Date: Fri 09-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

cookbooks-Sonoma-Joy-melting

Full Text:

Diversity Worth Tasting: America's Cuisine, Then & Now, Is A Melting Pot Of

Flavor

(with book covers)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

As American as apple pie... or maybe Caesar Salad, Oysters Rockefeller,

Southern Fried Chicken, or Boston Baked Beans.

Many cookbooks celebrating the history and diversity of American cuisine were

published during the past year, including the new edition of the Joy of

Cooking (Simon & Schuster, November 1997, hardcover, $30, 1136 pages) which

debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list. The long-awaited sixth

revision of the Joy of Cooking was the first revision in more than 20 years

for the classic cooks' reference, and represents a $5 million investment for

its publisher, Simon & Schuster.

The new Joy is still the book you can turn to for perfect Beef Wellington and

Baked Macaroni and Cheese. Today it is also the book in which cooks can find

Turkey on the Grill, Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles, and vegetarian meals in new

chapters which reflect changing American tastes and lifestyles.

In fact, if you have an older edition of Joy , don't get rid of it. A lot had

to be removed from the book to make way for all the new material and some of

it might include your favorite recipes. But now there are separate new

chapters on grains, beans and pasta, and new baking and dessert chapters with

everything from focaccia and pizza to a step-by-step illustrated wedding cake

recipe that takes you through all the stages, from building a stand, making

and decorating the cake, to transporting it to the reception without a hitch.

There's a new "Rules" section in many chapters which gives essential cooking

basics at a glance, new drawings, and more than 300 additional pages.

Best of all, the book's traditional red ribbon page maker has been preserved.

U.S.A. Cookbook

American cuisine is a melting pot, a fact which is reflected in Joy and other

new cookbooks such as Sheila Lukins' U.S.A. Cookbook (Workman Publishing, May

1997, hardcover, $28.95; $19.95 softcover).

Most readers probably remember Ms Lukins from The Silver Palate cookbooks and

her weekly articles as food editor of Parade magazine. Now she has gone back

to her roots: into the kitchen to reinvent the dishes Americans know and love

best.

The book has a bold graphic look and more than 600 recipes which combine the

sophisticated and the homespun. There is Grilled Scampi on a Stick,

Quesadillas with Duck and Caramelized Onions, a BLT (with the "T" being a

fried green tomato), a Caesar Sandwich (turn the traditional salad's croutons

into rolls, hard-cook the eggs, add more anchovies).

You got the idea. All-American with a twist.

365 All-American Favorites

For a book of All-American favorites as we have long known and loved, 365

All-American Favorites (HarperCollins, February 1997, hardcover, $12.95)

contains one for every day of the year. With one or two recipes on a page,

these are uncomplicated, easy-to-do dishes with ingredients that can be found

in local supermarkets.

Author Sarah Reynolds has updated the recipes, reducing fat and adding more

flavor whenever possible to keep up with contemporary nutritional standards

and popular tastes. Little twists like adding orange-ginger butter to

traditional baked squash and three kinds of berries to a glorious Fourth of

July Flag Cake are examples of sprucing up the traditional with a splash of

taste.

In addition to favorite soups, salads, sandwiches and stews, there is a

chapter on grilling, another on breakfasts and brunches, and lots of ways to

cook fresh vegetables American style. Two full chapters are devoted to

desserts.

Celebrating Cooking

Chuck Williams, who founded the Williams-Sonoma stores in 1954 and has spent

most of his life encouraging people to explore the world of cooking, has

written Celebrating The Pleasures of Cooking (Time-Life Books, October 1997,

hardcover, $24.95).

In this book, Mr Williams shares 150 of the best recipes he has adapted or

developed over the past 40 years. Divided into chapters by decade and

illustrated with 40 full-color photographs, the recipes form a chronicle of

our cooking and eating habits, including our first forays into classic French

cuisine in the late 1950s (Cheese Souffle, Petit Pots de Creme au Chocolate),

our later discovery of French provincial cooking (Poached Salmon, Tarte

Tatin), our growing interest in Mediterranean kitchen (Pot Roast of Beef with

Aceto Balsamico, Focaccia con Olio e Sale), and our present-day affinity for

the simpler culinary pleasures (Fettuccine with Proscuitto and Peas, Cranberry

Muffins).

Throughout the book are personal recollections and observations of Mr Williams

and such culinary greats as James Beard, Julia Child, Elizabeth David and

Marcella Hazan.

American Century Cookbook

"Has any century done more to revolutionize the way we cook, the way we eat,

than the twentieth? I doubt it," writes Jean Anderson in her newest cookbook,

The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the Twentieth

Century (Clarkson Potter, November 1997, hardcover, $32.50).

The meticulously researched 535-page hardcover chronicles a century that

started in a Victorian kitchen furnished with wood stoves and populated by

servants, progressed through the eras of scientific cooking and the

much-maligned '50s and '60s (when the fascination of food technology

overpowered the nation's taste), and culminated in the '80s and '90s with an

increasing number of young chefs who inspired everyone to eat wholesome,

fresh, local foods.

American classics such as Green Bean Casserole, Chicken Divan, Chocolate

Decadence and others are included in The American Century Cookbook as well as

hundreds of other dishes that have entered the American mainstream -- Steak au

Poivre from France, Chicken Cacciatore from Italy, and paella from Spain, just

to name a few. The 20th century also is credited with the coming of age of

many classic American desserts, such as cheesecakes, chiffon cakes, and bar

cookies.

The book is more than its 500 recipes, however. The author's headnotes,

sidebars and boxes draw our attention to the major trends and companies, as

well as the people who have helped shape our taste. The book also includes a

detailed timeline which charts the progress and history of food in the United

States since 1900.

If you are curious about the origin of Bisquick or Tang, it's all here.