JOY OF COOKING
Since its first private printing in 1931,The Joy of Cookinghas been teaching Americans how to cook.Craig Claibornecalls it "a masterpiece of clarity" andJulia Childsays 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 canfinallyunderstand 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.