Some thoughts on cooking

Firstly, please don't take offence as the recipes here are really step-by-step - if you know how to cook, please just ignore the bits you already knew. But I have had feedback from children who have managed to cook following the recipes and I think that's well worth other people being a bit annoyed that I show how to chop up an onion...
I really don't want to exclude anyone and if by chance, someone who has never cooked will have a go at one of the recipes, then it was well worth it.

I love cooking - and I love preparing food from fresh ingredients. I do admit to the odd slip of a take-away curry - but apart from that, I do prepare a meal a day - from fresh ingredients. There are some exceptions of tinned / frozen stuff I use:

tinned chopped tomatoes
tinned tomato concentrate
dried lentils, chickpeas, etc.
dried spices - you can't grow everything throughout the year or you might not have a garden (like me). Some spices don't work dried, such as Basil - don't even bother with it. But it grows nicely on your window sill.
frozen peas
some tinned fish - macarel, herring, sardines ...

Tried and tested

I have also tried all recipes several times and the volumes, weights and cooking times given are accurate and work.

Apart from that, I try to get everything as fresh as I can - so I go food shopping on a daily basis. Not only does that provide the fresh stuff I want, but it also gives me the inspiration on what to cook on the day by looking at the available vegetables & meats.

Full Fat

Full fat yoghurt, milk and cheese - yes please! I don't use any reduced fat products in cooking - the stuff just doesn't taste right. Just eat a bit less.

Feedback and Rating

You can rate each recipe and leave feedback. I will only delete feedback if it contains unacceptable language - otherwise everything is left unmodified as submitted. I do have to take off a fair amount of postings and I find it hard to understand why people leave very insulting remarks - this is just a privately run site to share some recipes, no need to spill your bile here ...

Vegetarians & Vegans

I am not a vegetarian, neither am I a vegan. This site does not list any specifically vegetarian or vegan recipes. I absolutely love the veg boys leaving sour feedback on dishes like Spaghetti Bolognese because it contains meat. If you don't add meat, it's not the dish. Call it what you want, add tofu, but it won't be Bolognese. There are lots of sites for vegetarians, please just go there and don't leave silly feedback.

Salt Phobia

You need a certain level of salt in food if you don't want it to taste bland. Feel free not to add any salt to these recipes, but it won't taste right. Savoury food with a decent taste contains about 0.8 - 1% of salt by weight, and so do my recipes. I'm sure there are lots of web sites catering for the natrium chloride phobic amongst you, so please go there. And don't post comments on this site about the salt content of my recipes.

Religious Zealots

Alcohol has a boiling point of 72 degrees celsius ... that means if you cook the stuff, it evaporates. The only thing left is the taste of the red wine. Especially in my spaghetti bolognese recipe that simmers for 2 hours ;-) Let's calculate the alcohol content here. 2 hours simmering leaves about 5% of the alcohol in the dish. I add 1 glass of wine (0.15 litres), so we started off with 18 grams of alcohol, of which roughly 1 gram remains after simmering. The total mass of the cooked dish is around 1300 grams, so we will have an alcohol content of 0.07%. Fruit juice can have up to 0.1% of alcohol. Here is a link on the subject. If you feel that you still shouldn't use wine in cooking, how about just not adding the wine? This is not a web site for Halal cooking as much as it isn't a web site for vegan cooking. If you feel offended, how about searching google for Halal recipes?

