Cooking good food from scratch is a skill that can save you money, keep you healthy, and make you and your family and friends happy. What I've tried to do in this book is pick a whole load of meals that we all love to eat and break them down to make them as simple as possible. There are plenty of clear instructions and step-by-step pictures, so whether you're an accomplished cook or a complete beginner, you'll be able to enjoy cooking and achieve great results in the kitchen.
This book is inspired by all the people I've met who thought they could never and would never learn how to cook. I believe that good home cooking is one of the most essential, fundamental skills that every single person on this planet should have in order to look after themselves, their families, and their friends. This food revolution is all about people learning how to make a recipe, then teaching that recipe to their friends and family . . . if enough people do this, pretty soon everyone will be cooking. So cook something today, then PASS IT ON!
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Jamie Oliver grew up in his parents' country pub, the Cricketers in Clavering, where he started cooking at the age of eight, before studying at London's Westminster Catering College. He then went on to work with some of the top chefs in England namely Antonio Carluccio at the Neal Street Restaurant and Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Caf . The author of such popular titles as The Naked Chef, Jamie's Kitchen, and Jamie's Italy, among others, he has written for the Saturday Times , served as Food Editor at GQ and Marie Claire magazines, and hosted the popular television show "The Naked Chef." He is thirty-three and lives in London with his wife Jools and their daughters, Poppy and Daisy.
Product Details
Hardcover: 360 pages
Publisher: Hyperion; Later Printing edition (October 13, 2009)
Jamie Oliver started cooking at his parents' pub, the Cricketers, in Clavering, Essex, at the age of eight, and has gone on to work with some of the world's top chefs. He founded Fifteen restaurant in London and the associated charity, Fifteen Foundation, which continues to train disadvantaged young people to become chefs. There are now three other Fifteen restaurants in the world: Cornwall, Amsterdam and Melbourne. Jamie has also launched a chain of high street restaurants in the UK called Jamie's Italian. In 2005 Jamie led a campaign to improve the quality of school dinners in the UK and, through the Feed Me Better movement, caused the government to substantially change its policy towards school food. Jamie continues to write for publications in the UK and around the world, including his own magazine, Jamie Magazine. He lives in London and Essex with his wife, Jools, and their daughters, Poppy, Daisy and Petal.
My husband has food sensitivities, so I've been cooking at home for a long time. I mainly bought this book to generally support the movement and see what Jamie Oliver was up to with the Food Revolution. I didn't expect to really find many--if any--recipes that I would be able to use. But I did.
The good: * TONS of photos. Every single recipe has photos, both of the finished dish and of the preparation. Yay! * He doesn't just give you the recipe (add 2 onions, chopped). He walks you though the process (Chop two onions and set aside). So you can usually cook as you read the recipe. * He tells you what to serve with the recipes, and the recipes for suggested sides are in the book. Yay! * Many of the recipes can be easily adapted for allergen-free cooking. My husband is senstive to gluten, corn, dairy, honey, legumes, and some nuts. That's a long list, and I was still able to adapt several recipes. * He offers recipes for all meals: breakfast food, lunch food, suppers, desserts. You could use this as your only cookbook. * The dessert section is amazing. We generally don't eat dessert in our house...at all. I think sugar makes you want more sugar, and it's a nasty cycle. But these desserts, while clearly luscious, include a lot of healthier stuff in the preparation, like fruit and oats. And the photos depict appropriate serving sizes. They look very elegant. I'm glad I'll have something wholesome to serve when company visits.
The not so good: * There isn't any nutrition data for the recipes * Some of the recipes, while simple, can take some real time to prepare (fine by me, but I'm not trying to whip together dinner in a frenzy when I get home from work) * Many of the recipes serve 2 people.... Which is fine, but it took me some time to adapt. I've purchased ingredients for a recipe only to realize later that I didn't get enough.
In the end, the recipes are quite good. These are not recipes that will show up in Gourmet magazine. And they won't all make the list of the world's healthiest foods either. There are several comfort food recipes...spaghetti, stew, cheesy pastas, roasts. But overall, I'm pleased. Even experienced cooks will be able to find some things of interest here. And this is an awesome collection for someone trying to transition to real food from a diet full of McDonald's and pizza rolls.
Update: I've cooked several more recipes from this book since I wrote this review, and I am growing more and more pleased. At first I blew off some of the recipes; I thought I didn't need another recipe for roasted chicken. But I made it, and it's great. I have cooked many recipes from the book now, and so far nothing has flopped. This is the only cookbook I own that I can say that about.
