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i said cookbooks in the survey, mainly b/c that's where i go for inspiration, but truthfully, i get most of my recipes out of my own brain, riffing on a theme i find in a cookbook, working with what i've got in the larder, and then coming up with a new spin on the fly while i'm chopping and stirring

i do use a lot of magazines though, and i like epicurious, mainly b/c it's so comprehensive, but much of my inspiration comes from memories of meals my mother made when i was a child or that i ate at a restaurant

www.foodnetwork.com

I often browse multiple recipes for the same dish to get a sense of the main requirements (i.e basic proportions, cooking time and temperature). Then I make my own version using these basics as a guideline.

For baked goods, which I don't know much about, I rely on cooksillustrated.com for recipes that always seem to work well. They have good explanations of how ingredients work and the logic behind different prep methods. (subscription required, but I think it's worth it)

I have a lot of cookbooks, which I also turn to sometimes. But often I just get a basic idea, then look online for variations and related ideas (ie what else could I do with polenta?)

I'm a big fan of molliekatzen.com for vegetarian, seasonal stuff.

I chose blogs. I've found that the following three never steer me wrong:

orangette.blogspot.com
chocolateandzucchini.com
hannahcooks.blogspot.com

In my cookbook collection, there are two that I use all the time -- Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything, which I flip through for dinner ideas or new ways to eat more veggies, and Baking Illustrated, which is my go-to reference for all baked goods.

first i use allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com. then sometimes epicurious and occasionally recipesource.com. i have a ton of cookbooks but i never seem to use them...

I'm like Ann. I get an idea, but I just flip through cookbooks or websites to see if the wheel has already been invented on the technique. One of my favorite recent dinners was a red pepper, brown sugar, maple and pecan coating on catfish. The sweetness was just perfect with the spice, and the green beans and cornbread were perfect accents, with a 47 lb Rooster pinot Noir.

Cookbooks first (have over 4 dozen)
Magazines 2nd (often get inspiration from casual reading on trains, etc.)
Web 3rd -- when looking for a mag or newspaper recipe I can't otherwise locate.

the archives of rec.food.cooking, back in the old days it was THE place to get tips and recipes.

regards,
trillium

Cookbooks are my standby, but I also head to Epicurious and Food Network. My food blog du jour is Words to Eat By ... http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/

I find great ideas and advice from the Home Cooking board on Chowhound.com. OK, so the interface is clunky - tabbed browsing help a lot. But what a group of willing, knowledgeable and enthusiastic people.

I really love Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines.

I check Epicurious first, then foodtv.ca (I adore Rob Feenie, Vancouver chef & his recipes are there, also pastry chef Anna Olson's recipes), I also check my cookbooks; I have too many of course, but strangely always want to buy new ones.. I buy food magazines about every 3 months only & try one or two new recipes from each one. I like Food & Wine. I like the New York Times recipes too.
I often also go to my recipes which I have placed in binders.

Because I am constantly thinking of food, I tend to go to whatever source is closest, typically cookbooks. But I also love epicurious, particularly mid-day when I have a dinner idea. And I enjoy cooking light, especially for fruit-based desserts.

But like Ann and Rachel, I also tend to gather information, assess my pantry and refrigerator situations, and then work from my head.

www.fooddownunder.com. this site is totally basic, but i love it bacuse i like to type in what ingredients i already have and it will pull up tons of recipes with those things in it. very convenient when i don't want to go out and buy anything.

www.foodnetwork.com

BAM!

Ona said:

"I often browse multiple recipes for the same dish to get a sense of the main requirements (i.e basic proportions, cooking time and temperature). Then I make my own version using these basics as a guideline."

Yeah, I do that, too.

Also, sometimes when I'm in a discount bookstore, I'll buy a cookbook, but I end up not using it.

Or I'll be waiting in the checkout line in the supermarket or in Gourmet Garage, be attracted to a picture of food on the cover and buy it. Then maybe plunder it for a helpful hint or two before depositing it in the downstairs hallway of our building where the other barely-read magazines go to be re-adopted.

allrecipes.com

"be attracted to a picture of food on the cover" means, of course, the cover of a food magazine. Sheesh. I need to eat.

Relaxing evenings usually consists of flipping through multiple cookbooks and some how an ammalgumation of ideas coagulates to form a new Luke specific recipe. Other sources= epicurious and a life line to my mother and grandmother.

I used to have a book shelf full of cook books and a very coumfy chair next to it. The comfy chair always luered me into a night of gastronomic pornography.

I used to 1st go to epicurious then to foodnetwork then life got ever so much eaier when I discovered: http://www.foodieview.com/index.jsp which is a Recipe Search Engine that "scours the web to find the best recipes on the web's most popular recipe sites...."
Very addicting!

I have a ton of cookbooks which gets a little overwhelming. I usually wind up using allrecipies.com.

I voted for my cookbooks. But if what I'm looking for isn't there - I use google. It sends me everywhere, the big sites, to personal favorites.

Luke mentioned asking his mother and grandmother. My mother and sister are great resources, too. My sister in particular makes every meal from scratch and cooks a wide variety of foods from around the world, and is always a good for for verifying or clarifying ideas and techniques found online.

Another vote for the Food Network. I still subscribe to several cooking magazines (Food & Wine, Cooking Light, etc.) but for me, there's something about seeing the food made that makes me want to grab the recipe off the website...

I opened to the comments section thinking I would find a bunch of links I'd never seen before, but there are hardly any links at all. So I will do my part. I, of course, cook from cookbooks, magazines, and find epicurious enormously handy, but I've found good recipes here:
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/
and in the same vein, here:
http://www.jacquespepin.net/members/recipes/index.html

This is a fantastic site:
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/
Cupcake Bakeshop might have been mentioned on this site already, but it's worth noting again:
http://chockylit.blogspot.com/
Chocolate & Zucchini and 101 Cookbooks everyone knows about by now. I think delicious days just won a bloggie, but it is my favorite and they have fantastic recipes:
http://www.deliciousdays.com/

just because she's a baker, like me, and lives in Chicago, like me:
http://probonobaker.typepad.com/probonobaker/

and for hours of linklinklink-ing there is always http://www.slashfood.com

now pony up some of your links

I like http://www.acatinthekitchen.com/ , mostly because she posts some good candy recipies, but it's a nice look at traditional swedish food.

I'm typically inspired by food TV shows (in general, not just Food Network) and then use trusty google to steer me in the right direction.

tastespotting!