10	i like that you mention religous zealots for spag bol lol i wondered about that didnt have any but the next time will try with red wine
10	Not only do i like the site - i also like your philosophy on food :) everything in life should be moderated - including moderation itself - else - "the stuff just doesn't taste right" eat lesser and work out more but truly good savory food can taste yuk in its "healthy, low fat low salt" form
10	Excellent site, thank you for all the hard work in building this excellent resource. Nick.
10	Love this site (ive bookmarked you :D). some new recipies i will be trying. and i LOVE you intro.
10	Very helpfull site. I'll bookmark it & come back many times i think
10	love to cook and always on the lookout for something new, plenty here to try.....thanks for sharing :0)
10	Great job and very useful information. Thanks a lot for sharing with us. D.P from London
10	very nice easy follow recipes taste nice, drank most of red wine
10	Thank you. Best cooking site on the internet. It's simple, the step by step photography and instructions helps a lot. Katherine from London
10	say it as it is top marks from me
9	I love your site and the recipes are really good to follow, I look forward to trying out more of them. Only thing i would say, is if you could get some more unusual recipes, for example: pumpkin soup or foreign dishes?
10	Can you do a good old meat and tate pie recipe, Preferably when the then meat is cooked in side the pastry, not just sat on top like the Steak and ale pie.Thanks . The Roast beef guide is spot on.
10	love your attetude haha - and the food looks yummy
10	Very easy to follow receipes,great site!
10	Well said on all of the above comments - I heartily agree with everything you have said and even as an experienced cook I love looking at your photos on this site and even posts links to you on the money saving expert site. keep up the good work you are helping a lot of people.
10	Wonderful site, especially for the culinary challenged folk of this world like me! Thank you very much for the your time and effort you have put in to it.
10	Fantastic, my husband of 34yrs had just started taking up cooking - and is doing VERY well, thanks to your site. Love the comments above btw.
10	Excellent post! Very helpful.
10	good to find a website that specifies amounts for minimum of one person as well as for more people us oldies dont eat like we used to!
10	good to find a website that specifies amounts for minimum of one person as well as for more people us oldies dont eat like we used to!
10	Great resource for people who require a visual aid.
10	Like your style. Salt is a requirement of a body, when working in hot climates. Also because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water the alcohol is removed. I like common sense.
10	I gotta say I love your take on the british classics you've honestly made me a better cook :D
10	Fantastically simple and well explained - with pictures!
10	Simple cooking but genuine, simple people but happy, can it be better?
10	excellent site,good to see down to earth natural people still exist.keep it up.
10	Thanks for your time! I love how you cater even for the people who don't know how to cook with your detailed and step by step instructions!! :D fabulous!!
10	Keep up the great work. I finally figured out how to get that roast vege taste thanks to your site!
10	Well said! Love this page...I will never understand people who feel the need to leave abusive feedback on the internet...sad!
10	Think this page is one of the best in the whole site! Love it :)
10	Brilliant! Just made the spaghetti bolognese, I am a very inexperienced cook but I am trying to make an effort. The recipe was easy to follow and the meal was a big hit with all the family, going to try another one tomorrow! Thanks
5	you need to be a bit more precise with your writing!
10	too the point, really refreshing I#m not a cook, but might start following your dishes, I'm not much of a meat eater, and diabetic and need to lose weight, but common sense and using my imagination in following your dishes should be simple. Thanks, I'll bookmark this site and send it to a few other people too.
10	Thank you very simple and easy to use,now at least i get complimented.
10	Thanks for the spaghetti recipe! it tastes great!
10	I egree with you wholeheartedly, can not understand myself why people use abusive language especially on internet.
10	Thank you for this site, im new to cooking and scoured the web for ideas and easy to use recipes, yours is by far the best. I am on my fourth dish tonight,
10	This site is fantastic!I could sit all day and read your recipes.....please please keep up the good work.
10	YOU RIGHT! WE ALL HAVE A FREE WILL - IF SOMEONE DOESNT LIKE WINE, SALT, MEAT...etc - DONT USE IT(this certaintly means the food wouldnt taste as gOOd! )
10	Love the attitude. Love the recipes too. I tried the Bolognese recipe before commenting here. Asbolutely amazing. I could not believe I could cook Bolognese so well. Thank you and keep up good work. -- Guppydas from India.
10	The bolognese recipe rocked my socks off!!! Keep up the good work! Your introduction is very entertaining too :)
10	Well done on your recipes and comments re: Vegan/Halal and stupid comments by posters ! Keep up the good work. Have you in my favourites to refer to regularly ! Gez, London
10	This is amazing, I tried the Bolognese last night and now am searching for a new recipe. Your explanation is perfect and I also like that you can choose the metric units. Thanks!! Andreas, Cyprus
10	this is a great site, keep it up AW london
10	I like the look of this well presented, mouth watering site. Looking forward to Spag Bol later.
10	love your site, thank you.
10	Don't know why there are some incredibly insulting comments. Just finished making this recipe. It's absolutely wonderful! Thank you!
10	Straightforward common sense. Looking forward to seeing some more of your recipes soon!
10	i dont like pizza my daughter made your pizza i like pizza
10	A genuinly addictive introduction to the thought of cooking for the first time in a serious manner knowing that health and ethics are well defined for the potential cook? well done, bring on the spag bol.