cover image The Cook's Book of Essential Information: A Kitchen Handbook

The Cook's Book of Essential Information: A Kitchen Handbook

Barbara Hill. Sumner House Press, $9.94 (275pp) ISBN 978-0-940367-09-8

Among other things, this title addresses the small, practical problems that at times plague the home cook. Can the casserole be frozen? What does the recipe mean by ""proof the yeast?'' Which part of the lemon is the ``zest''? How many pounds to the cup? What's a substitute for cake flour? How many minutes comprise ``cook until done?'' Hill provides the answers to these and other questions in seven ambitious chapters. Also included are a dictionary, a concordance of ingredients, menu-planning strategies, advice on food storage, tables of equivalents, descriptions of kitchen equipment, tables of nutritional values, andone of the book's most intriguing featuresan appendix listing many common food additives. As a whole, Hill's work is comparable to Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking but geared to novices. Inevitably there are gaps, but at this price it's a bargain. (July)