cover image Gourmet Preserves: Sweet or Savory, Spread, Sauce or Condiment, a Complete Guide to Delicious...

Gourmet Preserves: Sweet or Savory, Spread, Sauce or Condiment, a Complete Guide to Delicious...

Judith Choate. Grove/Atlantic, $15.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-1-55584-038-9

Choate (The Great American Pie Book, etc.) provides an ingenious, wide-ranging repertoire of spreads, jellies, jams, chutneys, condiments, sauces, relishes and pickles. She maintains that the culinary art of preserving, or ""putting foods by,'' is a legacy of the Shakers and their inventiveness, skill and high standards of quality. A variety of methods are employed (open kettle, waterbath, refrigerator, freezer); recipes specify type and length of storage. Choate ambitiously extends her creativity far beyond Mom's special strawberry preserves and into the realm of the remarkable with spiced tomato jam, pumpkin-ginger marmalade, apple-brandy butter, blueberry catsup, rhubarb chutney and killer chocolate-fudge sauce. She demonstrates that gourmet preserves can be used as cake glazes, hors d'oeuvres, jelly roll filling and as meat and poultry garnishes. Choate's warning against shortcuts is valid; this is a guide for experienced cooks. Illustrations. (May 29)