The 35 Best Cookbooks of All Time, According to Chefs and Our Editors

The French Laundry Cookbook

$60 $28 at Amazon $28 at Walmart

When it was published in 1999, Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook offered a look inside the famed Napa Valley restaurant that Ruth Reichl once called “the most exciting place to eat in the United States.” The book features 150 recipes for ambitious home cooks and has inspired many of the latest generation of top chefs, including Jordan Kahn, chef and creative director at three of Los Angeles’ most creative restaurants — Vespertine, Destroyer, and Meteora.

“For Christmas when I was 14, my mother wanted to get me a nice cookbook to fuel my interest. She got me a copy of The French Laundry Cookbook, based on the recommendation of the store clerk and not knowing anything about it or Thomas Keller,” he says. “Three years later, I was accepted as a chef de commis at The French Laundry and was able to fulfill my dream of working with Chef Thomas Keller."

Food & Wine Best New Chef Justin Pichetrungsi also encountered the book early, at the Borders bookstore across the street from his family’s Los Angeles restaurant, Anajak Thai. “I must have been 12 or 13 years old. It began with a page about acknowledgments. Chef Keller thanked his family deeply ‘because the life of a chef inevitably leads to areas of neglect in one's life.’ It started with vulnerability even though so much of the book is about perfection,” he says. “I never cooked the recipes. But the first four pages are some of the best writing about the life of the chef you will ever read.” It put him on the path to turning a neighborhood Thai spot into one of the country’s most celebrated restaurants.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

$35 $22 at Amazon $179 at Pottery Barn

For so many budding chefs, watching Julia Child on PBS was the gateway to a career in cooking, and this is the book that got the culinary icon her TV show. First published more than 60 years ago, the simple guide to classical French cuisine changed the way America cooks, and it’s still going strong.

“When I started reading the book, I felt like I was learning a different language,” says Michelle Weaver, former executive chef at The Charleston Grill. “Julia was my bridge from home cooking to professional cooking. Mastering the Art of French Cooking will always have a special place in my heart.”

The book is also a formative one for Patrick O’Connell, chef at the three-Michelin-starred Inn at Little Washington in Virginia. “Every recipe works perfectly, and as a wonderful bonus, Julia’s enlightening anecdotes bring to life the stories behind each dish,” he says. The book’s rolled omelet recipe, a deceptively simple classic, has become his go-to test for cooks. “A prerequisite for landing a job in my kitchen is to make a proper, rolled, French omelet. That simple dish perfectly illustrates how Julia forever altered America’s understanding of French cuisine."

The Professional Chef

$95 $72 at Amazon

Sometimes, it’s the foundational books that have the most significant impact that you cherish forever. The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America is one such book, treasured by culinary students long after they've graduated. The textbook is a user-friendly guide to practical techniques that reflect how we cook today, complete with global influences and everything from breakfast to dessert courses. 

Chef Kwame Onwuachi, considered by many to be one of the most important chefs of today for his role in leading the conversation around childhood hunger and the culinary arts, calls this book his favorite. Onwuachi wears many hats as a chef, cookbook author, actor, James Beard Award winner, and 2019 Food & Wine Best New Chef, just to name a few, so he knows a little about cooking. Yet his pick illustrates the chef’s commitment to technique and a solid basic culinary skill toolkit. "It's a complete book of techniques which gives you a full scope of the basics that you can build from," he says.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

$35 $16 at Amazon $35 at Barnesandnoble.com

It’s hard to find someone who isn’t charmed by chef Ina Garten, her recipes, her laugh, and her love for her husband, Jeffrey — and her love of entertaining. Garten has influenced a generation of home cooks with her gorgeous cookbooks and TV shows, but The Barefoot Contessa is perhaps the most notable. The book’s recipes center on the titular gourmet-food store in the Hamptons, which Garten bought in 1978. Unsurprisingly, Garten's timeless recipes are an inspiration for chef Asha Gomez, author of My Two Souths and I Cook In Color, who is also a master entertainer. 

