With husband retiring, and going back to work full-time myself, he has taken on cooking dinner at night. So, not so many reviews from the Ducks Guts in the future. However, he doesn't bake, and I have discovered I can't always face breakfast, or I am running late, so I needed something I could have in the freezer, didn't have too many fats or sugars and I could eat politely and quickly at my desk. This cake fits all the requirements, except possibly the sugar. It has a lot of natural sugar from the dried fruit, so it is still too sweet, but I"ll work on that. Very quickly made in the food processor, and bakes quicker then the suggested times, about 1/2 to 3/4 hour at 150 C, but my oven is a quick oven so I always drop the recommended temperature.
It is more like a pudding, but still manageable in slices. I don't like sultanas so I use mostly prunes, which meant I could cut out the oil, except for a genorous dollop to oil the tin. Generously fills a 20cm ring tin, or a small square slice tin. Freezes well.

The instructions were good, and the method simple, but the sauce didn't thicken. I think the problem was the cook, as I was nervous about pouring hot liquids into my 20+ year food processor, and didn't heat the vinegar and butter until it was foaming, as the recipe stated. It still tasted wonderful on steak.

This was surprisingly nice, and very easy to make. Putting the carrots through the food processor only took a couple of minutes, and the onions, although taking longer then I expected, only need minimal attention on the stove. However, my onions didn't drain easily, to the extent that in the end I had to squeeze the flavoured oil out with my hands. It isn't the prettiest of salads, and needs some decorating, a sprig or two of mint perhaps, or edible flowers. No tweaking was needed, which is a nice change.

The other half thought this was wonderful, and worth doing again. Made it with beef, as I don't eat pork, and used a spoonful of homemade sambal oelek instead of the chiles (South American ingredients aren't that easy to find in Melbourne). The cooking method is unusual, simmering the meat first, and then browning it, but it did work. I would have doubled the Mexican oregano and cumin next time, but husband said definitely not.
Pressure cooker 12 mins on high, natural release, 1 cup of water was enough in my pc.
At the end there was a little too much liquid for our liking, so I threw in the frozen peas that I was going to serve with it, and that worked.

Simple but good, mostly due to the use of fresh parsley and lemon thyme. The recipe only specifies thyme, but I was getting tired and didn't want to defrost a lemon so cheated. It didn't have any egg, just a little butter and milk, so it was safe to make it the night before cooking the turkey, and leave it in a sealed container in the fridge (not in the turkey!)
Doubled the amount for a small turkey.
And it's not seasoning, it's stuffing. Had to update the books index again.

Worked well, despite my initial doubts about the sugar and yoghurt. You cannot taste the sugar, and the meat did sort of brown in the yogurt. I didn't have any garam masala, and resorted to a bought curry powder but fortunately it didn't end up tasting like curried egg sandwich, which is what it first smelt like.
Cooked in the pressure cooker, 12 minutes on high with natural release and 250 ml water (more then the recipe). There was no sauce, so I only just scraped it in with the water.

Only used 2 chillies, Thai chillies, and used pressure-cooked dried chickpeas instead of tinned. We had it just with plain rice, and it really needed another dish, preferably containing yoghurt. Easy to make, but make sure you have everything ready, as once you start cooking, it is a quick process, just like a stir-fry.

After reading lemonadesandwich's review, I had to try them, and they were excellent. Very easy to make, and the batter really did bubble up in an hour (I find yeast has a very poor concept of recipe time, as I usually let it rise without any heat source). No messy beating of eggs. We had them at dinner, with ice-cream and home grown raspberries and tayberries. Wonderful!

Mild in flavour, but it might have been better if I had chosen one of the other additional ingredients, rather then potatoes, such as the sour cherries or quinces suggested.

Not very spicy, but we like spicy food. I browned the meat, adding the baharat spice mix in the last batch, rather then follow the instructions exactly. The last time I didn't fry the spices, the family said the spices tasted "raw" in the finished dish.
Made it with beef, as lamb would have been too expensive.

This was the recipe I was looking for, in an attempt to make water crackers. They were very plain and crunchy, most suitable for cheese.

The pasta maker was a necessary piece of equipment in making them, as otherwise a lot of time would have been spent rolling and re-rolling the mixture. The instructions said to fold and roll 8 or 9 times, just like puff pastry, but instead the pasta machine did the trick, just putting it through like pasta dough until it was smooth.

