Carolyn Jung

It's the perfect go-to resource book when you're in the middle of cooking something and have a question.

A chef-y book that home-cooks can actually cook from. The recipes work, enlighten, and teach that restaurant flair and flavor don't always have to mean complicated and intimidating.

This is the taste of my childhood, captured in dishes wonderfully similar to that of which my Mom and my relatives used to make.

The ultimate authority on Vietnamese cooking. Period.

The real way to make Chinese food the way it should be.

Packed with information about every cut of meat around, as well as the best ways to cook each of them.

Fool-proof baking recipes that you'll make again and again.

It teaches you the "why's'' when it comes to baking -- why something has a particular texture, and how adding more yolks or more whole eggs or more sugar will change it in different ways.

I've never made one of her recipes that didn't fail to impress.

I've yet to make it to her famed Boston bakery, but I'm able to "eat" vicariously through her recipes for these perfect homespun treats.