[.ca] Joy of Cooking (ISBN 0026045702)

From Amazon.com:
Since its first private printing in 1931, The Joy of Cooking has been teaching Americans how to cook. Craig Claiborne calls it "a masterpiece of clarity" and Julia Child says it's the one book she'd keep if she could only have one English title on the shelf. The nearly 5,000 recipes are handily organized by meal and ingredient, and no cooking instruction goes unexplained, so you can finally understand the difference between poaching and braising. The book includes nutritional information as well as an extremely helpful list of measures and equivalents. You'll find a version of every recipe your mother ever cooked, along with straightforward instructions for cooking more exotic specialties such as turtles and muskrats.

it's all in here:
It doesn't matter what I'm cooking, JOC has instructions on how to do it. And I love the chatty notes on specific recipes and techniques--they keep it from being stodgy and ponderous. I only wish the actual book was a bit more heavy duty. The pages are little more than newsprint-weight.

If you only want one cookbook...:
This is it. A little pretensious in spots but exhaustive. The definitive cook's cookbook but also very usable for novices. Timeless, painstakenly accurate and indespensible.

disappointing:
This book is fine if you're in the habit of cooking roast beef dinners with all the trimmings. It has some good old-fashioned information but given the size of this book (big enough to kill someone if dropped on the head) it's disappointing. The muffin recipes have way too much sugar for the amount of flour required, the cookie recipes are not good, and if you're Italian, you will have a good laugh at the pasta recipes.

Kitchen Bible:
Answers nearly all questions one might have in the kitchen. It's my textbook.

A Males Cookbook:
The Book is great for new Cooks like Newly Weds or Young Men learning about cooking. It has it all. Like how to grill. The things men do wrong when grilling the way thier fathers would teach them like, salting your meat prior to grilling. Great pointers as in why Red potatoes are better for boiling than Idaho. Even a reciepe for Hush Puppies. How to cut a Wedding cake and a menu for a New Years party. I tell everyone I know this is the best cookbook you will ever find and its easy to understand. Most books I give up reading after the I have to go to the far east to find the ingredients. I will always... have this book. If you did not learn it all from your mother, and she is not just a phone call away, then you can almost always find the advice you need in this book. It is written in easy to understand verbage and I love it.