Complete Techniques

Jacques Pépin

The Food of Morocco

Paula Wolfert

Wonderful flavor combinations and technique notes

The Italian Baker

Carol Field

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Deborah Madison

Heston's Fantastical Feasts

Heston Blumenthal

The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter

Charlie Trotter

Some brilliant simple flavor combinations.

Great Desserts from the Great Chefs

Baba Kahlsa and Andrea Opalenik

It’s a forgotten title, but was given to me at the beginning of my culinary journey and proved to be amazingly informative; every recipe in it I every tried taught me something.

The New York Times Cook Book

Craig Claiborne

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book

Fannie Merritt Farmer

So much history; amazing to see how much from the turn of the 20th century is still as applicable after the turn of the 21st century.

The Joy of Cooking

Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

One of the first books to work in “culinary chat”, having more text than ingredients and ratios.