The first batch I rolled to the second thinnest setting on my machine, and they were perfect. Then I read the instructions, and the biscuits were suppose to be 5mm thick, so I made the next batch on the thickest setting, with the end result that they puffed up like little balloons. Interesting, but tricky to keep the cheese on.

Made this with pumpkin instead of cauliflower, and it worked quite well. The method seemed a bit odd, and I ended up cooking the chicken and pumpkin together, and for quite a bit longer then the stated 10 minutes. It was cooked after 10 minutes, but it hadn't developed a "stewy" aspect. A poor way of putting it, but I can't think of a better. This recipe (or, rather, the book), had no recipe for the fulful bhar spice mix other than a vague description, so I ended up googling baharat spice recipe (a suggested alternative) and using the one on http://www.gourmetfoodsource.net/baharat.htm. Rather annoying. Also next time I would double the spices but I like spicy food.

A very good beef and black bean sauce recipe. I used mince steak this time, as we had a large amount of mince in the freezer, and it worked well. Also, I use the black bean garlic sauce in the jar, not the fermented black beans, even though the author says not to, but I have cooked with it for years and it works for me. Served it on stir-fried greens, not rice noodles, as I already had two white dishes, and it saved cooking a separate dish for the greens.

A good way to serve cauliflower, and very easy to make. This time I tried blanching the cauliflower as suggested, as I was trying to get as many dishes on the table at once as i could, and it did work. I also used supermarket stock powder, which made it a little salty, combined with the bacon.

Disappointing. Possibly if I hadn't read the paragraph at the start of the recipe, I wouldn't have expected so much, but I certainly wouldn't sneak out of the house for this. I used tinned chickpeas, and had to double the cooking time to get them close to the mushy stage that I prefer, but that is the cook, not the recipe.
I might try the recipe again, but will be prepared to tweak it substantially. Also, 5 tablespoons of oil is way too much for frying the onions. Possibly the recipe is just showing its age / era.

I really didn't like this, but to be fair, I had forgotten to add the chili, so when I took it to work for lunch the next day, it was so bland as to be inedible. I don't think I will try this again, but it might work as a side dish to a spicier mains.

OK, but nothing to rave over, even substituting chicken stock for the vegetable stock.

Feels very odd, reviewing this recipe, bit like reviewing one's mother. Anyway, it is excellent for guests that turn up without warning, even when made with powdered milk. Today I added a chopped up very ripe banana, which received a tick from all. Usually I serve it with jam, or lemon and sugar, or even just plain butter. Also known as pikelets in other cookbooks.

A cheats review, as this is really one of my sister's recipes, but over the years it has turned up at many a family picnic. Good to eat, easily assembled out of a cooler, and the dressing travels well in a jam jar.

Made this with weak beef stock instead of white wine, and it was thought good by the rest of the household. If I make it again will tweak the paprika a bit. Also, I wouldn't make this without the pressure cooker.

Good if you like lily flowers. I used chicken stock instead of water, as soups made with water can be a bit flavourless I find. Also didn't do the knot tying after the first 5 or 6. It does look better if the lily flowers are tied in knots, but I was running out of time.

Really more a note to myself to try this one again, as I made a lot of sustitutions, so it is not a true review. Substituted beans with dried beancurd sticks (they were getting close to their use-by date), lamb shoulder chops with left-over roast lamb, water with vegetable stock, tomatoes with bottled tomatoes, and left out the parsley, cilantro and lentils. Also, this is a good one for the pressure cooker, browning the meat and onions then adding all the rest, except for the orzo, and cooking on high pressure for 10 minutes. Then I added the soup pasta and cooked for another 10 minutes un-pressurized.

Husband thought that there was a little too much cinnamon, so next time will only use 1/2 teaspoon.

The lemon wedges are definately needed.

Good, despite not having butter, buttermilk, yoghurt or fetta cheese. The oil, vintage chedder and milk with vinegar worked fine. Used half a standard sized pumpkin. Will definately make this one again.

Even substituting the suet with smoked pork, it was still a very very ordinary dish. However, I will be making it again -why? To add to spaghetti bolognaise. Seriously, only a tiny amount was eaten, so the husband-cook mixed what was left in the pot into the sauce he was making, and it was a definate improvement. The beans add an extra rich smoothness to the sauce, and being already tomato & smoked meat flavoured themselves, not too plain beany in taste.

