Try cooksillustrated.com. The same folks who do a job on public tv and try a recipe multiple ways to determine which is best. Sometimes they're a pain in the *** but the recipes are usually top notch. All you have to do is register and you have access to a bunch of recipes.

Oh, I just realized you're looking for a cookbook as a gift. The cooksillustrated folks have done a bunch of cookbooks, too. You can check online at Amazon, there's one called The New Best Recipe: All New Edition with 1,000 REcipes. Good luck.