Marguerite Patten, one of Britain's most distinguished cookery writers draws on her years of experience to bring together in this comprehensive book recipes for one of the great comfort foods - Soups. Hot soups are warming in cold weather and cold soups are refreshing in the heat. Soup can also be made from every kind of ingredient. So this book covers information to help you make soups of perfect flavour and consistency, including stocks which are the secret of many good soups.

There are chapters on: Quick soups for busy people, clear soups, vegetable soups, fish soups, meats soups, poultry and game soups, fruit soups, cold soups, soups for slimmers, garnishes and accompaniments as well as a trouble shooting section on how to put things right when they go wrong.

This handy guide will give you recipes for every occasion and soups from around the world from vichyssoise and minestrone to hot and sour.

This book is the sixth in Grub Street's best-selling The Basic Basics series, with previous titles The Basic Basics Jams Preserves and Chutneys Handbook, The Basic Basics Combination and Microwave Handbook, The Basic Basics Home Freezing Handbook and The Basic Basics How to Cook from A-Z.

Marguerite Patten is Britain's top selling cookery writer with sales totalling over 17 million copies. She pioneered easy-to-follow-recipes with her All Colour Cookery. She lives in Sussex.