Customer Reviews
His best book yet! - By: BigBertha, 21 Jan 2008 
You know the drill, you see a cookbookin the shop, pick it up & browse through, see about 3 or 4 recipes that grab you & head for the checkout... Then, when you get home & cook a couple you find the rest of the book overly complicated & ultimately it gets tucked away with the rest of the Gordon's, Nigella's etc etc to gather dust. Not so with the latest offering from Mr Oliver... I've bought most of Jamie's books & I've tried a fair few of his recipes over the years, but this book contains the best selection yetin my opinion. I actually bought this particular one for my husband as he'd promised 2008 would be the year he finally learnt to cook more than beans on toast! But I've also found it really comprehensive & easy to follow too. Our favourite recipes so far are pan-roasted salmon with anchovy & rosemary sauce & the pan-fried sirloin steak with chianti butter & olive oil mash. We cooked both of these this weekend & they were amazing. So whether you like Jamie or not, buy this book - if we can cook the recipes & deal with our rather active 9 month old at the same time, anyone can!
....simple, effective, will impress your guests - By: Books forever, 31 Dec 2007 I am a big fan of the young chap. He used to drive me nuts with his mock East End ramblings, but he is the real deal. Charity begins at home, he really does what he says he believes in. This book is excellentin many respects:
- the sections are clear, to the point & give you good basic information on where the food comes from, how it is cut (for the meats) & the trick & tips are good
- the recipes turn out exactly as given- that's not always the case with cook books. I have cooked 90% of the recipes here & have shared them with many friends at the dinner table - they all love them
- it is not pretentious, & being Italo/Swiss-French livingin England I can appreciate this. Most restaurants or recipesin the UK "think" that my culture's cooking needs to be dressed up, detailed with exotic French words (which mean nothing) & presented as the height of elegance & unassailable. It's all rubbish.It's very ok to be "regional", to use food from the "terroir" & to think that your Mama's cooking is the best!
- the Italian cooking is true & pushes for fresh ingredients - that's what Italians want from their cooking
This books shows anyone that food is about fresh ingredients, preparing meals to share with other people - even it is just plain old pasta!
As time goes on he is becoming an old hand at this, but so far he has kept innovating & researching his cooking & his ingredients - he really does like his food.
Just a bit patronising - By: Lucy Parr, 15 Nov 2007 
Just a bit patronising for me. Not as good as his books that just focus on recipes. Bit disappointed, but he;s a millionaire so i;ll bet he won't be too upset!
Oliver is Coming of Age - By: Jon D, 13 Sep 2007 
Mr Oliver is a rare beast - a British popular chef who is bigin France. His books are translated & he even gets on TV. "School Dinners" even spawned an imitator - thisin a country where most children sit down to three course lunchesin the school canteen.
The book is written with great confidence, as though Oliver has really settled into the rôle of teacher, not just of Chef. Some of the recipes are just brilliant, my favourite being "Mad Moroccan Lamb" but I agree with the comments made already that the cake departement is a little wanting, which is the reason behind the four rather than five stars.
The accompanying photographs to each recipe are generally excellent - there's nothing like having a picture to compare your results against - but the diagrams of which cut comes from where on a cow, sheep, etc really could have been better.
I confess that I find the "wotcher mate!" style of some passages a little irritating. Oliver really no longer has any need to be a cult personality since he most certainly has arrived. A very worthwhile addition to the shelf, however. I imagine that the French market will love it.
Watch out for the lemons! - By: Kiki, 04 Sep 2007 Overall I found this book pretty good. It's got some lovely recipes & some great information about the food you are using. My one criticism is, he is a bit heavy on the use of lemons & garlic, to the point that I found some recipes almost inedible. It's easy enought to spot these recipes if you're an experienced cook, but not quite so for the less experienced. I find I use about a third of the garlic & lemons he suggestsin a lot of recipes & let experience giude mein the others.
