As someone without a lick of industry experience in a commercial kitchen, I'd love to have more of the classic instructional tomes (I don't even have Joy). I do regularly consult the reliable Silver Palate, and am just now having the courage to attempt some mother sauces from The Silver Spoon, Phaidon's English translation of the huge Italian culinary bible.

I also enjoy Mark Bittman's books, especially The Minimalist Cooks at Home. His three-ingredient mantra seems limiting at first, but the recipes' simplicity is ideal for harried weeknight meals, and his ease with technique and writing gives you license to experiment. Look up his "101 Express" series in the NY Times for lots of ideas and deconstructions.

Then there's the wonderful White Dog Cafe Cookbook (I'm from Philly, as is author Judy Wicks). Wicks founded the BALLE network, parent org of Buffalo First, and takes her brand of social justice to flavorful places. Part cookbook, part personal manifesto on meaningful living. Also highly recommended: Chez Panisse Fruit by Alice Waters for impeccable recipes and descriptions of varieties, handling, and seasonal considerations.

New but untested are two hefty coffee-table books: The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew and Keep It Seasonal by Annie Wayte—at first glance, food porn for everyday (not altogether a bad thing). On the advice of my boos, I still need to get into Marcella Hazan and Madhur Jaffrey.

Sorry for the lengthy, and un-proofed post.

I've also gotten a couple keepers off the web Viking. Epicurious.com is often fruitful for me. I even have it's widget on my laptop. But there is also a tremendous amount of crap out there. Like all the 'southernfoods.com' recipes that keep coming up in the top of most of my searches.

Once you have a good understanding of technique, then you can almost read a recipe and tell if it's gonna work or not. ie., you can spot out the lazy ones, and choose to move on. Though it's exciting to try a new technique (especially if its easier) and get kick-ass results.

er, that would be "boss."

I have, and occasionally use the Joy, but only for cookie recipes and such, or as a reference for technique, Though my thoroughly butter and flour stained copy is getting less and less use as time goes by.

My all time go to book is 'La Varenne Pratique' by Anne Willan. Though it does have recipes, it's more of a technique book. The recipes are mostly for dealing with classic straight forward items, but with those techniques down, you can do anything. Feel like some pate sucree? It's in there. Want to make a quick brioche by lunch time? Done. Need to bone a lamb shoulder? You're all set. Escalopes of Monkfish with lime and ginger? Hah, childs play.. Have a hankering for a blood thickened sauce? Look no further. It's almost like a small illustrated encyclopedia of foods, there uses, and how to deal with them. This is the book I recommend to people asking how to cook. It's like three months of cooking school packed into 500 pages well designed pages.

Then, when you are confident with your skills, there is 'Le Repertoire de la Cuisine'. It's more of a reference book for what works. It's the size of a thin paperback, but packed full of info.. Say you are at the farmer's market, and the spinach looks especially fantastic, but you're bored of sauteing it with garlic, vinegar and rendered bacon. Pull out the repertory, and voila, 9 bona fide, verified, ways to deal with it. Many combos are of the classic, almost archaic even, French preparations, but it's a great reference. Especially when you are at a loss for ideas. You will find this book in every French Kitchen in NYC & Paris alike. The organization is a little challenging at first. But it comes in handy quite often.

I just recently got a subscription to Cooks Illustrated. It lacks the pretty pictures and the narrative back story, but makes up for it in it's epicurean conclusions. Again, it's more of a technique vault. But w/o proper technique, what's the point. They intentionally make common mistakes, or compare tried and trues, and their conclusions are generally pretty damn accurate. I thought I made excellent apple pie until I tried their recipe. Like, Holy Shit. It was soooo good. I can sit down and slowly read this magazine from cover to cover in one sitting like it was a Harry Potter book. Looking at the etchings, and envisioning grand meals to come is a fantastic way to spend a cold, snowy, Sunday afternoon. Something that the prettier books and periodicals don't usually accomplish. Not for me at least.

I have about 15-20 cookbooks just gathering dust, that are mostly older used bookstore finds. I cna't give them up though, because you never know when that old standby recipe for 'Apple and Sage, sausage stuffing' from "Jasper Whites Cooking from New England" book is gonna be needed.

I hope more people comment, because I should pick up a couple of the newer cookbooks out there. i know there is a lot of exciting stuff being put together these days, and I (as well as my family) could at this point, use a breather from my standard rotation.