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| Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking | 
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| Author: Delia Smith
Creator: Photography Copyright John Kernick
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book
List Price: £20.00
Buy New: £9.99
You Save: £10.01 (50%)
New (41) from £6.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  146 reviews
Sales Rank: 62
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 7.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0091922291
EAN: 9780091922290
ASIN: 0091922291
Publication Date: February 15, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
some people don't seem to understand... May 2, 2008
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
Haha, this book seems to have spilt all the reviewers in half. But people don't seem to understand, Delia and every other cook/nutritionist want you to make the healthiest possible food from scratch, but they understand that with modern day living people don't always have time. So isn't it better to 'cheat' than to buy a ready meal? If you watch the video then you'll see that delia states who this cookbook is for. Real cooks won't need this book, but real people will.
The question is how good are the recipes?
 What does this woman think we have been doing? April 29, 2008
9 out of 22 found this review helpful
Well thank you Delia for giving us all "permission" to "cheat". I mean it isn't as if generations of people have been slaving over Carrier, Craddock, Roux or Ramsey receipes every night is it?
This book would be better described as an accompaniment to her comedy series of the same name.
 Came upon it by accident April 28, 2008
48 out of 55 found this review helpful
I came upon this book after reading two other books which led me to the genre: "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater, and the hilarious take-off on cookbooks called "Barring Some Unforeseen Accident" which actually has a cookbook in it, just probably not anything you're going to want to make.
Delia Smith's DELIA'S HOW TO CHEAT AT COOKING hit the spot for me mainly because my life is always a mess and I need quick and easy ways to make things--foods that are different from the same things i've been eating for years.
Granted, there's been a bit of hoopla about the ingredients she suggests, but I've had no problem finding them or thinnking they're unhealthy. Delia doesn't profess this to be a "gourmet" experience, so if you're looking for that, go elsewhere. It is what it is---a book for people who want to cheat at cooking, hence the "tinned" lamb. If you had the time or wanted gourmet cooking, you wouldn't be buying this book anyway! Basically, I enjoyed trying out 95 percent of what's here. But then, I've never gotten a cookbook where I've wanted to make every single dish.
I'd highly recommend this along with FRUGAL FOOD.
 I really don't know what I think about Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking April 28, 2008
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
I really don't know what I think about Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking - so bear with me as I attempt to untangle my thoughts. For a cookery book to have created as much controversy is no mean achievement, but then this is Delia. So what is it all about and why on earth do we care?
Dealing with the last point first - don't forget this is Delia we're talking about. For anyone who learnt to cook under her guidance on TV and/or through her books, she is special, trusted and revered. So if you heard her on Radio 4's Today programme saying she "didn't do" organic, was just a mere cook as confused as anyone and unqualified to talk about the politics of food, you must have felt aghast and, and I don't exaggerate here, betrayed. Was she being disingenuous? Could she really mean it? As far as the book is concerned, she was aiming to get people cooking who lacked the time or skills. And apparently, in spite of the endless TV cookery programmes (pace Jamie, Gordon, Nigella etc) it still wasn't happening.
I'm not sure that is totally true but even if you ignore such a bald statement, you have to ask whether Cheat realises its stated aim. Looking at the recipes, you have to ask whether this is really cooking. It strikes me as far more like assembling - further de-skilling a process that does demand certain skills, no matter how Delia might protest otherwise. What then is the price of de-connecting with your food? First you have to buy ready-cooked crispy smoked bacon, tins of minced lamb or chunky chicken in white sauce (M&S) or Aunt Bessie's Homestyle frozen mashed potato. But how do they compare in nutritional values and cost with fresh, unprocessed alternatives? The answers are left by Delia hanging in the air.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for cheating - and there are some good ideas here. I suspect however that popping out to three supermarkets just to get Delia's Cheat ingredients for her Good old shepherd's pie is not one of them - however time-poor or de-skilled you are. Actually I'm just not comfortable with the use of highly processed, dubiously sourced tins or packets and then to name the manufacturers.............but no I don't believe she took a penny from any supermarket or manufacturer for this book - that's too awful to contemplate. No wonder I feel betrayed. The only conclusion I can draw is that Delia has abandoned me and gone on to audiences new .......and it hurts.
Ingredients NOT Available in Ireland April 26, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Hi I live in Kildare in Ireland and I found that obtaining the ingredients used in the recipes in this book impossible to source locally even though we have a range of stores such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
I would find it hard to judge the book but only to say that it does not appear to be designed for use outside the UK, were I can only assume these products are easily obtainable.
On this I would not recommend this book to anyone in Ireland although I do enjoy Delia's other books and rate them highly.
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