In my experience, one of the best and most comprehensive series of cook books available are the “Cookery Bibles” published by Phaidon Press. Once you have these, you may never need another cook book again. I would highly recommend them for anyone who is a foodie at heart.

There are four books that I’m aware of, covering four European countries:

France: I Know How to Cook (Ginette Mathiot)

Italy: Silver Spoon (Various contributors)

Spain: 1080 Recipes (Simone Ortega)

Greece: Vefa’s Kitchen (Vefa Alexiadou)

Each have been massive sellers in their native countries, for their incredible collection of old, authentic cuisine, as well as being beautifully presented and easy to follow. Essentially, each book contains hundreds of recipes - starters, main courses, desserts and drinks - with contributions from top chef’s of the relevant countries at the end of each book.

There’s a nice section in the French book dedicated to wine, which shows how important wine is to the French dining experience. Naturally, the recommended wines are from France, but it’s interesting to note how certain dishes will partner well with wines of different appellations.

Some tips from ‘I Know How to Cook’

Oysters and Crustaceans: Dry white wine: Muscadet, white Burgundy and Traminer.

Roast Meat and Game: Red wines for roast meat must be high quality and should be full-bodied for red meat and lighter bodied for white meat. Bordeaux - Pomoral, Margaux, St. Emilion. Red Burgundy - Gevrey-Chambertin, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommard.

Foie Gras: In general, slightly sweet white wines or wines from regions of foie gras production are recommended. Try Sauternes, Monbazillac, Montrachet, Jurancon and Gewurztraminer.

Cheese: Red wine is usually served with cheese. But the wine should be chosen to suit the cheese. So, for example, Gruyere and Brie require a less full-bodied wine than Roquefort. Goats milk cheese goes well with a dry white wine such as Sancerre.