Reddit reviews James Beard's Theory and Practice Of Good Cooking (James Beard Library of Great American Cooking, 2)

I'd focus on technique, not specific recipes from different cookbooks. I tend to read cookbooks from cover to cover as if they're novels, but I rarely actually cook from them. Learning techniques will allow you to throw together anything that's in your fridge or on sale at the grocery store. Plus, cookbooks use tons of ingredients, whereas most nights I only use protein, salt, fat, seasonal veggies, and wine (I am lazy and not about to go to three grocery stores to buy a ton of ingredients that will only go bad in the fridge).

It's not in print anymore, but I feel that the only cookery book anyone really needs is Jame's Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.

Wet cooking techniques to learn:

• Boil
  
• Braise
  
• Steam
  
  Dry cooking techniques to learn:
  
  
• Sauté
  
• Roast/bake
  
• Pan roast
  
• Deep fry/confit
  
  Knife skills to learn:
  
  
• Dice
  
• Mince
  
• Julienne
  
  A few basic preparations:
  
  
• Roast Chicken
  
• Steak
  
• Chicken Stock
  
• Scrambled Eggs
  
• Pan Sauce
  
• Mayonnaise
  
• Vinaigrette

I can't recommend Good Eats enough as a basic primer for what is happening during a cooking process. It is that somewhat deeper level of understanding of the concepts that drive the process, not the process itself, that will enable more improvisation in the future. It's a good place to start.

Jame's Beard's Theory and Practice is a nice reference with A LOT of information. It's pretty academic, or at least very dry though, so it may not be for everyone.

America's Test Kitchen, as others have also said, is nice as well because it does give you some tips for why they do what they do in each recipe.

My best advice is to cook a lot of recipes verbatim until you get your feet under you, so to speak. You'll find that by the time you've tried four or five versions of a recipe for a certain dish, you'll be able to improvise with pretty decent success because you've seen what the recipes have in common, what's different, and where there is room for play.

Having said that, you have to remember that a recipe in a cookbook or on a restaurant menu has been tested A LOT of times, undoubtedly with some failures. Now, those failures may not have been as spectacularly inedible as the average home cook's failures, but that's simply because those chefs or cookbook editors have more experience.

My mom gave me this book in paperback many, many moons ago. I definitely recommend James Beard's "Theory and Practice of Good Cooking." Such a wealth of knowledge contained in its pages.
https://www.amazon.com/Beards-Practice-Cooking-Library-American/dp/0762406135/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FC15A8G2V2VQNPV62W99

James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.

Can't speak to the others.