Trying to find a dynamite recipe to wow guests or cook up a special supper for your special someone? Finding the best recipes is simple. First, perform a careful analysis of the situation for which you are cooking to narrow down the search. Cookbooks are very specific, so whether you are a hometown soup cook, a college student, or a soon-to-be fine cuisine artist, there is a cookbook for you. Find your niche, and get cooking!

Weight loss cookbooks are currently all the rage among dieters. There is a cookbook for every new fad diet around, be it South Beach, Atkins, or Weight Watchers. These cookbooks contain ideas for recipes that help you forget you are on a diet. Magazines like Cosmopolitan and Shape also contain delectable, yet guilt-free recipes if you are watching your waistline. The downside of these cookbooks is that you will spend a fortune purchasing all the diet-friendly ingredients.

Another large recipe market is the young-person-learning-to-cook cookbook. My favorite in this group is A Man, A Can, A Plan. This book contains simple recipes for the most novice of cooks. It details how to make delicious and filling dinners using mostly canned ingredients. Cooking for Dummies makes even the most exotic of dishes attainable, and these books come in several subgroups for ethnic recipes as well. Several cookbooks exist on that limit the supplies needed to a meager four ingredients, perfect for those twenty-somethings who cannot cook and feel strapped for cash.

For a special occasion, cooking shows are a fabulous resource to find recipes to amaze your guests. These recipes tend to be a bit more complicated and are not for the weak of heart, but if you are feeling up for a challenge, tune into the food network for an afternoon of yummy learning. Be sure to make notes, as there will be several ingredients to remember as well as cooking strategies and techniques that may be unfamiliar. These shows often supply other trade secrets as well on topics such as creating an atmosphere to compliment your cooking.

The true secret for finding the best recipes is to use personalized cookbooks. Everyone has them. You know, the church fundraiser where everyone turned in their favorite recipe and sold the compiled book to foot the youth group's bus bill to Habitat for Humanity? The inherited cookbook that gets passed through the generations of your family is another great place to find scrumptious recipes. Often these homemade cookbooks contain the best recipe secrets because they are unique. Also, people relate food to emotions, so when you cook Great Aunt Sally's famous meatloaf, a certain joy comes from the connection one feels through creating a dish that was created long ago by a special relative.