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My first influential cookbook was James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking. All the basic recipes and a lot of teaching. I'd still recommend it if you can get it on Ebay or somewhere.
Tom Colicchio's Craft of Cooking and Think Like a Chef aren't quite beginner level, but the instructions are clear, photos pretty and the recipes pretty inspiring (for me anyway).
My first influential cookbook was James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking. All the basic recipes and a lot of teaching. I'd still recommend it if you can get it on Ebay or somewhere.
Tom Colicchio's Craft of Cooking and Think Like a Chef aren't quite beginner level, but the instructions are clear, photos pretty and the recipes pretty inspiring (for me anyway).
