Why even resort to antiquated cookbooks, one might ask, when a near-infinite trove of recipes lies a click away, cleverly organized and rated for your convenience? The best answer may be: after the half-hour you spend Google-searching for the perfect recipe, you could be putting the final touches on a meal chosen from a cookbook. Here are our picks for the best cookbooks for the college student turned aspiring chef:

 

For the time-pressed: “America’s Test Kitchen’s Six-Ingredient Solution” ($18.67 on Amazon, 328 pages)

Look, you’re already taking 20 hours of classes, serve as president of no less than three clubs and are captain of the Quidditch team. Or maybe you just have better things to do than julienne carrots for hours a day. This book might not change your life, but it might save you from your Easy Mac and Pop-Tart diet. The beauty of some of the best dishes lies in their simplicity, a fact that the writers at America’s Test Kitchen fully understand. The book goes to great lengths to remain under six ingredients per recipe, which means less shopping and preparation for you. Why make tomato sauce when a jar of the store-bought stuff suffices perfectly well? These dishes might take a bit longer than spicing up instant ramen, but the reward of perfectly cooked enchiladas or Greek-style shrimp with orzo and feta is worth your while.

Caveat: No prep and cook time estimations make timing your meal tough, but when they indicate a “fast recipe,” they mean it.

 

For the Gourmand: “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge”, Grace Young

($22.23 on Amazon, 336 pages)

This cookbook is for those who think gourmet dorm cooking shouldn’t be an oxymoron. Usually, finding time to whip up that sea bream with mascarpone and elderflower might prove difficult on a student’s schedule. Luckily, there exists a magical cooking technique, one that allows even the most time-pressed individual to whip up delicious meals in less than 15 minutes—the stir-fry. While seemingly complex, the stir-fry remains one of the most time efficient methods of food preparation in existence, diabolically fast and flexible.

For the authoritative guide to all things stir-fried, novices and seasoned experts alike should turn to Grace Young’s “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge”. It’s subtitle, “The Ultimate Guide to Mastery”, hardly exaggerates. Starting from the simplest fried rice and moving to more complex entrees such as Classic Dry-Fried Pepper and Salt Shrimp, it provides a beginner-friendly way of advancing through this culinary art. To aid readers unequipped with a rocket engine, 100,000 BTU burner at home, Young tried all her recipes with a stainless-steel skillet and an average home range to ensure they turn out as well.

Caveat: You might have to get familiar with your favorite Asian specialty market. Some of the ingredients required aren’t sold at Safeway, but the payoff in authentic flavors more than makes up the inconvenience.