“If I had to pick one book, it would be The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook,” she says. "The reason is simple — it played a significant role in my culinary journey. While I initially learned Indian cooking in my mother's kitchen, mastering the art of everyday cooking in the US as a first-generation immigrant happened through the pages of The Barefoot Contessa."

Forgotten Skills of Cooking

$53 at Amazon

“From foraging, preserving, and building smokers (hot and cold) to irresistible recipes for potted shrimp or homemade crackers, flipping through this book always reminds me of why I love to cook and putter in the kitchen,” says Mary Sue Milliken, chef-owner of Border Grill and co-host of Food Network’s classic “Too Hot Tamales.”

The book focuses on old-fashioned techniques that were once commonplace in the kitchen — home-churned butter, house-made bacon, and even planting a vegetable garden and raising chickens. Author Darina Allen is a chef and writer who runs Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, Ireland, and Milliken says she fell in love on a visit about 15 years ago. (There are cottages available to rent during school holidays, so you can stay, too!)

White Heat

$40 $20 at Amazon

The late Anthony Bourdain called White Heat an “amazingly religious experience.” He’s not the only chef who feels that way about outspoken chef Marco Pierre White’s book, a blend of Michelin-level recipes and photos of the "enfant terrible of the UK restaurant scene" in his kitchen. Think what you want about his personality; the chef is a legend among chefs and any cook who knows food.

2017 Food & Wine Best New chef Angie Mar, of Les Trois Chevaux in the West Village and formerly of the Beatrice Inn, calls White Heat “My favorite book of all time. So much of how I view the raw beauty of a real kitchen and its juxtaposed refinement is in that book. It’s raw and real, not made up and neatly manicured, or food that’s 'easy to make' like books we see today. It’s not supposed to be easy; not everyone is meant to cook. White Heat tells that story elegantly." 

It’s no surprise more than one chef we ask professed their love for White’s cult hit. “Besides stunning classic recipes like pigs trotters with morels and truffles, the book may have signaled the birth of the rock-star chef who wasn’t afraid to publish what many chefs only thought or talked about in their walk-ins,” says chef, cookbook author, and TV personality Richard Blais.

The New Basics Cookbook

$35 $20 at Amazon

Chef Pati Jinich is one of our country’s foremost authorities on Mexican cuisine due to her extensive collection of cookbooks and her James Beard Award–winning and Emmy-nominated public television series, “Pati's Mexican Table.” However, her favorite cookbook is not about Mexican cuisine. Instead, The New Basics Cookbook is one she was given a long time ago and spans many cuisines. Authors Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins also wrote 1980s classics The Silver Palate Cookbook and The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. 

Jinich calls the book “an oldie but goodie that never tires. No matter how much time passes, it continues to deliver and weathers the storms of trendiness. I have had it since I got married more than 20 years ago, and I come back to it time and again not only for its solid advice but phenomenal recipes.” Look for illustrated recipes in this encyclopedia-like tome that spans everything beginning cooks need to know, including the foundations of boiling an egg, making risotto, and whipping up a hearty weeknight meatloaf.

Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables

$40 $23 at Amazon $23 at Target $40 at Barnesandnoble.com

In his first cookbook, Joshua McFadden shares his vast knowledge of vegetables and, specifically, how to transform them into the main attraction. The Portland, Oregon-based chef and restaurant owner honed his skills in notable restaurants, including Blue Hill and Momofuku in New York and the renowned Four Season Farm in Maine. With 225 visionary recipes that include a pickling section and a collection of compound butters for more than just steak, the book has been praised by Dan Barber, Nigella Lawson, and David Chang, and, in a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly called it “A must-have cookbook that stands out from the crowd of vegetable-centric cookbooks.” 

Kat Petonito, the executive chef of the duck & the peach, La Collina, and The Wells in Washington, D.C., calls it her go-to book when she hits a seasonal creativity roadblock. “I love how he splits the typical seasons up because not all seasonal vegetables are available as soon as their ‘season’ starts,” she says. “It's also just a visually beautiful book.”

My Bombay Kitchen

$40 $24 at Amazon $24 at Target

My Bombay Kitchen was the first book on Parsi food published in the United States, and its 165 recipes won it a James Beard Award in 2008. But it’s not just a cookbook. Author Niloufer Ichaporia King takes the reader on a journey rich with her own personal experience and techniques grounded in Parsi cuisine, which combines influences from the Middle East and South Asia.

