i'm looking to invest in some cook books. i have like 2, a chinese one and alton browns 'i'm just here for the food.' i've been meaning to get a good generic one, but any cook books (chinese, japanese, italian french) reccomendations are much appreciated
The Fort Restaurant at Denver is to western meat eaters what Moosewood is to the tofu crowd: Mecca and nirvana in one rugged package. Awesome.
The New Basics is another good generic one. My favorite cookbook right now is Rancho Cooking by Jacqueline Higuera McMahan. It's a collection of Californio recipes that basically comes out as a mixture of California, Mexican, and South American cooking: asados, empenadas, chiles rellenos, olives, seafood stews, etc. I also really like Rick Bayless's Salsa cookbook, which isn't as complicated as his more in depth books but has an interesting variety of salsas and some good recipes for cooking with them.