Queezle_Sister's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
Jamie's Great Britain
By Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph - 2011
This is a British cookbook, designed for the european market. In fact, as of this review, it is not carried by Amazon's US store.
Perhaps because of its design for a different market, my group of Americans cooking from this as our cookbook club selection for Feb 2012 was at first put off by the book. Terminology seemed odd (we don't think of zucchini as courgettes, for example), amounts were typically provided as weights (and most club members do not have scales), and some ingredients were difficult to find (e.g. Lyle's golden syrup). However, once these initial difficulties were overcome, I think we were all delighted with the book. The five dishes we tried were all great, but the hand-down winner was the minted courgette soup.
The book covers a wide range of foods, including Indian foods and new takes on old standbys (Haggis, oat cakes, scones).
The cookbook is very appealing visually, too. Lovely whole-page photographs accompany the text. The recipes are laid out in an easy to follow manner, and the cookbook feels very friendly.