Food & Wine
magazine's annual recipe compilation is richly packed with contributions from cookbook authors, restaurant owners, chefs, cooking instructors and others, including such well-known stars as Emeril Lagasse, Maida Heatter, Jacques Pépin and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Many of these recipes are ambitious and challenging: the Cinnamon Financiers (French tea cakes) with Figs Poached in Port, for example, or the intricate Poached Chicken with Tarragon. Yet recipes for such classics as Coq au Vin or Country Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream, as well as for simple dishes like Grilled Tuna with Artichokes and Aioli or Huevos Rancheros, make this cookbook as invaluable for less experienced cooks as it is for seasoned chefs. Just in time for summer entertaining, the book offers a fabulous drink section and a wide array of hors d'oeuvre
recipes. Interspersed throughout are complete meal menus and informative side bars describing, for instance, the health benefits of certain nuts or plugging cutting-edge kitchen gadgetry (e.g., new pannino presses). The book also includes extensive indexes, including one that lists recipes in categories like "quick" or " health conscious." Color photographs capture the spirit of the plated food, and the smart layout and content of the book will appeal to a wide range of cooks, especially those with a taste for contemporary internationally inspired cooking. (May)
Forecast: The
Food & Wine brand name, combined with this cookbook's broad appeal and unusually high quality, guarantees its commercial success. And it's much tidier than saving back issues of the magazine.
