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So which cookbooks do you have on your kitchen bookshelf? Which ones are indispensable? Which ones just take up space?

Here's mine:

1. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan): One of my favorite cookbooks. Great, simple, never-fail recipes described in great care. Never fails to deliver authentic great tasting italian dishes. Some classic crowdpleasers from here include: Pork Loin Braised in Milk, Roast Chicken with Two Lemons, the best Ragu Bolognese ever....

2. How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman): A new favorite of mine. Lots of recipes (2000), along with many suggested variations, and descriptions of foods and the appropriate techniques for each.

3. The Professional Chef (Culinary Institute of America). Targeted towards the professional chef (duh!). Recipes tend to make huge portions (want a gallon of soup?). Great pages describing each classical technique in detail. Recipes tend to be a bit fussy, with many steps.). Great resource for learning about cooking.

4. Cook With Jamie (Jamie Oliver). So so. Nice pictures, most recipes work. Too few recipes and too little instructions/techniques for the money

Have a few more, but these are the ones I refer to on a regular basis