"One of the most influential cookbooks in my life has been My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King,” says Meherwan Irani, co-founder, chef and CEO of Chai Pani Restaurant Group. “It taught me things about being a Parsi that I didn't realize, as well as captured the influence the Parsi diaspora had on Indian cuisine, changing the way I look at the entirety of Indian food forever."

Every Grain of Rice

$39 at Amazon

“Fuchsia Dunlop is a true gem in the world of Chinese cooking, and despite being English with no Chinese background, she's become such an important voice in the field,” says Hong Kong-born Philippe Chow, executive chef at Philippe by Philippe Chow, which has six locations around the world. “What strikes me is her meticulous research and understanding of the diverse regional flavors that make Chinese food so special. In her recipes, it's not just about cooking; it's a peek into the history and traditions that have shaped the dishes of my people. Her dedication to preserving traditional Chinese kitchen techniques resonates with me, and her books are a source of inspiration in my kitchen.”

Dunlop has written several books on Sichuan food, but this one focuses on easy recipes from many regions across China. The recipes are weeknight dinners that come together quickly and are backed up by extensive research. Some of Chow’s favorites are slippery wood ear salad with cilantro, sour-and-hot silken tofu, red-braised beef with tofu “bamboo,” and braised chicken with shiitake mushrooms.

The Vegetarian Flavor Bible

$13 at Amazon

Not just for vegetarians, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible functions like a dictionary for flavor pairings and combinations across any type of produce you can think of, including things like nuts, spices, and herbs. "The Vegetarian Flavor Bible is like having a pal in the kitchen who makes (sometimes enthusiastic) faces when you suggest an ingredient paring," says chef Rachel Klein of Miss Rachel's Pantry, a vegan supper club in Philadelphia.

Impulse-bought an unfamiliar vegetable from the farmers' market? Searching for a use for the rest of a jar of mace you bought for one pumpkin pie last Thanksgiving? Simply look up your ingredients, and you'll find a wealth of sweet and savory applications. Each entry highlights complementary flavors, including things like cheese and meats, for a fully composed dish.

The Preservation Kitchen

$44 at Amazon

Brandied cherries, sauerkraut, and chicken liver mousse — this book offers a wealth of delicious ways to preserve foods, plus recipes that make use of them. But it’s the format that makes it a favorite for chef Eric Bost of the Michelin-starred Jeune et Jolie in Carlsbad, California. “This one is mighty dog-eared,” he says. “It’s packed with full dish recipes, but my main love of this workhorse lies in the individual preparations for the base preserves and pickles. They even break down the pickle recipes based on volume, ounces, grams, and percents, which come in very handy for restaurant uses.”

Bost suggests you start with crème fraîche, an ingredient that will turn your home cooking fancy and chef-y with minimal effort. He also loves the color (and flavor!) of the book’s peach saffron jam.

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook

$39 at Amazon

Judy Rodgers was a culinary icon, one of our country's most celebrated and influential chefs and a trailblazer in the early days of California cuisine. It’s no surprise that her The Zuni Café Cookbook is an enduring favorite, inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2022 for its 20th anniversary. It's been making best-of lists since it was first published in 2002, for revealing the secrets behind Zuni Café's legendary roast chicken with bread salad and dozens of other recipes.

Chef Anne Quatrano, an award-winning chef, co-owner of Atlanta mainstays Bacchanalia and Star Provisions, and co-author of Summerland: Recipes for Celebrating with Southern Hospitality, is equally notable, and she cites this book as her favorite. “It is the book I most frequently gift to chefs and cooks and one I never tire of looking through. Judy had a unique and all-encompassing passion for food and how to prepare it; I worked for her at Zuni while in culinary school and can honestly say that my time with her at Zuni taught me more than culinary school and other work experiences combined.”

