For someone starting out, just the Penguin Cookery Book by Bee Nilson. It has all the basic cooking techniques and information like quantities per person, how to choose ingredients, etc. First published 1952 and never out of print.

For me, now, no cookbook at all. I don't need new techniques and I rarely follow recipes. For checking things like ratios in baking I just go back to the faithful old Penguin.

I did this in real life. We had limited ingredients in our tiny, isolated town, and limited funds even for those. I found an at that time updated copy of Joy in the big city. My mother sent me a Sunset magazine Mexican foods cookbook. And she sent me "receipts" in her own hand for many family favorites, which I stored in a big envelope. And too bad if it's a collection. That's what I had. I still have the latter two. I gave the big, heavy Joy to a friend there and bought another when I got an apartment here. It was missing my favorite recipe I made from it. It was a different edition in the same dust jacket! A couple years later, in a friend's kitchen, I was idly thumbing through her copy, and lo! There it was! It now lives in my Joy, on a pink Post-it note.

For young people starting out, I really do give them Bittman (the Joy of the modern age). And I give then that forbidden collection of favorite and family recipes. Too bad--again, it's reality, though now inserted in an app. For a third, not unlike the specialty book with color pictures my mother sent me, I might choose Ottolenghi or Jerusalem, depending on what they like, or perhaps the KA baking book, or maybe even a Betty Crocker, like the cooking/baking Betty binder my folks gave me when I was still single digits in age. Or Joan Nathan"s American if they're Ashkenazi. ETA: Or, beautiful book, beautiful photography, excellent recipes, though best copied out rather than cooking with a coffee table book, Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews by Dweck.

But if they already know basic cookery, instead, I'd give them Modernist Cuisine, Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible, and maybe Savory Baking: An Innovative Pastry Cookbook with a Healthy Twist ... three, no compendium.

I can’t answer that question. While I’m an unapologetic recipe follower, most come from the internet, and even then I often blend a couple together. Most cookbooks have been a disappointment. The one with the most loose pages would be a Cook’s Illustrated book, used mostly for reference/comparison at this point.

Just because plllog mentioned it, I’ll say that MC, specifically MC@H, was my most expensive and thereby most disappointing purchase. Overly fussy with unremarkable results, everything I tried.

Marcella Hazan's Essential Italian Cooking.

Thanks for the review! I'll keep that in mind should I be tempted, but I, too, use the net more than books, nowadays for actual recipes, as well as some how-to's, including ones to ball together. I was thinking the full five volume boxed set (not a compilation--just too big for one spine) as a reference, rather than for recipes, for my already know how to cook ones, And no price restriction was imposed. ;)

For a newbie, maybe The New Basics (Silver Palate), Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and Ina G’s first book, Barefoot Contessa.

It’s hard to think of which ones for me now. IDK, I frequently grab one of Ina’s books to look through again…and again. I’m also one to use the internet constantly.

So unfair! I have more than 3 that I rely on - but then I thought about how I tuck recipes I've printed out or hand copied into my cookbooks, along with the fact that so many of my fave recipes are also in digital format on my computer, so I could have all the ones I use most, in addition to those in the books.

So I guess it would be my vintage Betty Crocker's Cookbook, Joy of Cooking, and either Beard on Bread or The Settlement Cookbook...

I gave away most of my cookbooks in my last move. The ones I kept were a family cookbook that my mother and I compiled and published (for family members only) many years ago, The Barefoot Contessa (never steered me wrong), Master Recipes by Stephen Schmidt, a 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking and my first Betty Crocker cookbook. To get down to three, I would probably give up the Betty Crocker and The Joy of Cooking.

Unlike most of you, I only started cooking once I retired, so my skills are sort of scattershot. I don't have an ingrained idea of proportions for common base recipes or the ability to make anything from memory. That's one reason I enjoy reading this forum. You are all such gurus.

If you were to open the cupboard where I keep cookbooks - you'd know immediately why I can't participate in your question. I went through a period where I bought all that looked interesting and would read them like novels.

My cousin recently introduced me to some Kimball's Milk Street recipes. When she told me of one of his soups that was the first thing she was tempted to cook (and did) when recovering from Covid I added it to my stash and make it often even though it takes a 55 mile trip to the closest Trader Joes to afford a couple of the ingredients, Fennel which is twice the price locally and saffron.

I agree the Bittmans How to Cook Anything is a good one for someone starting out, I may have every cookbook Ina has ever published and I do use those. A SIL gave me a book one year that is recipes for all kinds of West Coast ocean fishes and shellfishes, local berries and fruits - when it always looks so good I still cook wild caught only fresh fish very simply with usually a bit of butter, S&P and sometimes fresh dill.

When I was growing up we had exactly one cookbook in the house, A collection of hometown recipes from Kansas where my mother grew up - she was not much interested in cooking, I still have the book but packed away with mementos, never in use.

Sorry, but I agree with FOAS. I'll use a book called the internet. All 100 trillion pages of it!

Can I use two? Two shelves that is.

Regarding three, and starting from the left here, I’d have a tough time parting with #’s 3, 4 and 5.

I have the exact Betty Crocker's cookbook that Carol posted. I got it as a wedding gift in 1981 and I still use it from time to time. When I got married, I didn't really know how to cook other than the very basics. Mom never made me cook at home. I would fix my own breakfast meals sometimes and that was about it. Betty taught me how to cook! I would never part with that one and I can't really think of any others I would need. I have many of those mentioned but Betty is my favorite. I would just go to the library if there was no internet :)

1. Betty Crocker (my edition is from the early '90)

2. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (I'm not a vegetarian but find it a terrific resource for grains, all sorts of side dishes, and vegetables)

3. Judy Gorman's vegetable cookbook

If there were a fire and I could only grab one collection of recipes it would be my own collected recipes scrapbook. I could replace the above three cookbooks if I needed to but not ~30 years of my personal of tried-and-true.

1) The Joy Of Cooking

2) Readers Digest, Creative Cooking

3) Bread Machine Magic

My mother used to have a cookbook written in French, that was her go-to. As I recall if showed her how to cut up a whole deer! Times have changed! 🦌

My theory is I’d want one comprehensive book for each of the cuisines I like cooking the most.

So, one Chinese cookbook. Not sure which one, but I’ve just picked up a Joyce Chen book to try out.

One Japanese cookbook. No question, ” Japanese Cooking: A Subtle Art” by Tsuji.

And one French or Italian cookbook, or better yet a book that covers both. I am not sure which it’d be. Maybe “Larousse Gastronomique” would cover all the bases. If not, then I’d probably choose Julia over Marcella with regrets.

For the young and just-starting-out me, I think the Betty Crocker cookbook is a very good if now decidedly unfashionable primer on a very wide range of American style Western cooking. I’d take that plus the Chinese and Japanese books.

I've practically worn out the pages in the cakes section of my Betty Crocker book - best, easiest one bowl cake & frosting recipes ever 🙂

I can't choose. It depends on the season. My mood!. I don't think we're eating enough veg so I've just ordered this book. Saw her cooking on tv on Saturday and liked what she did.

If I want pie, then it's the Hairy Bikers. A lot of time, Ottolenghi. Traditional, Mary Berry....exotic, the Spicery. Endless possibilities.