The Best Recipe cookbook is by Cook's Illustrated and is one of my favorite cookbooks. Every recipe I've ever made from it has been fantastic! Part of the reason for that is it provides multiple variations of the dish and explains why it stands apart, so I'll the version I think that I will like.
They take old recipes, new recipes and experiment and create something new and explain why different variations work or not work. They really do a deep dive into a recipe and tell it's story, and that's where I've learned a ton.
It has everything in it, and explains both how and why each recipe is as good as it is. I bought this book 20 years ago, and still use it multiple times a week.
Their Best Recipes is phenomenal. It covers all your basic American dishes and goes over common cooking techniques (how to butcher meat, make stock, cookware recommendations). It’s the most comprehensive cookbook I’ve used.
Best Recipes from America’s Test Kitchen. It covers most of the staple American recipes and includes information on cookware reviews, knife handling, and pretty much any basic kitchen skill. I also love that there are intros to recipes that explain why they landed on the recipe listed- it helps me figure out what substitutions I can get away with or how to improvise.
I could dig out a cookbook and transcribe my favorite...
If you're curious about what sort of variations have positive results, this is one I think your collection should include... though its more aimed at quality than cost awareness.
Thanks for the cookbook tip. This sounds like one I'll have to check out:
It has 215 reviews on Amazon, about 87% of them five stars! There's also an appealing quote from the Seattle Times, "Consider this a companion to 'The Joy of Cooking,' with recipes that run from the basic to creatively unusual." Yes, please!
One of my favorite books out there is Best Recipe.
This book has a great compilation of recipes, but also goes into great detail as to why things are done certain ways historically and how different methods during the cooking process give different results, even down to methods for selecting the best produce for certain dishes.
(I linked the more expensive hardcover edition, because it's that good.)
*Edit: Read the reviews on Amazon. They tell it better than I can.
https://www.amazon.com/Recipe-Editors-Cooks-Illustrated-Magazine/dp/0936184388
I've been using this book for over 20 years. It's by far the best out there.
The Best Recipe is pretty good.
Interesting writeups on how they optimized each recipe.
haven't picked up Food Lab book yet. I would recommend Best Recipes by Cooks Illustrated though.
I bought it for $6 on Amazon... a steal. https://www.amazon.com/Recipe-Editors-Cooks-Illustrated-Magazine/dp/0936184388/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0936184388&pd_rd_r=JHPZM6R0JH29EPMGA1X2&pd_rd_w=Bx1gx&pd_rd_wg=w4ZwP&psc=1&refRID=JHPZM6R0JH29EPMGA1X2