The recipe looked wonderful but the end result was too bitter for one member of the family to eat. I remembered afterwards reading somewhere not to use undiluted wine in stews & casseroles as it would make the dish bitter, and they are right. In "The French Kitchen" the author states that wine is normally broken down with water or stock since it is highly acidic. Also, I cooked it in the oven covered, and I am sure the alcohol didn't totally burn off. Took the leftovers to work the next day for my lunch and spent the next half hour feeling slighly intoxicated.

Good, despite having a 1/3 teaspoon of smoked paprika added in by mistake, as well as the allspice (bottles look identical to each other). Took 3 hours at 80 C (trying out the low temperature cooking method). Quinces are scary to core, so cooked them in the microwave first for a couple of minutes so that the knife wouldn't slip on the hard flesh.
Forgot to say that I also added in the quinces as the same time as the meat. From past experience, quinces can take longer then you expect. I also used ghee instead of butter - butter tends to burn when browning meat, I find, but that is probably the cook.

This is the recipe that I always use for pesto. Wonderful and freezes well. Be very careful browning the pine nuts as they burn if you walk away from the stove, even if just for a minute.

Excellent, very detailed instructions on how to make your own pasta. She gives methods for either making it fully by hand, or else by using a food processor and a hand-crank pasta machine. I use a Kitchen Aid now to make the dough, but have used the food processor instructions in the past and still use them as a guide whenever I make pasta (not as often as I should) and always use the pasta machine instructions, rather then the ones that came with the machine.

Comfort food, easily made in emergencies, and cheering to eat. This is the type of recipe you only have to make once, and after that you can make it from memory with subsitutions. I always brown the sausages first, just because we prefer them that way and certainly don't skin them.

Another good recipe for ingredients that will keep a while (helps if you only want to shop once a week or fortnight). I only use 1 onion instead of the 2 cups of chopped onion and often only use ordinary strong chedder for the cheese, but it still works. I also change the method around a bit, cooking the peas and bacon seperately to the pasta and then mixing it all together just before serving. I find cooking the pasta with the peas and bacon as she recommends makes it very slightly gluggy, but that is a personal preference.

I substitute a 85g tin of flavoured tuna (lemon pepper or other) for the horse mackerel and mint for the shiso leaves. Its a good recipe.

Really nice. Comfort food in a lunch box.

We didn't like it, but I think this is personal taste, not the recipe.

I halve the sugar as otherwise it is very sweet. Also, half the recipe makes enough for 3 servings.

A great hit with the only person who took milk in her coffee. Fun to make.

Everybody liked this one. The mixture was too thick for my Sunbeam ice-cream maker to churn, so next time I will try substituting the half and half with full-cream milk instead.

No matter how tempting, do NOT cook the vegetables. Just follow the recipe (note to self).
Very good family pickles.

Very good recipe - this is the glace fruit type of fruitcake, with minimal flour.

Contributor: Geoff Janz. Very good family recipe. I don't like drumsticks, so a couple of breasts get thrown in as well. Reheats well.

Very good. I substituted spring onions for the red onion and it worked.

Lovely light soup. The lemon juice is essential and the chicken stock must be real - no stock cubes. Use a gentle heat or the microwave to re-heat.

A good dish. Works fine without the meat and with other vegetables.

Winter fare. Very good, but I only put a litre of water in at the most. Works well with gravy/stewing beef if you don't feel like oxtail.

Very good family dish. Easy, and as Ken Hom writes, you can substitute your own favorite ingredients.

Good, but I think the recipe from Wei-Chuan's "Chinese Cuisine" is better. Even that one, I have modified using a packet of "Soy Chicken Mix" from the Chinese shop and weighing the various spices / herbs in it. Some of them were a bit tricky to identify.
However, this is a good recipe and easy to make.

Nice, but not worth the effort. It's a good dish to make once, just for the history, but I haven't made it again.

Better as a snack. They are a lot of work, but they are worth it. Use the smaller European plums, a little bigger then cherry plums, and don't overbrown the breadcrumbs.

I've never had the lobster for the second half of this dish (too much of a coward), but the chicken is good.

Instead of commerical sweet and sour saouce, Chinese red vinegar works fine. I don't put the dried prawns in, although it probably would taste better with them.