I bought a HB cookbook and went through all the recipes and found one I really wanted to try and it ended up a disaster, all the quantities/proportions were out. It ended up an expensive failure,beware.
Too many cookery progs contain a "challenge " or a vote off or some kind of whittling down process which involves the same faux cliches being trotted out " I can't go out this week, not this close to the finals " " I have to pull out all the stops " " If I don't get through ... my life is over ".
The Two Fat ladies got that way by having no portion control. Frequently a recipe would need something like a side of beef or 4 Pheasants or half a Sheep. No ordinary mortal could even afford the ingredients, if it wasn't for the fact that half their food was roadkill, neither could they.