Take note at-home cooks: you can now tap, read, and watch your way through an online Web and downloadable iPad version of The Professional Chef, the ultimate culinary bible from the Culinary Institute of America. The title breaks it all down for you without, thankfully, the hassle of awkwardly trying to keep your cookbook open. For visual learners, it’s a must. From the basics of sharpening knives and identifying dry goods (ebly wheat, what?) to fabricating meats and baking baguettes, if you can think to make it, it’s covered.

Some food for thought: this 1,200-page book includes 850 easy-to-follow recipes, 750 stunning photos, 100 video tutorials, and a searchable glossary. Add the note-taking functionality, access to Google and Wikipedia, and its unique social networking component (talk technique with fellow chefs!), and you get way more than you bargained for—in the best way possible—for $40 (with your BlackboardEats 20% off passcode). Well-reviewed by culinary experts and techies alike, the book had ABC News gushing: "From how to fillet a fish to how to make bread, turn on this app to learn any culinary technique that’s required to make dinner." So whether you fall on the professional or hobbyist side of the cooking line, The Professional Chef, 9e is the digital must-have to help you through a dinner for two or twenty.