Update #2: I'm still cooking from the book all the time. I'm a complete convert. I've purchased copies for other family members now...even for my total foodie of a father-in-law. We are all fans, and the majority of my everyday recipes now come from Jamie Oliver. Everyone knows I'm a Jamie Oliver fanatic now, so when people like something I cook they don't ask, "Where did you get the recipe?" They ask, "Is this from Jamie Oliver?" I've become a proselytizer for the book. And still, after all this time, nothing has flopped.Read more ›
Jamie Oliver's cookbook is beautiful. It is full color, complete with step-by-step pictures and easy to follow traditional recipes but with a definite twist. Jamie's cooking hook is that the recipes are fairly quick, good for you and easy. So easy in fact, that Jamie has rounded up a bunch of every day folks who would never consider themselves cooks and challenged them to cook the recipes in his book. He challenged them by teaching them how to make the dishes. Jamie believes that non-cooks can cook these meals and proves it by including some of these folks, in full-color glossy glory, with their now-mastered meals!
The result is brilliant. The reader is tempted, inspired, and motivated, just as I was last Sunday, when I attempted "The Perfect Roast" on page 192. I followed the recipe to the letter and served my family a delicious roast dinner complete with horseradish sauce, p.210 and evolution cucumber salad p.114. (note to Jamie, as you suggested I improvised and added bacon bits to the cucumber salad and it was delish!)
You see, Jamie's cookbook has a challenge attached to it. He wants folks to start cooking again in their own kitchens! So... he challenges his readers to "pass it on." He asks readers to try some of the recipes in his book and then teach someone else the recipes and so on and so on and so on, you get the idea. Although I will probably skip signing that actual pledge which you can find on his website at [...] I will continue to try delicious recipes from this book and will pass them on to my friends and family.
Some of the other recipes that look terrific: Classic Tomato Spaghetti, p.43, Hardly Any Prep Shrimp Stir Fry, p.66, the entire Chopped Salad section p.120-p.125, Baked Creamy Leeks, p.123, and Pork Kabobs, p.238.... Oh heck, the entire cookbook is full of terrific recipes. The desserts, including the Mega Chocolate Fudge Cake, look pretty awesome, too. Jamie combines traditional cooking with conventional time and money constraints making this book a pleasure to work with. I also love that fact that Jamie tells us, with more gorgeous pictures, the equipment we will need to get back to cooking and the essential ingredients we will need to stock in the cupboard for cooking success. Cooking this Fall is going to be a breeze!Read more ›
So, in one of those odd publishing things... Jamie's cookbooks are released a year earlier everywhere in the world but the US. Since I spend much of my time in Bombay I have been cooking from this book since last November. Anyhow its awesome. The recipes are delicious (my favorite is the Chicken & Leek Stroganoff), easy to understand, and many are quick to make. There are pictures of all the food and detailed instructions. The book assumes nothing so anyone can really pick it up and make a great meal. The book also contains Jamie's trademark style and you can really hear his voice in the writing throughout the recipes and narrative. Jamie also encourages new cooks to play around (experiment) a bit and gives them strategies to do so - this is particularly evident in his evolution salads chapter. If you are a fan of Jamie Oliver this book will definitely not disappoint, it has been my go to cook book for most of the year. It would also make a great gift for your novice cook friend or a college student. Enjoy.
I have loved Jamie Oliver since he began his trek into the food world. This is his 12Th cookbook and probably one of his best. Jamie began his revolution in the UK where they have the highest obesity rate in Europe. Ready made meals make up 50% of the meals in England. Jamie wanted to change that life into simple, home cooked meals.
Now, Jamie has come to the US, Huntington, West Virginia. His mission is to show how to prepare simple, good food, made in the home. Jamie loves cream, butter and creme fraiche in his cooking. But if we eat well made meals in moderation,you will be fine. This is a cookbook for anyone, from the newbie to the most experienced. I love and collect cookbooks and this one is going to be used very often! Jamie hopes that once we know how to cook simple, economical, delicious meals that we will pass this knowledge on, and there is pledge to sign at the end of the book, if you are so inclined.
Upon opening this cookbook, you will be surprised to find the most wonderful photographs of the entire process of a recipe. The photographs lure you in and then the organization of the recipe makes it easy to complete. He starts off with a picture of the Essentials in every kitchen, and then we see a list of those essentials. What makes a meal? Jamie shows us and the book is organized around that question. We see pasta, stir-fries, curry, stews, roasts, and desserts. Twenty minute meals is a popular feature and even though that may extend to thirty minutes,it is delicious! Sweet and sour pork was my first recipe and it is so good and easy to prepare. Jamie's macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and crusty top, yum, yum. Various rice dishes and each recipe comes with photos to show the steps and the finished product.... Fish pie, comforting stews, dumplings, cottage pie and chocolate cake are all found in this cookbook. This is a cookbook that will catch your eye and once you have tasted your cooking, you will be convinced that Jamie Oliver knows how to bubble when it boils!
How useful is this for a single guy?? I'm a pretty decent cook, but find it frustrating when recipe books are aimed at cooking for a family. Like the idea of eating real food, but don't need to eat the same meal for a week.
