The Cook's Kitchen Bible

I absolutely love this book. The recipes are great and all come with step by step photos. They even show you different techniques (including prep). Before this book I had always wanted to make a lattice top pie but never could. That's not the case anymore! As other reviews said the recipes are pretty basic, but they're such a wide range and definitely yummy.(I've made almost all of them). I'm now a more experienced cook, but when I was kinda just starting off this was definitely my BIBLE. As a matter of fact this book was so well-received within my circle that it was stolen and had to be re-bought.

I'm a good cook, but tend to like fairly simple fare (sort of meat and potatoes +). I'm also fairly experienced, but might not know offhand, say, the proper way to peel a kiwi fruit or exactly the right way to make an omelette. If you come close to fitting that profile, buy this book! It combines authoritative and beautifully illustrated tips and tricks on cooking basics with several dozen wonderful recipes. The best meatloaf you've ever eaten. The best pancakes you've ever eaten. The best beef stew you've ever eaten. The best scallion soup you've ever eaten. And so on. The recipes themselves are attractively presented and not overly complicated (I manage them despite having a toddler in the house).