I am very interested in late Victorian and Edwardian cuisine - the very rich hotel and country house menus of the period. My Santa, learning of this, got me two sensational cookbooks:

The first is 'The Escoffier Cookbook And Guide to The Fine Art of Cookery for Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2,973 Recipes'. This is an astonishing collection of recipes from the greatest chef of his age, beautifully presented, illustrated and compiled. It is the recipe collection of Escoffier, who served the Ritz, JP Morgan and Napoleon III. I din't know where to start first: Carre de Porc a la Choucroute or Oranges a la Norvegienne en Style Louis XIV.

The second book is event more sensation: it is a bound and cased volume of 'L'Institut Paul Bocuse Gastronomique'. Bocuse is the modern Escoffier and his book is the definitive guide to contemporary grand haut cuisine. 1800 photographs! Countless recipes! It's like the Rolls-Royce Owners Handbook of Cooking.

I could not be more pleased or more grateful. I hardly need say that both books are fiendishly expensive and therefore represent a grand gesture by my Santa. Praise him, redditgiftors, praise him (or her) and award her (or him) many buttons!