Reci

On Food and Cooking by McGee

Cook's Illustrated Cookbook

and something that is a pretty complete regional cookbook like The Silver Spoon, or Le Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange

OFaC is more of a reference guide rather than a cookbook.

I've got the smaller version of Modernist Cuisine. The mac and cheese variations are great.

Ratio is a damn good book.

McGee's On Food and Cooking is a masterpiece
So is The Flavor Bible, but they both deserve to be discussed in this thread.

a couple books I'd add to the discussion

Thomas Keller - Bouchon
I've made almost half of the recipes from this book. They are all incredibly detailed and rich and they all make you a better cook simply by making them. Standouts - the quiches, cauliflower gratin, and Keller's version of duck confit.

Peter Meehan - Power Vegetables
Ridiculous vaporwave-ish book graphics and lighthearted approach make this one feel almost silly and basic, but the book is legit. Standouts - Roasted vegetables with fish sauce vinigarette, oranged endive with bread-cheese-nut, and the pappa al pomodoro.

James Pererson - Splendid Soups
Joy of Cooking
Joe Ortiz - The Village Baker

Harold McGee - On Food and Cooking is great, but I wouldn't call it essential.
Also, I've given away my Joy and Soups books to people, but there was a time when they were essential to me. I gave them to people who needed them, essentially.

>Jacques Pepin - New complete Techniques
just bought this

>The Flavor Bible
and this

Ratio, OFaC, The Art of Fermentation, Culinary Artistry, Flavor Bible, Professional Pastry Chef; all great but are generally found in the hands of people who are either industry, or are serious hobby cooks. Not essential.

I think if you want a basic guide to cooking everything, it would go something like: Joy, Technique, Pastry Chef`s Companion - which I really like for novice bakers since it helps troubleshoot when things don't go as planned.

Disappointed the old Veeky Forums staple book hasn't been posted

Pretty much my sentiment with this post I think The Village Baker is more in depth than Reinhardt's book. Technique, history, stencils, etc.
Splendid Soups has a lot of backstory, history, and technique. Plus I feel that mastering soup (not just "I threw a bunch of stuff in a pot and it tastes good") is a great place to start learning to cook. If you can master soups, you're going to be able to tackle other cooking issues more easily.
Joy was invaluable for me when I went from working in ...high class restaurants to working in places where, uh, I had to do bulk cooking for whites, mexicans, and flips. Besides teaching me how to put together large casseroles, it has some great technique teachings too. For example, passing eggs through a chinios for desserts to get rid of the chalaza.

I like ratio, it's technique to learn get away from recipes and recipe books. I think beginners should get away from following recipes and start following techniques fairly early. It keeps you from having to go to the grocery store whenever you don't have an ingredient or if you want to quickly whip up something with whatever is in the fridge/pantry. It's a good anti-cookbook.

Does Veeky Forums rate Harumi?

No real autist would use one of these abominations unless they were needing to know how to make cookies.
I get hungry for x item that I've seen or heard mentioned because I'm uncreative, walk to the store, buy what I need and make it. Never fails.

Cookbooks are literally only for baking sweets and I find shit like cookies, fudge, cake, jello, pudding, chocolate, frosting, cupcakes and candy to be completely repulsive.

I'm a man. I eat meat, vegetables, carbohydrates and dairy. I know what I am doing at the slightest thought of the meal. This thread is for females obviously.

>that guy who think he's too good for a recipe
>what, that traditional food? it tastes like shit!
>well of course I didn't use the standard accepted recipe, that's for babies! tradition is stagnant cultural fascism, there is no such thing as authenticity! all I'm saying is I used distilled vinegar instead of tamarind, and cayenne powder instead of birds eye chili, and oregano instead of panch phoron, and the result tasted like shit. here is a video showing old chinese people pretending not to be disgusted by panda express.

literally you in a nutshell

>Someone who has never read ratio so he has no idea what he is talking about.
Literally (you), it's traditional french technique as it gets.

1981 version of the Betty Crocker's New and Revised Cookbook.
1980 Betty Crocker's International Cookbook
1981 Betty Crocker's Chinese Cookbook by leaann chin
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
The Justin Wilson cookbook from 1975

This should provide you with the basics to cook some of the tastiest stuff out there. start with the betty crocker's books in order then move on to the julia child book then justin wilson. After those buy other books in different styles you might like.

Can anyone reccommend any japanese cookbooks?

...

I keep seeing people reccomending the modernist cuisine books or modernist cuisine for home cooks?

Are they worth the stupid amount of money they cost?

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art

It's sort of considered the Julia Child of Japanese cuisine.

only if you have hipster friends you want to impress

I got the small version as a gift. The photography is gorgeous. It's a great resource in the kitchen considering the paper is liquid/stain proof and the way the recipe/ingredient lists are laid out for each recipe is an improvement to the way recipes are normally written.
And regarding the recipes - they are outstanding from both a flavor and technique perspective. You will not only make great food, but you'll learn a ton of technique while doing it.

All that being said, I still wouldn't spend the amount of money they are asking.

Finally another user that loves power vegetables. Everything I've made from that book has been killer.

Anyway to answer OP's question, you only need one "basics" cookbook--I like Americas test kitchen family or show cookbooks, but bittman how to cook anything, keller's ad hoc, the joy of cooking, etc. are all pretty good, and then from there expand into cuisines or eating styles you like. My favorite two go to's are power vegetables and food 52's genius recipes.