As often as not they can end up gathering dust and be rarely used. But at their best they provide not just recipes but ideas - for parties, for presentation, for new things to try - and of themselves they can be beautiful things to be cherished.

There are some must haves: the photography should draw you in, make you hungry and do justice to the presentation, the ingredients should be clear and quantities unambiguous; method should be well written, using easy to grasp descriptions and should be set out in a way that is usable while actually cooking or should just be a beautiful thing. Attention to detail is important too. Unfortunately there is no way to tell these days if recipes have been tested. In todays trimmed-to-the-bone world of publishing it is often skipped - a sloppy approach that leads to slop on a plate.

Giving a any book for Christmas that’s about Christmas is a little too late in the day to be of any use. I’m something of a Humbug when it comes to Christmas, but those I know who aren’t swear by Delia’s Happy Christmas (Delia Smith, Ebury). Like her or loath her, reissued this year with updated and appropriately swish photography, it’s a reliable bible for the season.

A really useful chef doesn’t necessarily produce a really useful book.  There’s a place for stuff like The Fat Duck Cookbook (Heston Blumnethal, Bloomsbury) but it is firmly on the coffee table. Popping down to Lidl for 50g of gold frankincense tears then legging it to John Lewis to pick up a rotary evaporator to complete your 16 element Saddle of Venison creation may well prove a challenge if you leave it till Christmas Eve.

So here are five from the cream of the 2009 crop.

Snowflakes and Schnapps

(Jane Lawson) Murdoch £14/£20*

Profit conscious publishers shy away from producing beautiful things like this these days. The dust jacket alone would be an early Christmas for any printer. The recipes, despite being put together by an Australian, provide a tour of Northern European winter cuisine. The photography and design are flawless and provides a plethora of ideas. The culinary influences can be found in the best modern American cuisine. Books like this deserve to succeed 

World Kitchen

(Gordon Ramsay) Quadrille 2009  £8/£12*

The ubiquitous Gord is not to everyone’s taste. I find him inspiring, fun and he shares my attitude to vegetarians - I can see how he might irritate some. But his books are clear, well written, accurate and, highly usable. World Kitchen’s recipes are solid and it would be an excellent book for someone who wanted to cook but lacked confidence - put your trust in Gord!

The Songs of Sapa

(Luke Nguyen) Murdoch £15/£20*

Vietnamese food is about as trendy as it gets. Luke Nguyen is chef of The Red Lantern, one of Sydney’s leading Vietnamese restaurants - and in Sydney. If the design and typography are perhaps a little too elaborate to be entirely practical that is compensated by the photography which is part culinary and part travelogue. Interestingly organised into the regions of Viet Nam, the ingredients may seem challenging but most can be sourced through Chinese supermarkets such as that in Cradock Road, Reading.

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

(Tarek Malouf) Ryland, Peters & Small £8.45/£20*

Cute cakes, comforting cookies and other sweet things from the Portobello Road bakery. Baking may or may not be the new rock and roll, but this is as good a guide as any to re-creating fashionable American cakes. An invitation to bake, sensibly organised and slim - even though two recipes per page seems a little mean on space for the price.

The Exotic Meat Cookbook

(Jeanette Edgar and Rachel Goodwin) The Friday Project 2009 £12/£20*

Not everyone would thank you for a cookbook that includes recipes for antelope buffalo, ostrich, kangaroo, crocodile and even camel. But the fact that venison, veal and rabbit are among the ‘exotic’ meats is testimony to home limited our collective tastes have become. Many of these meats can be sourced here in Reading through Vicars in West Street and some can even be found in supermarkets. Zebra Saltimbocca, Stuffed Wild Boar Tenderloin - why not?

* typical online/in store prices, rather than RRP.