The New York Times Cook Book

$40 $32 at Amazon

"When I started cooking in high school in the early 1980s, I cooked out of my mother's cookbooks,” says Craig Stoll, a 2001 Food & Wine Best New Chef who’s been running San Francisco’s Delfina for over two decades. That included Joy of Cooking and The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking, but his favorite is this comprehensive tome, which features nearly 1,500 recipes of just about every kind. (Stoll first cooked from the 1979 “updated” edition, but this latest version actually came out in 1990.)

Stoll especially remembers the recipe for chicken breast with raspberry vinegar sauce. “I cooked that recipe for a girl who agreed to come over for dinner while my parents and siblings were away for the evening.” Let’s just say the recipe turned out well, and now Stoll is a professional chef.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

$40 $22 at Amazon $23 at Target $23 at Walmart

It's unclear if author and chef Samin Nosrat set out to write one of the most influential cookbooks or one of the most influential gastronomical reference volumes of all time, but she did both. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is not only a cookbook of curated recipes but also a story of cuisine, a love letter to cooking, an easily digestible lesson in food science, and the basis for the Netflix series of the same name. Nosrat doesn't just focus on the how; she delves deep into the why of cooking, giving home cooks the knowledge and skills to approach any recipe or technique with confidence.

New Complete Techniques

$45 $35 at Amazon

“When I found Jacques Pépin’s La Technique and La Methode on the shelves of a library in Mexico, I knew I had to have them. So, on my next trip to the US, I bought both cookbooks and brought them back to Mexico with me and started cooking with them,” says James Beard Award-winning chef Iliana de la Vega, of El Naranjo in Austin, Texas. Those two classics are now out of print but were combined and updated in 2012 to create New Complete Techniques.

The great thing about all three books is how extensively illustrated they are. “[La Technique] was the first cookbook that I knew of that not only had recipes and photos of the final dishes but also detailed pictures with detailed descriptions of the steps to prepare the dishes,” de la Vega says. You’ll find step-by-step photos of everything from how to sharpen a knife to how to caramelize onions for her favorite recipe in the book, French onion soup. “I have moved several times to different houses and different countries, and both cookbooks have always been with me.”

La Varenne Pratique

$80 $6 at Amazon

La Varenne is a famous culinary school in Paris, and this book was written by its founder and director. It combines practical techniques with an understanding of ingredients backed by the school’s arsenal of resources. It’s no wonder that it's the favorite cookbook of chef Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery, who popularized the no-knead bread tehcnique in his own book My Bread. Lahey says he loves this book “for its breadth of recipes and techniques. It was the first cookbook I ever bought, and I learned so much about food and cooking from it.”

La Varenne Pratique is divided into 22 chapters, covering everything from Hollandaise sauce to roasting times for venison, pheasant, and even squirrel, plus preserving and microwave cookery. It also extensively covers how and when to use specific kitchen equipment like a bain-marie, and much more.

The Italian Baker, Revised

$40 at Amazon $40 $14 at Barnesandnoble.com

Another favorite of Jim Lahey, The Italian Baker has won the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for best baking book and is considered by the James Beard Foundation to be one of the 13 most indispensable baking books of all time. The well-loved book is a class on Italian breads executed with expertise. Readers can expect recipes for Italian classics such as focaccia, grissini, espresso-friendly pastries, and other traditional and lesser-known breads from regions all over Italy.

Given Lahey’s commitment to baking excellence, it is no surprise this is on his list of favorite books. “It accurately describes the culture in the context of the village and community baker,” he says. “The recipes are bombs, and it inspired me to learn more. It was highly influential to me at the beginning of my journey as a baker.” 

Mexico: The Cookbook

$55 $33 at Amazon $33 at Walmart View on Harleylilac.com

Published by the artsy Phaidon Press and filled with gorgeous full-page photos, this is a coffee table book — but it’s one you’ll ruin with spatters and stains in your kitchen. “It's a necessary read for every person who loves cooking Mexican food at home or who wants to learn more deeply about our gastronomy,” says Fernanda Serrano, James Beard Award–winning executive chef at elNico in New York. “I love this book because it covers everything from street food classics to recipes from renowned Mexican chefs. The book itself is beautiful, with a papel picado–style cover and photography that shows Mexican culture and people in an incredible way.”

