Gjelina by Travis Lett
“Le Bernardin” - by Eric Ripert
“Seafood Simple” - by Eric Ripert
“Food of the Italian South” - by Katie Parla
“Tasting Rome” - by Katie Parla
Indian Flavor Every Day - by Maya Kaimal
“The New Best Recipe” - by Cook’s Illustrated
The Cook’s Illustrated one is probably my favorite wide-ranging, almanac-style cookbook. I love how Cook’s Illustrated will try different methods, and then actually share the results with us, including commentary on their thought processes behind their various attempts. This approach has saved me on multiple occasions. Where this book fails, Joy of Cooking is often there to pick up the slack. Particularly with Joy of Cooking in mind, I should note the premium I place on comprehensiveness in this category.
The Indian cookbook is incredibly good, and has been vaulting up the standing in my little collection. It seems like everything I make out of there is awesome, and nothing has been difficult. Are some dishes a lot of work? Yes. But nothing has been difficult. Perhaps it’s because cooking Indian from scratch at home is a new thing for me, but I’m finding it exciting. Indian Flavor Every Day really is approachable, you’re just going to be measuring more things than may be normal. Fun stuff, though.
Each of the Ripert books is great — I’d list them gourmet first, but both have many easy recipes. Le Bernardin is a bit more demanding, particularly because it implicitly assumes you have a liquid pantry, which I don’t find practical for most home chefs; as such, many recipes will take many hours, one full day, or maybe even two days if you’re starting totally from scratch (i.e.: you don’t already have a particular stock/broth/base the recipe calls for, so you need to make that, too.) Seafood Simple doesn’t typically ask quite that much of the cook. Seafood Simple is a touch more exciting, but Le Bernardin is a touch more refined. The tuna tartare recipe in *Le Bernardin" is pretty much my notion of perfect — a delightfully modest frame for high-quality fish.
I know I didn’t list it above, but a large part of me thinks I should: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan is excellent! So why didn’t I list it above? Because, so far, there’s really only four recipes I use regularly, and I almost never pull the book anymore on account of having three of those recipes now memorized. This is another book I’d be well-advised to dive deeper in to.
and, in true Berserker fashion, I’ll go beyond the scope of your request, just to suggest Fine Cooking magazine. Nearly every issue I’ve ever picked-up has been loaded with great recipes. Easy. Delicious. Fun. Fresh and Exciting. So many great recipes per issue it’s reasonable to characterize each issue as a soft-cover mini cookbook.
I’ve had pretty good success with Bon Appetit… but it’s another magazine, of course.
… and now I"m curious to see what I said in the previous cookbook threads. 