For cookbooks, I've been using a lot of Cooks Illustrated. While most cookbooks reprint recipes that someone developed and which work pretty well, Cooks Illustrated does something like 30 different test runs of a recipe with small variations to recommend which version works best.
The recipes are behind a paywall on the CI site, but you can usually find them reposted on other sites if you search for "Cooks Illustrated popovers" or whatever.
Seconded. Several cookbooks are also published by CI under the 'America's Test Kitchen' name; I can recommend in particular the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book, which I've been using with great success for several years.
This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. I find that exposure to LW ideas makes me less likely to enjoy some entertainment media that is otherwise quite popular, and finding media recommended by LWers is a good way to mitigate this. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.
Rules: