For a keen cook who already owns plenty of recipe books, The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit looks at which flavours go together, pair by pair, and The Science of Cooking by Stuart Farrimond answers everyday kitchen questions with food science. For a cook who likes a project, The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz covers ferments from sauerkraut and kimchi to miso and sourdough.
This guide is for anyone buying for a friend or relative who cooks a lot and already has a shelf of cookbooks. The picks lean towards books that explain how flavour and cooking work, large cookbooks devoted to one country's food, books on a single skill, and books about where food comes from.
For a cook who likes to improvise. Following the form of Roget's Thesaurus, it suggests flavour pairings for 99 popular ingredients, from pork and apple to watermelon and oyster, across nearly a thousand entries with 200 recipes and suggestions in the text.
For a cook who wants to know why a recipe works. Food scientist Dr Stuart Farrimond answers questions such as how to poach an egg and whether it is OK to reheat cooked rice, in a question-and-answer format organised by food group, with step-by-step techniques and illustrations.
For someone who cooks a lot of Italian food. Hazan's 736-page book is aimed at cooks of every level, with hundreds of recipes from soups, pastas and risottos to meat and vegetable dishes.
For a cook who wants to work through French cooking properly. This 50th-anniversary boxed set of two hardback volumes has more than 1,000 recipes for key French dishes, from boeuf bourguignon to croissants, and an anniversary introduction from Julia Child.
For a cook interested in regional and seasonal British food. In this part cookbook, part cultural history, food historian Ben Mervis collects 550 home-cooking recipes from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, from shepherd's pie and Welsh rarebit to Bonfire Night black peas.
For a keen baker who wants to learn professional technique. Written by the teaching team at Ferrandi, the French School of Culinary Arts in Paris, and adapted for home cooks, its 656 pages explain French pastry techniques and recipes step by step, with recipes graded by difficulty.
For a cook who likes walking and wild food. Month by month, John Wright shows which wild species can be found in Britain and where, how to identify them, and how to store, use and cook them, with tips on kit, conservation advice and what to avoid.
For a confident cook who wants to learn how to prepare fish. In three sections (Catch, Cut and Craft), Josh Niland gives detailed instructions on preparing fish, from reverse butterfly to double saddle, and over 40 recipes, from fish sticks and pies to sausage and chorizo.
For a cook who also loves history. The first cookbook from the Tasting History YouTube channel, it has over sixty dishes from the past, from a red beet stew dating back to 1740 BC to a pumpkin tourte from 1570, each with the original recipe and Max Miller's modern recreation.
For a cook who enjoys long projects, whether a first-timer or an experienced fermenter. Sandor Katz covers fermenting vegetables, beans, fish, meat, milk and grains and turning sugars into mead, wine and cider, with over 500 pages on processes, safety, techniques and troubleshooting and a foreword by Michael Pollan.
Books that explain cooking, rather than add more recipes, are a good place to start. The Flavour Thesaurus is about which flavours go together, and The Science of Cooking answers kitchen questions with food science. A book on one skill, such as Fish Butchery or The Art of Fermentation, gives a keen cook something new to try.
Tasting History recreates over sixty historical dishes, printing each original recipe alongside a modern version. The British Cookbook is part cookbook, part cultural history of home cooking in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
French Patisserie, written by the teaching team at the Ferrandi school in Paris, explains French pastry techniques step by step, with recipes graded by difficulty.
The Forager's Calendar by John Wright is a month-by-month guide to finding, identifying, storing and cooking wild food in Britain.
Selected by Fox & Fable from books in stock. Last updated 30 September 2026.
