Celebrity cookbooks too much to digest

TO GO WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY EMMA CHARLTON British chef Gordon Ramsay poses at the Trianon palace restaurant on March 20, 2008 in Versailles, west of Paris. The 41-year-old chef already heads 10 restaurants and pubs in United Kingdom and another 10 in the United States. AFP PHOTO STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

TO GO WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY EMMA CHARLTON British chef Gordon Ramsay poses at the Trianon palace restaurant on March 20, 2008 in Versailles, west of Paris. The 41-year-old chef already heads 10 restaurants and pubs in United Kingdom and another 10 in the United States. AFP PHOTO STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

Published Jan 14, 2013

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London - They’re bought by adventurous home chefs – but more than 40 percent of celebrity cookbooks are destined never to be opened.

And it is the ambitious recipes of Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay that we’re least likely to attempt, according to a survey.

By contrast, the ease and simplicity of recipes by Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver are far more popular.

The finding is a resounding endorsement for Miss Smith, who was dropped from Waitrose’s advertising last week while the store retained Blumenthal. His book In Search Of Perfection is the one most likely to sit unopened, followed by Ramsay’s Three Star Chef.

In the survey by food firm Scala, 67 percent said recipes in the books were intimidating. While 35 percent were put off by the cost of ingredients, 29 percent said the dishes were too complicated.

The study found a typical home has ten cookbooks, of which four have never been used. And many have given up on books altogether, with 53 percent searching for recipes online based on ingredients they happen to have in the fridge. - Daily Mail

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