COOK is packed with a lifetime of favorite recipes which I'm asked for over and over by readers of my cookery pages. So if you love cooking, this book is a must-have. It is one to keep in the kitchen, not just for a guide to delicious meals but as a reference and for problem solving. It is crammed with the information I know that home cooks want from the thousands and thousands of letters I have received from readers over the years.

But don't just listen to me.

Since it hit the shelves a few weeks ago raving reviews have rolled in.
Here are just a few.

Belle: "McGhie has produced a lush-looking book that a supremely useful guide to creating delicious, simple dishes using fresh ingredients often teamed with pantry staples. Here are dishes that will become the new favourites ... an awesome practical guide."

Delicious: "McGhie is a smart cookie and a great storyteller, which surfaces in this huge treasury of recipes.

Ideas like using couscous as a crumble topping or green tea to poach chicken had me wanting to rush to the kitchen.

In the end I wanted more of her handy tips and evocative writing."

Gourmet Traveller: "This is my kinda book. Practical, pretty and packed with the food we like to eat."

Weekend Herald Sun: "This is a no-nonsense cookbook crammed with enough hearty, nutritious dishes to last a lifetime - old fashioned farm-kitchen basics; new fashioned quick meals and exotica for every day favourites. It's an any-occasion collection with underlying themes of simplicity and the importance of beautiful produce. Feel-good memoir, each page liberally seasoned with anecdotes from the family farm and a career spent accumulating the wisdom of food lovers in every corner of the world. Terrific."

Australian Good Taste: "Now the rest of Australia can share her wisdom inthis collection of more than 250 recipes and expert advice. This isn't food for wanna-be chefs - these easy flavoursome dishes can be served any night of the week."

Australian Table: "If, as Kate McGhie says, recipes are like road maps leading to lovely destinations, this book is a pretty amazing adventure. All the basic recipes are here along with information on cooking methods, shopping and equipment. There's plenty of cope for adventurous cooks."

Courier Mail: "McGhie's cookbook that is extremely useful, beautiful to look at and a joy to read . deserves to become a modern classic."

Canberra Times: "Although trained as a chef, Kate never uses cheffy terminology or hard to find ingredients. Indeed the chapter entitled Kitchen Wisdom is a useful inclusion including a neat entry on 'the inexacts' - measurements such as dollop, pinch.

McGhie leaves few questions unanswered. Her love of food is a lifetime one. The essence of the book is about generating meals for family and friends from nostalgic rhubarb strawberry and apple crumble to modern short cuts for satisfying meals for busy people."

ABC Brisbane: "With a cover the colour of beautiful butter and crammed with stunning easy recipes including a chapter for kids (of all ages), Cook represents the whole of the wisdom of the elders. Kate is hugely travelled and one of the nation's great cooks, whose common sense and practical book is all about hospitality: all about generosity and with a lovely rhythm of wisdom. Great lyrical writing and a most wonderful book to curl up with too."

ABC Tasmania: "Cook is a beautifully written work by an author deeply immersed in food and the rituals of food from the time of her first food memories."