Review: Dairy-Free Delicious by Katy Salter

Katy Salter is an award winning food writer and editor and has a dairy free website dairyfreedelicious.com.

I was delighted to receive a copy of Katy Salter’s cook book Dairy-Free Delicious to review. Katy is lactose intolerant herself so coming from this background the book is pitched very well for its audience.

The book is refreshing. It is a real novelty being able to pick it up and make any recipe I choose without having to modify it to make it dairy free. My son is always going through my cook books picking things he wants to make, so it is nice to know I don’t have to do any major changes to recipes in this book in order to make them.

This is the first dairy free cookbook I have ever read that is filled with everyday meals that you could cook for all the family. The recipes use mostly common store cupboard ingredients, so you could open the book and start cooking straight away without having to run out to the shops or go to specialist shops. There is a very useful list of dairy free staples for the store cupboard which are good to have for dairy free cooking.

The book is visually beautiful. There are very attractive photos of the foods and the text is well laid out. The book begins with many common sense ideas and simple ways to make going dairy free easier. There is plenty of easy to understand information on the basics of going dairy free and what you should watch out for, including how to replace calcium in the diet. There is a helpful section on making your own milk alternatives and there are many basic everyday recipes. Katy recommends shortcuts such as using ready made puff or shortcrust pastry which is always a plus when life is busy. There are recipes for these too though if you have the time to make them yourself.

The dinner section is lovely. You will find recipes for dairy free versions of dishes which are usually dairy laden, but there is also lots of dishes drawing inspirations from countries where low dairy diets are commonplace such as Japan and Thailand. This gives a lovely balanced mix to the selection of recipes. There are some delicious looking dishes that are new to me, I look forward to trying the Vietnamese chicken and pumpkin curry, it looks mild enough that I might be able to convince two little boys to eat it.

I tried baking the tea scones. These were gorgeous, very fluffy and light. The recipe has replaced my previous favourite recipe for scones and I look forward to making them again and again.

I have little bookmarks right through the book for what I want to try out. Next on my list to make is the Chai French Toast, eggs Benedict and the prawn risotto.

Overall I’m delighted with the book, if I hadn’t received a copy for review I would’ve purchased a copy myself.

You can purchase the book from Amazon.co.uk here. It retails at about £15 or €20.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review but as usual all opinions are my own. 

Note on Amazon Link: I am a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. In other words I will receive a small reward for advertising if you purchase the book through the link here.