The New Best Recipe

This one is for Bryan from Knife Forums.

"The New Best Recipe" is by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated. It is an update of "The Best Recipe", and has over 1,000 recipes in the same format as the ones in Cook's Illustrated. This means that not only do the authors indicate how to prep and cook a recipe, they will explain why they chose that cooking method, detail the blind alleys that they explored, and even debunk various cooking myths as they go.

Some of the recipes and methods are a bit unorthodox, but that appeals to the geek in me.

The recipes are reliable and work well. The cooking technique are interesting and makes you think about the way you've been doing things all along. The only bad part of the book is the index. The index is too basic for such a large volume. It works better for me as in the "browse mode"

Good read for a cookbook.

Field Guides for the Market

Two more books that I find useful. "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" by Elizabeth Schneider and "Field Guide to Meat" by Aliza Green.

With these two volumes, I can go to the market, wander around picking out what looks good, and know that I will be able to find something yummy to do with my picks. For me, these are vital reference books.