Books (UK) and Netgalley for this ARC