While the searchable recipe indexes listed above will provide you with a lot of recipes, they will tell you very little about cooking. Below is a list of cookbooks which may not give you nearly as many recipes as those links, but which tell you an infinite amount more about cooking. The list starts with James Beard, as that is where I started my own cooking endeavors.
James Beard was one of the paragons of American Cuisine. Though he is no longer living, he has left behind him a large body of works, from any one of which we can get not only a sense of the man, but some really good recipes as well. How good was James Beard? Consider the following story from Marion Cunningham:
Personally, the most resourceful cook I've ever known was the late James Beard, author of 28 cookbooks. During the 11 years I worked with him, his ingenuity saved the day--and the dinner--countless times.
One incident I remember well took place at a Chicago department store, where we were to do a cooking demonstration. We showed up with all the necessary ingredients--and then discovered that not only was there no stove, but there weren't even any hot plates to cook on. James went straight to the section selling irons and ironing boards and borrowed two irons. He propped them upside down, plugged them in and proceeded to cook.
· Theory and Practice of Good Cooking - A great, great book. In his forward, James Beard says, "This book...is designed to bring every one of you to that stage of being a creative, intuitive cook." This is the best learning tool that a cook can own.
· James Beard American Cookery - Forget Betty Crocker. Every kitchen needs that one "catch all" recipe book, and this is it.
· Beard on Pasta - A great book, now out of print, but probably still available at used book stores. When I was at school I had a housemate who, every night for dinner, would eat spaghetti in tomato sauce. Perhaps if he had owned this book, and realized that there are myriad ways that pasta can be prepared, he wouldn't have been so crazy and gone and gotten married just to break his housing contract.
Carol Field may not possess the most Italian sounding name of any cookbook author, but once you've sampled some of the recipes from her many cookbooks, you'll learn to overlook this minor detail.
· The Italian Baker - If you like to bake, then you'll like Carol Field, and you'll want to pick up a copy of the Italian Baker. If you don't like to bake, but like to eat really good baked items, then you'll want to buy a copy for a friend who likes to bake.
Marcella Hazan - Every ethic cuisine needs one voice to emerge and explain how things are done. For Italian food, Marcella Hazan is that voice. It is a voice which tells us "The only complication attendant on this sauce is finding the right gorgonzola. If you have a good, conscientious cheese dealer, ask to be notified when a fresh wheel of gorgonzola arrives from Italy. Once cut, the cheese does not improve, it becomes dry, crumbly, and yellowish. When it is at its peak, it is a warm, white color, creamily soft and even runny." (Marcella Hazan, Essentials of Italian Cooking)
· Essentials of Italian Cooking - Like it says in the title, this book delivers the essentials. The first 40 pages deal with the fundamental elements of Italian cooking, and then there are 600 pages of great recipes and insights.
Paul Prudhomme - Paul Prudhomme is a big man, but if you could cook like he does, you'd be that big too. Cajun Creole cooking is the most distinctive regional cooking in America, and Paul Prudhomme does an excellent job of telling you how to do it.
· Louisiana Kitchen - If you want to learn cajun and creole cooking, this is the place to come. Even if you don't buy the book, look it up in a bookstore and take a look at the pictures showing the 4 different colors of roux.
· Seasoned America - Paul Prudhomme takes on regional cooking and wins. The butternut squash soup recipe alone is worth the price of the book.
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Cookbooks to Buy 
