The Four-Star American Community Cookbook: The American Community Cookbook

This absorbing and informative collection attests to the vitality of regional cooking as Dee samples the fund-raising cookbooks of 162 community groups across the country. Each entry on a locale includes from one to three recipes, as well as a brief note on the issuing group and ordering information for the various volumes. Thus, the bourbon-apple-pecan pie from Applehood & Motherpie is the work of the Junior League of Rochester, N.Y., whose projects include a children's theater, and crabmeat mornay is culled from the Junior League of Baton Rouge's River Road Recipes, a classic among regional cookbooks with more than a million copies in print. Recipes range from a simple ``unbelievable'' garlic bread from Jacksonville, Fla., to the more intricate venison pate from Charleston, S.C. There are farm pasties from Kalamazoo, Mich., crab-and-avocado enchiladas from San Antonio, Tex., sesame shrimp from Honolulu, Hawaii, spicy stuffed Brie from Norfolk, Va., and chocolate torte with raspberry glaze from the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Ill. Dee wrote The Quilter's Sourcebook. Illustrated. Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook Club selection. (June)