Book review: How to Boil an Egg

How to Boil an Egg: 184 Simple Recipes for One suits anyone living on their own and having to cook for themself for the first time. This focus on cooking for one, with no experience, and on a limited budget, sets it apart from other cookbooks.

The format also reflects this: a 250-page paperback, with no photos, or rambling stories about where the author discovered the recipe. This resembles the many web sites called Just the Fucking Recipe.

No experience

The introduction clearly establishes this cookbook’s value proposition, noting that it assumes no knowledge of cooking techniques or meal planning. Other cookbooks rarely even mention which skill level they assume, leaving you wondering why some of them don’t work.

How to Boil an Egg starts with the simplest recipes, with explicit and careful instructions. It even documents ingredient-specific techniques: how to prepare and cook each of 36 different vegetables, including 8 ways to cook potatoes, and 5 ways to serve boiled potatoes. I only miss troubleshooting instructions for the most likely things to go wrong with each recipe.

Cooking for one

Each recipe serves 1, except for casseroles and stews that would dry up with too little liquid. This means more precise quantities for a single portion, and never leaves you wondering how to measure a quarter of an egg.

The initial chapters of How to Boil an Egg focus on simple dishes, taking advantage of how only needing a single portion makes them quick and easy. Most of these recipes indicate than they take 5–15 minutes; only the soups need more than 30 minutes.

Later in the book, some of the more complex recipes include substitutions to save time, such as pre-made sauces. Others suggest dinner for a special friend, as the difficulty level or ingredient cost increases. The chapters subtly progress all the way to roast Sunday lunches, described as ‘more economical’ for ‘weekend guests’, and with tips on how to use the leftovers.

Limited budget

Living alone for the first time typically coincides with a limited budget. How to Boil an Egg uses widely-available ingredients, listed in the introduction’s stores to stock your new kitchen section. The recipes indicate more expensive ingredients, and suggest cheaper substitutions, such as specific cuts of meat, or mark them optional, such as the brandy in the French onion soup.

Choosing cheaper ingredients limits them to what you can buy in England, while the recipes focus on English cooking. This means english cheeses, and butter instead of olive oil, for example. I’d love to see equivalent books for other countries, which have different commodity ingredients and basic recipes, and different cuts of meat available.

Essential cookbook

How to Boil an Egg certainly passes the test of me wishing I’d had a copy when I first had to cook for myself. I recommend it for anyone in England who wants to cook cheaply, or without cooking experience, especially before tackling conventional cookbooks.

The book’s unassuming title and paperback format might not appeal to people who already know how to cook. However, I found preparation instructions for ingredients I don’t know how to use, and recipes for dishes that I like but have never tried to cook myself. I recommend this for most people, specifically for the instruction, rather than the recipes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Recommended.