This comprehensive volume covers all regions of Mexico, with more than 700 recipes ranging from Oaxacan moles to coastal blue crab salad. Serrano’s top pick is the simple, basic recipe for conchas: “It is my favorite Mexican pastry and so easy to make,” she says.

Turkey and the Wolf

$30 $24 at Amazon $26 at Walmart $30 $28 at Bookshop.org

You may have heard of Turkey and the Wolf because of its viral bologna sandwich stacked high with potato chips, or maybe you read about it on our 2017 Best New Restaurants list, or our list of The Most Important Restaurants of the Decade. No matter what, this New Orleans restaurant should be on everyone's radar.

Turkey and the Wolf has a significant following, with frequent lines out the door for its zany sandwiches and cross-country orders for its fun parody and throwback-style merch. In his cookbook, Chef Mason Hereford leans into the restaurant's goofy, personable vibe and nostalgia-driven pop-culture undertones. Favorite recipes include corner-store pork rind tacos, roasted sunchoke and white truffle Dunkaroos, and gas station bean dip. And, of course, that bologna sandwich.

Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook

$75 $50 at Amazon

If you’ve ever wanted to make three-Michelin-star-style food at home, Eleven Madison Park can get you there. It captures in detail the process of making dishes from the titular New York restaurant, named the world’s best in 2017 and the recipient of countless James Beard Awards. It even adapts the recipes to use tools and batch sizes regular cooks are equipped to handle at home. And, since Eleven Madison Park went fully vegan a few years ago, this book is also your only way to taste meat dishes that aren’t available anywhere anymore.

“From front to back, it encapsulates the feel of a temple of fine dining,” says Andrew Quinn, chef and co-owner of The Noortwyck. He worked at Eleven Madison Park before opening his restaurant, but the book was a favorite even before that. “The Day in the Life section gives a glimpse into 24 hours inside a three-Michelin-starred kitchen. This book was the reason I moved to New York."

Drink Up and Glow

$25 $20 at Amazon

Food & Wine senior drinks editor Prairie Rose Free is a spirits expert (and author of a cocktail book of her own), but her first choice for a fantastic mixological "cookbook" is this set of nonalcoholic drinks. "Veteran bartender Gaby Mlynarczyk’s new N/A drinks book, Drink Up and Glow, is a wellness-inspired guide with a gorgeous cocktail recipe format," she says. "The book explores the wellness trend of functional adaptogens like goji berries, holy basil, and mushroom varieties while incorporating them into easy, and delicious-looking drinks that will make you 'glow.'"

Estela

$35 $28 at Amazon

For more than a decade, the Michelin-starred Estela in New York has been among the most creative restaurants in the country. Chef Ignacio Mattos spills many secrets in this book, but it's all about one chapter for Eric Huang, chef/owner of Pecking House in Brooklyn.

“The whole chapter on salads is amazing and should change everyone's perspective on what most chefs consider a necessary evil. The opening line — ‘our salads should make you forget that you're eating a salad’ — is a zeitgeist-shifting sentence,” Huang says. “The persimmon and kohlrabi salad is one of the most memorable things I've ever eaten, and despite growing up eating persimmons frequently, it changed my perspective on what they were capable of. It remains one of my favorite fruits and ingredients to this day. Estela is one of my favorite restaurants, and Ignacio Mattos is aggravatingly talented.”

The River Cafe Cookbook

$35 at Amazon

A born-and-bred Southerner, Jacob Sessoms nonetheless cites this book from an Italian restaurant in London as his favorite of all time. “It's more about their food philosophy,” says the restaurateur behind a trio of eateries in Asheville, North Carolina: Table, All Day Darling, and Golden Hour. “The River Café changed the food world when Rose and Ruth opened it.”

Premiering in 1987, the River Café was revolutionary in using authentic recipes and ingredients hard to find outside of Italy at the time. Things like Lacinato kale, arugula, and high-quality mozzarella are much easier to get today thanks to the work of chefs Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, but their recipes in this book still stand out. Sessoms’ personal favorite? Chocolate Nemesis, a dessert that remains one of the restaurant’s signatures. “It’s one of the best chocolate cakes ever,” he says.

