In this collection of the very best of her Christmas recipes, Delia Smith demonstrates how you can easily cope with the whole gamut of Christmas entertaining while still having plenty of time to relax with your family and friends. Whether this is the firs

2008-10-14 NO GOOD FOR TEE-TOTALLERS!

This is a great book but if you, like me, cannot use alcohol even in cooking (Yes, I KNOW the alcohol burns off, some of us shouldn't even taste it!) then the majority of the hot recipes you simply cannot make.

Delia does state that, for the cakes, orange juice can be used instead of liquour. But, otherwise, almost all the other dishes involving meat (aside from the traditional turkey, of course) are soaked in the stuff!

For that reason I recommend Nigella Lawson's 'Nigella Christmas' a little more. Nigella always tries to provide an alternative to the alcohol, something Delia doesn't do outside of the baking section. (But then we know Delia likes a drink!)

Having said that this is THE Christmas books for nibbles, canapes, party food, cold buffets, winter salads etc and THAT'S the reason it's ubiquitious over yuletide in bookshops. My Auntie, one of the best cooks on the planet, absolutely swears by her copy and that's reason enough to recommend, believe me. Merry Christmas.