[westopher]

Silver spoon - great Italian recipes and basics. Incredibly comprehensive
Batch - great introductions to pickling and fermenting
Larousse gastronomique - the all encompassing culinary bible
Cured - meat curing and butchery
Culinary artistry - encyclopedia of ingredients and how they pair with other ingredients. This book was the most important book for me to learn how to ignore recipes and create my own features nightly when I was a young CDP at cafe de Ville in Edmonton. Great if you want to get creative but have a baseline
The French laundry - you will never be able to make this food. Its insanity, however reading about the fundamentals of their food, and the understanding of what it takes to achieve perfection is an amazing read and really teaches polished techniques.