Cooking by Hand

$40 $23 at Amazon $40 at Barnesandnoble.com View on Booksamillion.com

“If I could fall asleep and wake up living in a cookbook, it would be this one,” says Ashley Christensen, chef and proprietor of AC Restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina. “This book is filled with classic workhorse Italian technique, nuanced by the evergreen offerings of California’s endless seasons, thoughtfully combined.”

The former chef at Chez Panisse and Oliveto, Paul Bertolli, thoroughly conveys his love and appreciation for food, delving into the importance of ingredients throughout the roughly 120 recipes and several essays on topics like balsamic vinegar, pasta flours (and how each influences the type of pasta), and ways to use a tomato. Illustrated step-by-step guides, like the section on curing prosciutto, are practical and thorough. Christensen calls the textbook-style lessons, often with numbered photo steps, “romantic and fully dependable.” The chef’s house potato gnocchi is based on this book. “Sometimes, there is no need to look further,” she says. “It doesn't get better.”

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine

$70 $49 at Amazon $49 at Target $70 at Barnesandnoble.com

Of all the cookbooks that have shaped Eric Leveillee, René Redzepi’s Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine has profoundly impacted the executive chef at Lacroix at The Rittenhouse in Philadelphia. “It was given to me by my now-wife, and through its pages, I learned about the type of power a dish could have, the feelings a dish could evoke, and the communities it could build,” he says. 

Redzepi’s 368-page opus includes more than 200 color photos and 90 recipes for boundary-pushing dishes like sous vide reindeer shoulder and carrot cake–coated lingonberry sorbet. And while they exalt the hyper-local ingredients the chef is known for championing, curious and creative home cooks can use it as a guide to create unique dishes based on the inspiration they’ll find throughout the book.

Ratio

$20 $11 at Amazon View on Booklarder.com

Unlike many classic cookbooks, Ratio functions as a pocket reference for all cooks. You'll find recipes on the pages, but you'll also find the easy-to-remember ratios and formulas that will free you from recipes forever (sort of). Michael Ruhlman shares the secrets that restaurant cooks and culinary schools rely on to scale recipes up to feed hundreds, as well as conjure several batches of pie dough without a recipe.

Ratio is organized by categories like doughs, batters, and stocks, where you'll find gems like the basic ratio for cookie dough: one part sugar, two parts fat, and three parts flour. Ruhlman offers suggestions for embellishing these basic ratios, taking a basic shortbread-style cookie in a chewy direction by adding eggs and leavening or bumping up the flavor to make lemon poppyseed cookies. This is the ultimate quick-reference guide for cooks of any skill level to create their own new recipes.

On Vegetables

$50 $31 at Amazon $31 at Walmart $50 at Barnesandnoble.com

Food & Wine Best New Chef Jeremy Fox worked at award-winning restaurants in Napa and Los Gatos, California, before moving south to open his game-changing Santa Monica spot Rustic Canyon in 2006. In On Vegetables, Fox spotlights produce just as he’s done at his restaurants. Mushroom conserva, ramp kimchi, and green tomato preserves are among the 160 recipes. Fox makes “the best-tasting vegetables on the planet,” according to David Chang, who wrote the book’s foreword. 

“The flavor combinations of the different vegetables together are pretty amazing,” says George Madosky, chef de cuisine at Fork Restaurant in Philadelphia. “It’s very aligned with Fork and very vegetable-forward with a creative way to incorporate bright colors and flavors.”

My Mexico City Kitchen

$35 $25 at Amazon $35 at Barnesandnoble.com View on Booksamillion.com

“Gabriela Camara makes beautiful food, and her restaurant Contramar is an institution,” says Alfredo “Fredo” Nogueira, executive chef/partner of the New Orleans-based CureCo., which runs restaurants including Cane & Table, Cure, and VALS. “I had such a memorable meal there a few years back and purchased the book from the gift shop,” he says. “The recipes are all spot-on and help recreate that experience whenever I need to.”

