Cookbooks

Ok, I admit it, I LOVE cookbooks! I've been to cookbooks anonymous, I've tried counselling, but late at night scrolling through a certain rainforest named app, I'm drawn to them. The beautiful pages filled with delicious recipes from the world's greatest chefs, every cuisine you can think of, available at the click of a button. All designed to turn you into a culinary master. What's not to like.

The photo above shows the ones that have made my bookcase and are used on a regular basis. The photo of shame would show the many many more sitting redundant in the cupboard. Never opened, never thought about, collecting dust. There are books for creating Paleo recipes, Soups, smoothies, low fat meals in minutes, low GI recipes, mug cakes, learning to bake and possibly the most random is the Jewish cookbook (I'm not even religious!). These are the one's that have survived the periodic charity shop cull.

So, I think this demonstrates well that you don't need a vast collection of cookbooks. If you go out for a lovely Vietnamese meal, resist the urge to buy a Vietnamese cookbook as soon as you get home. However, it also demonstrates that having a few cookbooks can be a really good thing. You can get ideas for dinners much easier flicking through a cookbook than trawling the internet.

It does beg the question, how to choose the books to buy. Here's a few tips that might help;

• Choose books that either give you a range of cuisines or are focused on cuisines that the whole family loves so that you are more likely to use them more often. It is no surprise that my shelves have plenty of Italian, South East Asian and Indian books.

• Make sure that you buy books that are for your level/style of cooking. There really is no point buying the Masterchef books if all you want to cook is simple quick midweek family meals.

• Choose books from chefs that you have seen on TV and you like their style of cooking. It could be the Hairy Bikers, Jamie Oliver or Gino D'Acampo. If you like what they cook on TV, you're more likely to like what's in their books.

• Buy second hand. There are a number of second hand online book retailers who sell books cheaply and often in very good condition. There really is little need to pay full price for the latest books. I recently bought a Rick Stein Indian book online for £4 including delivery. Amazing value!

• Consider subscribing to magazines. I have had subscriptions to Olive and BBC Good Food magazines and they come packed with recipes each month. You can often get good deals on subscriptions and if you have Tesco points, you can use them to pay.

  As mentioned, I do have many many cookbooks, but here are a few that I love and use on a regular basis (all paid for so no advertising, just my honest view!).

• Anything by the Hairy Bikers. I just love these guys and the way that they cook. So sad about the passing of Dave Myers. Their TV shows and cookbooks have a broad range of recipes across many cuisines and they are all easy to cook. I recently bought their "Best of" book and it's used most weeks.

• Marcus Waring - Everyday. This is another family friendly book, with some really simple, quick mid week recipes. It also has some more involved recipes if you're looking to expand you skills.

• Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. As a curry lover this is just the best. It lists almost every curry that you can think of from around the world. It is no nonsense, not a huge amount of pictures, but filled with amazing recipes. My favourite is the Burmese Chicken curry.

• Diana Henry - Simple. The title says it all. This is a selection of really simple to cook, but delicious recipes. There are a wide variety of cuisines so there is something for everyone.

• Ping Coombes - Malaysia. I mentioned that we like SE Asian food and this is my favourite book and our go to for that style of food. The Hakka Mee is to die for!

• Marcella Hazan - The Essential of Italian Cooking. If you like Italian food then this is your bible. Over 700 pages of every traditional Italian recipe that you will ever need. There are no pictures, just page after page of Italian foodie goodness.

• Pinch of nom. There are a number of these books and we have 2 of them. I really like the way that they are focused on being slightly more healthy utilising healthier ingredients. There is also a "Fakeaway" section in most of the weeks so you can make healthy versions of what you might otherwise buy in on a Friday night.

• Jamie Oliver - Comfort Food. Love or hate Jamie, he is prolific in his release of cookbooks. The Comfort food book is focused on hearty food and is a blend of really simple recipes (love the curry prawn pot noodle) to more involved recipes which require time, effort and a conversation with your butcher. Pick and choose what you like, but I'm sure that there is something for everyone.

  In summary, I firmly believe that having a few carefully selected cookbooks on the shelf to browse through when you are thinking about dinner ideas is a great thing. However, choose carefully and use second hand sellers to find some bargains!