Most of the cookbooks that are produced every year are about what’s trending in the food world. It’s all about the latest diet, the latest kitchen device. Very occasionally one is blessed with a cookbook that will endure the test of time.

The New Classics By Donna Hay is just such a book. It is full of classic recipes from the Donna Hay Magazine created with their own signature twist.

Divided into two sections, Savory and Sweet, the book is a virtual encyclopedia. It is designed to enhance your cooking repertoire, taking old favorites and pairing them with modern flavors. I have no doubt that this will become the go-to cookbook on your kitchen shelf.

Recipe categories include:

Savory

Eggs + Cheese
Pasta, Noodles + Rice
Soups
Beef
Chicken + Duck
Pork
Lamp
Seafood
Pies + Tarts
Salads + Sides

Sweet

Cookies, biscuits + slices
Small cakes
Cakes
Putting
Pies + tarts
Desserts

Each and every recipe has a stunning full-page photo included. Many of the recipes have more than one component, so each of the components also has its own picture.

Throughout the book, all of the full-page photographs give the name of the recipe on the page. This is extremely helpful when you’re looking at something that you would like to try because it helps you find the right recipe.

As this book is designed to stretch your cooking repertoire, it also includes many step-by-step instructions for making basic dishes and then includes variations on that recipe. For instance, the “How To Cook Quiche” starts out with pictures of each step of the quiche’s crust. It then goes on to provide a basic filling. The subsequent pages include flavor variations on that recipe.

The “How To Cook” recipes include:

Quiche
Pasta
Polenta
Paella
Chicken Soup
Roasted Beef
Stir-Fry
Butterflied Chicken
Poached Chicken
Pork Roast
Meatloaf
Roast Lamb
Beer-Battered Fish
Sushi
Hot Water Pastry
Shortcrust Pastry
Shortbread
Macarons
Brioche
Banana bread
Baked Custard
Steamed Puddings
Tarte Tatin
Lemon Tart
Truffles
Marshmallow

The back of the book includes a lovely glossary of terms. After you find a Global Measurements Chart comparing metric and imperial, and an excellent Index by main ingredients and recipe name.

Beautiful And An Excellent Resource

This book is beautiful enough to be a coffee table book. It is full of excellent recipes but is, however, not a book of “30 minutes or less” recipes, or one full of recipes that use only five ingredients. This book is designed to stretch your cooking repertoire and expand it.

The instructions on each of the recipes seem very straightforward. The “How To Cook” recipes, provide very easy to follow instructions and the extra step-by-step pictures are helpful.

The recipes do include the Serving Size but do not include any overall cooking times, only those for the oven. With the recipes in this book, you will have to read it in advance to determine how long it will take.

Overall, this book is destined to be one I refer to many times. If you’re looking to become a better cook, this will be one of the books you will want to own.

See the full review and the recipe for Basic Meatloaf at The RecipesNow! Reviews And Recipes Magazine. This review is written in response to a complimentary hard copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review. ( )