Delia Smith's "How To Cook"

In her first 25 years of hosting cooking shows, Delia Smith's clear instruction and attractive recipes made her the best selling cookbook author in Britain. In the United States, Delia follows her popular Summer and Winter collections that appeared on the past two years of Great Food, with a series that she hopes will be a culinary guide for her American viewers into the twenty-first century: "How to Cook". For topics from poultry to cakes, Delia clearly explains every aspect of making a dish that will help guarantee cooking success.

Delia became convinced that there was a demand for this type of series, from the questions she receives in her mail. She realized that people are no longer handed down the basics in cooking and, in a world where people have less time than ever, they feel intimidated by the thought of cooking. "We are in danger of losing reverence for food in its simple form. I want to re-introduce my viewers to the sheer pleasure of simple food, with a good grounding in the cooking basics. It's not just how too cook, but how to enjoy good simple food every day. With the recipes and instruction in this series, one can always have a delicious meal that they can set before themselves in seconds."

"For instance, if you can't make pastry, or don't even know how to start, the very first thing you need to do is forgive yourself and not feel guilty - please understand it isn't because you're inadequate or not born to such things, it's probably because no one's ever actually taught you how. In the age we now live in, cooking skills are rarely learned from watching mother, because working mothers have little time for home baking. So now we have to think differently. But teaching is essential: someone had to teach you to swim, ride a bike or drive a car, things that are now second nature to you."

"I am passionate about wanting to communicate the techniques of good cooking to all who want to learn, and hopefully share with them the safe lifetime of joy and pleasure that learning to cook has given - and still is - giving me."

Delia Smith is Britain's best-selling cookbook author, whose books have sold over 10 million copies. She has hosted cooking programs on BBC TV for over 25 years. Her other books include "Delia Smith's Cookery Course", "One is Fun", "Delia Smith's Christmas", "Delia Smith's Summer Collection", "Delia Smith's Winter Collection" and "Journey into God." She is also Consultant Food Editor of Sainsbury's The Magazine and a director of Norwich City Football Club. Delia is married to the writer and editor Michael Wynn Jones and they live in Suffolk.