River Cottage A to Z: Our Favourite Ingredients, & How to Cook Them Hardcover – May 2, 2017

All River Cottage Fearnley-Whittingstall cookbooks are well written with clear easy to follow recipes that produce very tasty dishes. This is no exception. Beautifully designed and a pleasure to read. I've not made a recipe from any of his collection that did not turn out exceptionally well. I highly recommend this cookbook.

Have long been a fan of Hugh. This is good as a reference book

High quality book. Great content.

Wasn't sure that I needed another cookbook showcasing ingredients, but so glad I purchased this one. Just like Hugh - it is a very thorough cookbook of information as well as simple and inspirational recipes. I do not subscribe to ebooks, hence I appreciate this high quality publication of photos and illustrations and 3 ribbons to mark pages! If you want a cookbook by him who lives in England, then this is definitely the one to purchase.

This is a massive book - over 700 very big pages, mostly covered in text, but there are an adequate number of good quality colour illustrations - photos and some good drawings - that, as usual in a cookbook, are mainly decorative rather than useful. I found the text generally worth reading and enjoyable, but if you don't, try lifting the book above your head 10 times in succession with each hand. That will not only make you immensely strong, but should also stimulate hunger and make the read more relevant to your immediate needs.As the title suggests, this is a highly personal selection of ingredients, listed alphabetically. It is not, for example, a challenge to Alan Davidson's comprehensive and brilliant book along the same lines. On the other hand, it has more practical value than Davidson since it includes recipes and suggestions for all the ingredients listed. Nor is its subjectivity too limiting since it is a team effort co-authored by many of the knowledgeable team at River Cottage. I'll illustrate the potential value of this book, using a singe random example - the entry for Rice. The subject is covered in three pages, one of which is a full page illustration of rice that has poured onto the floor from a cut in its bag! The first page is a general introduction to rice, followed by a concise review of several variants including three risotto rices. There are also references to five more rice recipes in other sections of the book. The third, and last, page includes sections on using rice flour, methods of cooking rice, and how to store cooked rice. Finally, there is the single recipe allowed by the book for each ingredient - Spiced brown rice and broccoli - with suggested accompaniments and variations on the recipe. This recipe looks considerably more appetising than it sounds, and I will be trying it soon. I should add here, that although limiting ingredients to one recipe might sound a bit mean, the ingredients are not usually so generic as Rice. The next ingredient with its single recipe, for example, is Ricotta.I gave the book four stars because I do think it is too big and heavy to be used regularly in the kitchen - yet that is one of its purposes. On the other hand it is beautifully produced, very well organised and designed, and supplies no less than three marker ribbons! There's not a lot here that the experienced cook won't already have in their cookbook collection. But here you have all you need to know about the ingredients covered, in a single authoritative book - together with examples of use. I don't know how many ingredients are covered, but judging by the number of pages, and a guess at the mix of generic and specific ingredients, I would have thought there are descriptions of between 550-600 ingredients. That's good value for any cook!

Absolutely brilliant book. Only skimmed it so far but have tried a couple of recipes that have turned out really well.Really good for such a lot of things, especially for reference.

My wife is a chef by trade and after i bought it for her as a reference book her only only comment was that it was an amazing book it holds so much information about ingredients and recipes .It also uses a lot of alternatives ingredients from foraging sources which is great to .

One of those cookery books to read for its own sake, or to dip into, and to keep to hand in the kitchen (yes, along with 100 others) while you think about a particular ingredient. It can only be read with Hugh's voice!

This is such an interesting take on recipes. Ideal present for anyone who likes cooking. Brilliant value, it's like a foodies bible!!