Last week, a dear friend of mine (we are so close, we call each other, “Sis”) sent an e-mail to me and a handful of other culinary types with the following question that really piqued my interest.

Sis was trying to find the most indispensable cookbook to give to her daughter for Christmas. And she wanted our opinions!

Her daughter had already asked for three good excellent tomes, including “The New York Times Cookbook,” “The Joy of Cooking,” and “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

But Sis knew there were others, so turned to us for help. Here’s how the e-mail string went that day:

From Braiden:

What a fun question to begin the day with. Of course, I turn to my own books quite a lot (J) and don’t really use a lot of cookbooks any more.

That being said, earlier on I relied on “The New Basics Cookbook” (Julee Rosso annd Sheila Lukins) quite a bit!

From Friend #2:

I turn to cookbooks more for ethnic cooking such as Indian or Thai food. II use” Joy” as a basic reference, but not as inspiration! I cooked many recipes from “Mastering the Art”…as a teen but don’t cook that way today. Since your daughter is living in California, she might enjoy the new Sunset cookbook. For years, the recipes in Sunset magazine represented California’s evolving approach to food and entertaining and informed culinary trends.

From Friend #3:

Hmmm…. I don’t use a ton of cookbooks anymore either. I just recently was very excited to buy “The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook,” after talking a hiatus from most of them. I have truly enjoyed every recipe I have tried and find the layout, recipes, and food photos to be very appealing and user friendIy. I also love their approach to healthy cooking, complete, of course with the nutrition analysis. It’s my new fave.