For me there are two.  "Dundee Cookery Book" which floated around our house as long as I remember.  Mum didn’t use it…she was the ‘pinch of this’, ‘dab of that’ cook but she had owned a copy of this book since her childhood then, when I went to Secondary School it was the Domestic Science (U.S. Home Ec) ‘bible’ so I’ve had my copy over fifty years.  It and the Betty Crocker are my ‘go-to’ books for comfort foods.  Not that I need to use them, now, but for some reason on a wet, windy winter’s day there is something nostalgic and warming to getting either of those books down for the dinner recipes.  When I first got the Crocker book, though, I was just young and arrogant enough to "Hmmpph!  I don’t THINK so!"  I was nineteen years old, in Scotland and having just become engaged to my late husband…an American.  Of course I hadn’t met his family, they didn’t know me from Adam but when he wrote his parent’s of our engagement his mother sent me the Crocker book almost by return mail.  In the arrogance of my youth I was annoyed that she surely thought I wouldn’t be able to cook for and feed her son!  This was somewhat heightened when "son" told me this was his mother’s favourite and only recipe book.  We remained in Scotland for a further couple of years, the book never used.  I had my own!  Then I came to the U.S.  Back then I found I couldn’t find many of the ingredients listed in my Scottish book so did turn to Betty Crocker and, through the years, she became my best friend…lolol.  Oh…as did my MIL…and I found that many of the recipes I turned to were, indeed, MIL’s own favourites.  Each time we would visit on leave, be it from another State or on our return from postings overseas, she always would make my favourite recipes of hers from that very book;  Chicken Fried Steak, fried potatoes, okra and pan-style country gravy followed by coconut cream pie.  It was the one meal I loved yet never made myself because I had already learned that for some reason, when another makes a recipe becoming my favourite (as my own mother did) I could never replicate them no matter how I tried.  I really do believe it was the love they put into them made the difference…or maybe it was just me, tasting the love they weren’t even aware was their best ingredient!  :)

Through the years I’ve become an adventurous cook…anything I see in a magazine, my large collection of all sorts and nationalities of cooking and my very worst habit has been to choose a brand new recipe when having friends or colleagues for dinner.  People are shocked, asked how I dare and it took me a long time to figure out why I would do such a risky thing.  The only thing I came up with is this…sometimes even the tried and true recipes just don’t come out their best and then what?  But when I make something totally new I don’t worry.  If it works…great!  If it doesn’t or just doesn’t taste or look as it ought, I can make an honest apology and say "Oh, dear…I’ve never made this before but it looked/sounded so interesting!" and my hair shirt gets to stay in the closet!