Cooking with Mary Berry: Simple Recipes, Great for Family and Friends

by Mary Berry

150 everyday recipe favorites from the star judge of the ABC series The Great Holiday Baking Show and the PBS series The Great British Baking Show.

Cooking with Mary Berry covers a broad selection of recipes-brunch ideas, soups, salads, appetizers, mains, sides, and desserts-drawing on Mary's more than 60 years in the kitchen. Many, like her French Onion Soup, Steak Diane, and Cinnamon Rolls, are familiar classics, but all have been adapted to follow Mary's prescription for dishes that are no-fuss, practical, and foolproof. Step-by-step instructions, tips, and tricks make following in the footsteps of Britain's favorite chef easy, and full-color photographs of finished dishes provide inspiration along the way.

Perfect for cooks who are just starting out-and anyone who loves Mary Berry-the straightforward yet special recipes in Cooking with Mary Berry will prove, as one reviewer has said of her recipes, "if you can read, you can cook."

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference

567 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2016

About the author

There are multiple authors in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mary Berry is an English food writer and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she went to college to study catering. She then moved to France at the age of 21 to study at Le Cordon Bleu school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.

She has published more than seventy cookery books (her first being The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook in 1970) and hosted several television series for the BBC and Thames Television. Berry is an occasional contributor to Woman's Hour and Saturday Kitchen. She has been a judge on the BBC One (originally BBC Two) television programme The Great British Bake Off since its launch in 2010.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Would actually cook stuff from this book if I ever buy it in the future. A good checkout from the library. I hoped these were actually her recipes and not just some Merry-Be-Berry way for Mary to make some quick cash.

[CC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I'm giving this 4 stars because I love Mary Berry, not for the actual book. It has no real focus to speak of -- it's just all over the place, thematically. Winter, spring, daytime, night.

I might try a few of these recipes (tuna and fennel pasta bake sounds like the comfort food I love), but, as it happens, most of the recipes are of the basic American variety. I'd hoped the recipes would be "British." Aside from Chelsea buns, it's all pork chops, lasagna, pot roast, an occasional seared tuna steak.

I love The Great British Bake Off though, and hope she'll be back with another show soon. I love it that she's eighty and her mere presence incites bakers on the show to want to please her.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 257 pages of this all inclusive cookbook.

Many techniques, including filleting fish, how to fix eggs and vegetables.

Appetizers including spicy chicken wings and spicy meatballs and Hummus.
The turkey mole looks interesting. They are many fish recipes.

One of my favorite vegetables, creamed spinach.

Most of the desserts have fruit in them.

There are also many good bread recipes.

You could also say this is the only cookbook you really need.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book but no recipes I'd actually try. Thought it would be "more British" and have more of her famous desserts.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Just a review of the book, haven't tried any of the recipes yet)

I love Mary Berry. Love, love, love. And if I knew an 18 year old heading off to college that adored the Great British Bake-Off and needed a cookbook, this would be a fine example of one. As with all Dorling Kindersley volumes, there's quite a few photos, and easy-to-read text.

I thought the instructions in the front for filleting a fish were a bit at odds with the level of direction provided in some of the recipes--not much in the way of temperatures for meat doneness, that sort of thing. But: a good start.

(Also, I did copy her recipe for Cherries Jubilee, because I still dream of the day where I can hold a party for dragons like Cimorene).

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read cookbooks not just for the recipes but for the stories and the personality of the author. Not a lick of Mary Berry in this one. Just a random bunch of recipes. The hands in the photos weren't even hers! :)

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been watching the Great British Baking Show so I had to get a couple of Mary Berry's books. Love to read these! Probably won't be as ambitious as the contestants, but I can always dream about baking well!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, it didn't really excite me, reminded me a lot of the big Betty Crocker-esque cookbooks from my youth, recipes were sort of generic, there aren't photos of each recipe, and the instructions are very annotated and brief.

[Viserrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!

The recipes are simple and easy to prepare. I'm very happy with this book. I highly recommend it. Love it!

[Bibliobabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok general cookbook, not really what I was expecting from such an amazing cook.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mary, she is amazing and I can't wait to try these.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well made cookbooks with help on how to make the basics. Not too many new recipes, but some good standards. I will be trying the bread soon.

[Dray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found these recipes to be classic but uninspiring. Mary's baking cookbooks have thrilled me,and she is such a delight on her baking show but this book did not impress.

[Jean MacLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice down-to-earth cookbook with simple recipes.

[Edna Axelrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one ever really finishes reading a cookbook, but this one is a keeper, with excellent recipes.

[Stacy Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Mary Berry but like several other reviewers I was hoping for recipes with more of British bent. The recipes are kind of everyday and generic.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good foundation, but I liked a couple of her other books better.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot wait to dive into this cookbook because everything looks delicious!

[Bookish Ninjaaaaaa! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scrummy.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful simple recipies

[Ingrid Mccann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing as always

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes don't look particularly exciting at first glance. After trying about 8 or 9 of the recipes, though, I know this is a cookbook I can return to again and again. The ingredients are usually things I have on hand; the process is simple and not too time consuming; the results are amazing, without fail thus far. As a vegetarian, many of the recipes were unsuitable; the recipes that were veg, however, I am compiling in recipes to remake. Some of the recipes that weren't for me I was able to adapt so that I could enjoy components of them while also accommodating the non-vegetarians in my life. Simple, economical, and delicious. Very happy with the cookbook!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made many recipes and renewed my library loan on it. Very useful cookbook that makes me feel like a better cook!

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched all three seasons of The Great British Baking Show available on Netflix and then saw Mary Berry's tiny photo on the spine of this book at the library. So many of the recipes in it are things they bake on the show that I wanted to see just how they are made. I have to agree with one of the contestants from the show, some of the ingredients are not things one actually would make from scratch. That contestant was speaking about filo dough. I buy great Mole in the grocery store and have no reason to make it from scratch, and none of the Hispanic women I know make it from scratch either! The book has some great family recipes that I could easily see us eating.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big Mary Berry fan, and this cookbook is perfect for other American fans since that is the target audience. Most of the ingredients are easy to acquire in the US, as the recipes are unique combinations of common pantry ingredients or simple delicious comfort food. I bought the ebook since it was on sale and my cooking definitely improved with my enthusiasm for testing out so many of the recipes!

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

The breads and desserts look much better than the main dishes. Honestly, the food photography and styling wasn't fantastic. There's also a fairly good chance that the ingredient measurements weren't re-calibrated or whatever for American audiences particularly well. (A soup recipe calls for 6 1/4 c of vegetable stock. I can't imagine that 1/4 c is making a huge difference. I don't know - it just felt weird.)

I made the vegetable minestrone soup, which was very simple and easy to make. You're only supposed to add two tbsp of arborio rice, though, which gets completely lost in a big batch of soup. It'd be worth adding more.

If you are new to cooking and are looking for a basic cookbook a la Betty Crocker, this is a good bet. But if you're a little more advanced, you'll probably have already tried most of these recipes.

[Kandi A. Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Pictures

I love this cookbook, it has simple and straightforward recipes with details on the cooking techniques including pictures to show the techniques. This is nothing fancy but yet these recipes feel substantial and easy to accomplish.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of tips for new cooks that are very helpful.

[Karyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I prefer her cookbooks on baking.

[Lisa]

Thumbed through without making any dishes. Seems like a good match for someone just starting to cook who may not own 20 or more cookbooks already.