What to do with all those Food Network/Internet/Personal recipes? Put them in your own book! There's nothing better for keeping recipe cards organized than a cheap 4x6 photo album. Buy one that has a 1 column page format. Multiple columns make it difficult to find things quickly. Organize however you'd like using simple adhesive index dividers. EASY.

The definitive source for all kitchen science. A supreme classic.

Like "The Joy of Cooking," Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" is a comprehensive collection. The recipes are all good and basic, though Joy's might be a little better. The real star of "Everything," however, is the reference. There are pages on pages discussing the merits of soaking beans, how to prepare different vegetables, etc. That alone is worth it's (considerably heavy) weight in gold.

What did people do before "Cook's Illustrated" and "America's Test Kitchen?" All the wisdom of these august institutions can be found here, making this volume a classic. This particular publication of theirs explains "why" any recipe made the cut.

This is my vice book. It is not the most definitive, nor is it the most complete book of vegetarian cookery. Some recipes even need some serious tweaking (the nacho sauce is far too sweet as is). It was, however, one of the first, and every recipe in it is delicious. This book would have to be pried from my cold, dead fingers for me to give it up.

If you're looking to approximate your local take-out's General Tso's Chicken...this might not be the book for you. However, it is perhaps the best Chinese cooking techniques book in English, and the techniques are the important thing. The recipes included are superb, though at times a little too purist-y.

James Beard winner