Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child)
The canonical English-language source for French classics — bourguignon, coq au vin, onion soup.
Child, Bertholle, and Beck's 1961 classic — the book that taught American home cooks restaurant French technique, with every step explained rather than assumed. Its beef bourguignon and coq au vin remain the versions others are judged against, and its method prose (dry the meat before browning, and why) pioneered the "why it works" style this wiki's recipes use.
Reach for it as the authority position on anything in the French bistro group.
Backs: beef bourguignon, coq au vin, french onion soup, steak au poivre.