The highly lauded cookbook by Camara — who runs award-winning restaurants in Mexico City and San Francisco, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people — includes 150 recipes that showcase vibrant and deeply flavorful Mexican cuisines. But beyond detailed recipes for everything from basic salsas to her signature whole red and green grilled snapper, Camara also shares her history and insights, making My Mexico City Kitchen feel rich and personal.

The Taste of France

$55 at Amazon

Michael Cimarusti, James Beard Award–winning chef-owner of Providence in Los Angeles, calls The Taste of France his all-time favorite cookbook. First printed in 1983, the book spotlights regional French cuisine (14 regions, to be exact, including Brittany, Provence, and Normandy) through 100 recipes, 375 photographs, and plenty of maps. With an emphasis on ingredients and recipes as well as farms, markets, and culinary customs, The Taste of France is both cookbook and guidebook.

“The book covers all aspects of French gastronomy,” says Cimarusti. “Running the gamut from haute cuisine to the most rustic countryside cooking, this book paints a clear, vivid picture of the French people and their abiding connection to their cuisine and their culture.”

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

$40 $26 at Amazon $35 $15 at Barnesandnoble.com View on Folkwayswines.com

What Julia Child did for bringing French cuisine to America, Marcella Hazan did for Italian food. Often called "The Queen of Italian Cooking," Hazan packed pretty much everything you need to know about Italian cuisine into one volume when she published Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking in 1992. "Every Italian classic dish I learned to make came from this book. And I credit it with my understanding of Italian cuisine and ingredients," says Food & Wine senior testing editor Jennifer Zyman.

If you're curious about learning a bit about Italian cooking or consider yourself an expert, this book will become your new go-to. "Not only was it one of my favorite cookbooks at the start of my career, but it is also one that I still look to for classic Italian recipes to this day," says Zyman. It includes some of Hazan's best-known masterpieces, like her famous tomato sauce with onion and butter, and a Venetian-style smothered cabbage.

Start Here

$45 $20 at Amazon $26 at Target $20 at Walmart

Starting your culinary journey and beginning a cookbook collection can be daunting. Thankfully, Sohla El-Waylly penned the guidebook to getting stated in Start Here. El-Waylly perfectly balances food science, professional technique, and accessible, approachable recipes.

Even confident cooks will find helpful tidbits and totally genius tips that will make anyone better in the kitchen. Start Here is less concerned with telling you what to do and more concerned with guiding you on how to do it, especially since El-Waylly encourages creativity through swaps and substitutions to make every recipe your own.

Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy's Best Home Cooks

$38 $22 at Amazon $22 at Target $38 at Barnesandnoble.com

Nothing is more comforting than a dish cooked with love from a grandmother's kitchen. And for Italian grandmothers, aka nonne, that dish is often pasta. Initially, Pasta Grannies was a successful YouTube series following Italian nonne cooking pasta and other traditional Italian dishes endemic to the regions they live in before it was a cookbook.

Now, all the nonna-approved pasta dishes are in one place, ready to become your family's classics as well. If you've never made fresh pasta before, don't worry; the comprehensive step-by-step guides are like having a nonna in the kitchen with you — you'll be a pastaio in no time.

Vegetable Kingdom

$30 $17 at Amazon $30 at Barnesandnoble.com

You don't have to be vegan to appreciate Vegetable Kingdom's celebration of veggies. Chef, activist, and author Bryant Terry organizes his book by star vegetable and stewards cooks through several preparations of each type of produce. As if that wasn't cool enough, Terry also thoughtfully curated song selections for each dish. Cooking vegetables everyone is familiar with but in new and exciting ways is Terry's specialty, and many recipes have technique blurbs to help with any unfamiliar preparations.

More Than Cake

$40 $20 at Amazon

Natasha Pickowicz is a pastry chef and activist who uses sweets to build and foster community. Pickowicz is known for her bake sales, which have raised thousands of dollars for nonprofits while sharing her out-of-the-box confections. Bakes shoyu peanut butter cookies, balsamic vinegar icing, and olive oil cake with crispy capers are on the menu — this is not your grandma's bake sale.

If you think you're not a baker, Pickowicz can change your mind; her flavor combinations are just too inviting not to attempt. The photos accompanying the recipes, and even the section on kitchen tools, will have you hurrying to preheat the oven.