Best for inspiration

Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
The author needs little introduction, and the book is – as the title suggests – a furthering of his earlier vegetarian offering, Plenty. The triumph here is how none of this familiarity dilutes the mastery at work. Each recipe is a splendid invitation; a celebration of sorts. Ottolenghi multiplies the ingredients and techniques with great verve, and this boundless enthusiasm is tangible – and infectious. Plus, the cover makes it an instant modern classic.

Best for filling stockings

Good Food for Your Table by Melrose and Morgan
Somewhere between a culinary glossary, a seasonal miscellany and a how-to cookbook, this is one dinky kitchen companion, courtesy of the Primrose Hill greengrocers. Its diminutive size and pleasing red print on white paper – as pretty as a crisp gingham napkin – make it eminently easy to use, and use it you will.

Best for storytelling

Honey and Co by Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer
The cookbooks that stay with you the longest are those which combine useful recipes with a good read. And reads don’t come much better than this. Srulovich and Packer – like the slow-cooked wonders they rustle up in their eponymous central-London restaurant – take their time, drawing you into their world with tales of love and discovery.

Best for healthy cooking

The Art of Eating Well by Jasmine Hemsley and Melissa Hemsley
The Hemsley sisters might have impeccable fashion credentials but that only serves to add sparkle and old-school elegance to what is an unchallenged heavyweight reputation. When it comes to healthy, nutritious, sustainable eating, they are quite simply hors pair. Their approach is thorough, their fare meaty and sumptuous, and their method easily built into the madness of a working lifestyle.

Best for something new

Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour
A supper-club host with an insatiable zest for life and food and sharing, Ghayour has taken the food world by storm with this vibrant debut. The embossed, spice-strewn cover sets the tone – her ingredients envelop you in aromatics and colour, her dishes feel like home on a festive weekend, and her recipes, however sumptuous, are never inaccessible. This is starry-eyed home cooking for the inquisitive and the joyous.

Best for vegetarians

A Modern Way to Eat by Anna Jones
Taking Michael Pollan’s adage: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” as her motto, Jones fixes cosy dinners for friends and family and extends to her readers the same warmth and welcome. Her food philosophy is articulated in a clear, methodical way, but her keen eye for the beauty in cooking disguises how much you’re learning. With each page, you can almost smell the delicious aromas wafting in from the kitchen as, taking her cue, you set about feeding those you love. And you get the sense that no one will miss the meat – not even a little bit.

Best for sharing plates

Morito by Sam and Sam Clark
A book that was definitely worth the wait. The Clarks’ tapas joint, little sibling to celebrated Moro, has acquired a fan club all of its own – beloved for bright, big flavours gleaned from the husband-and-wife duo’s travels in Spain and beyond, and whipped into their own dazzling creations. And guess what? They’re brilliantly easy to make at home, no matter the time of year – (there’s even four seasons of tabbouleh). A fuss-free answer to feeding crowds, and a true go-to.

Best for baked goods

Bread, Cake, Doughnut, Pudding by Justin Gellatly
You know how, on some days, nothing other than a really good baked something will do – that buttery cheese-flecked scone, or molten chocolate brownie, that slice of Victoria sponge? Well, that’s what this book is made of. Gellatly is a true-blue, bona fide baker – he’s the real deal. And this is his stash of secrets.

Best for seasonal cooking

The Natural Cook by Tom Hunt
This one is a slow-burner. It’s a beautiful festival of colour with a clear message – eating the seasons from root to fruit – but its usefulness creeps up on you, until you realise, a few months in, that you’ve consulted it almost every day and found a meal you can make right there and then. Hunt is a dab hand at making individual fruit and veg shine: picking through the pages, you can’t wait for the next season and its bounty to land in your larder.

Best for spices

Made in India by Meera Sodha
If there’s one word to sum up Sodha’s infectious presence in the kitchen, it’s jubilant. From the yellow stars and popping red chillis on the cover to Sodha’s big-hearted smile that crops up at regular intervals between tantalising photos of multihued slaws, dhals, chutneys and raitas, this is a book that cries out to be cooked from, and you know you’ll have a blast every time you do.

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