Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways are the Best - Over 700 Recipes Show You Why

I have a collection of close to 700 cook books: regional American (lots of New England), British Isles including mainland Scotland and all the various island groups (Shetlands, Outer and Inner Hebrides, Orkneys, and European, as well as cookbooks from a lot of different islands. In that collection there are a few cookbooks which are on a kitchen counter where my absolute favorites are shelved. FORGOTTEN SKILLS has a prominent spot as does Marian Armitage's SHETLAND COOKING. MRS APPLEYARD's various cookbooks (which I treasure for the narratives as well as the recipes) is along side various books by Irma Rombauer, Marion Cunningham, Elizabeth David, Julia Child, Richard Olney, and Penelope Casas and others. I have lots of books about fruit, vegetables, fish, and baking, even books about cooking at sea, and cooking with sea weed or foraged food. I could go on and on. FORGOTTEN SKILLS has all that and more. It is packed with detailed recipes and instructions including lots of side bar type information, wonderful anecdotes, and clear photos, This cook book is a winner!

This cookbook applies to all home cooks to professional chefs who want to learn the forgotten skills that have been ignored and neglected over the past 60 years because of modernity, time and how delicious these recipes came out. I think Industrialization, modern way of cooking has wasted a lot of resources and ingredients on how we cook today. As a chef or a line cook, we must NOT waste a lot of fresh ingredients that are supplied us to cook, bake. We even use scraps on baking and use other ingredients for salads, and cooking other dishes. Knowledge and know-how is perhaps valuable on today's age. I am glad Darina Allen and her crew have maintained their ethos cooking Irish food in ways that are possible for today. Even using scraps for recipes. Some of the equipment can be bought from eBay, auction, antique shop or a nearby farm either the old-fashioned way or online.That's why I considered this cookbook so valuable to all new cooks, amateur, advanced cooks, line cooks to professional chefs to get a copy of this book and learn these techniques to use these, and not waste ingredients. But if its rotten, it must be discarded and thrown out.HIghly recommend getting a copy of this cookbook for your kitchen library.

I recently received my copy of Darina Allen's "Forgotten Skills of Cooking". It is so much more than what I was expecting! I love Darina Allen's books and have been a fan for some time. My husband gave me her "Irish Country Cooking" as a gift years ago and I was hooked from then on."Forgotten Skills .." is a very large, user friendly book that is beautifully produced and is a treat for the eyes as well as for the cook looking for recipes. The vast amount of information is exceptionally well presented -- broken down into very manageable sized 'bites', and arranged in logical order.As much as anything I was looking forward to the remembrances of her Irish youth [since we love all things Irish around here!] and here too the book exceeds expectations. Each sub chapter carries a section of memories, as well as they're being scattered throughout the recipes.I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book! The pictures alone are worth the price of purchase! But its appeal is far broader than just pictures.

I am absolutely in love with this cookbook! Being 95% Irish I have always been fascinated with traditional Irish dishes and this book is full to the brim with them! This book is for those like myself who want to abandon the modern way of feeding our families with processed, store bought foods and get back to the healthy way of feeding those we love with real foods that we've procured and prepared ourselves- start to finish. If you're looking for 30 minute meals or shortcuts to get good, healthy food this is not the book for you.

I am still in shock that such a comprehensive, fantastic book exists. If I were to only have one cookbook on my shelf- this would be it.Nourishing Traditions has been my favorite 'back to basics' cookbook up until now- and I still love it but this by far takes the cake. Like NT it contains several recipes involving herbs and foraged foods and fruits, and gives attention to foods like bone marrow that have long been left out of the modern cookbook. Not only does it contain a huge amount of recipes but it also has a nice aesthetic appeal with its hardcover, purple silk bookmark, glossy pages and beautiful photographs.This book also gives homesteading tips without going into ridiculous detail- like how to care for chickens, how to smoke food, how to forage, how to clean a fish, diagrams of the cuts of meats of different animals, how to make beer.And on top of it all- there are short entertaining stories about the author's childhood- mistakes made while cooking and the sometimes delicious surprises that resulted from those mistakes.Any book that has recipes for dandelion wine and nettle soup has my vote but this goes above and beyond anything I could have dreamed up.

A marvelous compendium of how healthy food was once prepared by our grandparents and their ancestors. Make your own butter? A lot easier now with our kitchen machines. Darina Allen is a marvel. She quite literally presents us with the Culinary Wisdom of the Ages.

The book was as described, used with heavy wear. I knew this and am just so pleased with this gem, and it will receive TLC and many readings! Seller gave excellent customer service and prompt delivery. Very pleased!

Forgotten Skills of Cooking is a great book and a great read. It takes me back to my grandmothers home where doing for yourself, growing, raising, and providing your own necessities was the natural way of doing things, not buying inferior products in an attempt to shorten the process, whether it be for food, clothing or shelter or life.

What a wonderful book! If you like the concept of self sufficiency and good old fashioned cooking this is definitely the book for you.I was particularly interested in the section on cheesemaking but this is more than a recipe book - it is full of stories and tales of where these recipes came from as well as fond memories.Included is a section on foraging, which has become more popular in recent times.It is well laid out, and the recipes I have tried have been very successful so far!

I came across this title by chance. The author is not in the front rank of celebrity chefs. I ourchased a copy for myself three years ago and I have just (October 2013) purchased a copy as a gift. The title really says it all. Not only does it provide a wise range of straightforward recipes but more importantly it gives a wide range of techniques and lots of information about indicvidual ingredients and their uses. It concentrates on fresh fish, meat, vegetables and fruit such as are available within the British Isles and shows ;ittle or no interest in imported fresh or frozen items. Although I consider myself to be an experiened cook, I continue to refer to this book every few days of the three years that I have had it. Alhough one can always complain that it does not have everything in it that one might want, I recommend this book without hesitation to anyone that wishes to understand cooking with fresh seasonal ingredients rather than follow elaborate recipes from ego-tripping celebrity chefs.

I bought this some time ago and it is both a source of reference and a trip down memory lane. The recipes and techniques are easy to follow and rely on great (if inexpensive) ingredients and good flavours. Unfortunately, my daughter, who is a keen cook, spotted this in my kitchen and has liberated it so I have to buy myself another copy. Actually, I'm thrilled that she is using the ingredients that were so common when I was young but seem to have disappeared with the rise of the supermarket and almost instant cooking. The cheaper cuts of meat, flavoursome meats like mutton, hedgerow and other wild foods that were used as a matter of course when I was a new cook are all dealt with here without any of the trendiness that besets many recipe books. It's not about fashion, it's all about good food.

This is such a good book !I bought it for someone who has moved to Africa and finds getting dairy products other than milk hard to obtain.Darina Allen's book contain simple to follow instructions for making your own yoghurt,butter, soft cheeses which should make their diet a bit more varied.I should have liked more on preparation of hard cheeses, but since that requires considerable amounts of expensive equipment perhaps that is to be found in more specialist cook books.I found myself dipping into many other sections of the book all of which are clearly written and full of interesting unusual recipes and almost ended up deciding to keep it for myself, always a good sign when giving gifts.

Wish I had got this book years ago! It covers everything the recipes all work well. It's a good book to leave on the table to pick up whilst having a cuppa. Get good ideas useful information and history on some of the recipes. Love it don't just believe my words get a copy you won't regret it 😊👍