The Cook's Companion: Complete Guide to Ingredients & Recipes for Australian Kitchens by Stephanie Alexander (2004) – Perfect for Home Chefs & Cooking Enthusiasts

I am one of those cooks who likes to collect only the very best cookbooks- Larousse for France, Hazan for Italy, Fearnley-Whittingstall for meat, Casas for Spain, Kennedy for Mexico. And for Australia? Stephanie Alexander. It has wonderful information about the products and how to prepare them, with perfect easy recipes for beautiful classic immigrant cuisine (Gingerbread? Lemon slice? Minestrone with fresh borlotti beans and cavolo nero? Ceviche?) In the margins she has fantastic little inspirational notes for cooks who don't need measurements, such as "another beef salad: combine light soy sauce with fresh lime juice, fish sauce..." It is a big, heavy, gorgeous but durable book that you will love to see on your shelf almost as much as you love cooking with it. It is organised by ingredient, like Larousse, so you can say, "Hmmmm, I have a lot of potatoes. What can I make?" If you live in Australia, buy this book. It will give you everything your mum used to make. If you don't, buy it anyway- if your mother is Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Mexican, French...it might just have something she used to make too. But maybe even better.