cover image In a Vermont Kitchen

In a Vermont Kitchen

Amy Lyon, Lynne Andreen. HP Books, $23.95 (400pp) ISBN 978-1-55788-316-2

This compendium is at its best when authors Lyon and Andreen, owners of specialty-food businesses, don't try to exemplify the cuisine of the Green Mountain state but concentrate on providing recipes for sturdy dishes that can be appreciated anywhere. Recipes are grouped by major ingredients: a chapter on apples offers Apple and Cheddar Cheese Crepes with Honey Mustard Sauce and Nina's Fried Apple Rings; another on eggs and butter contains Muffin Tin Benedict in cleverly made individual servings. Chapters on maple (Mapled Groats Pilaf, Maple Magic Mousse) and spring greens (Fiddlehead, Asparagus and Carrot Crudit with Garlicky Mayonnaise) seem more Vermont-specific, but that's hard to say when there are so many versions of Vermont represented. There is the back-to-the-land Vermont of Honey-Maple Crunchy Granola and Green Garden Burger with Kale and Swiss Chard. Then there is the simple, native Vermont of Deviled Eggs and Just Butter Cookies. The hokey Vermont of The Best Rum Cake Ever--a joke-recipe that continuously instructs the cook to sample the rum--shows up. And finally the yuppified Vermont of Brie Pizza with Apple-Onion Topping and Maple makes an appearance. Brief chapter introductions that delineate quirky characters and describe the state's changing seasons are often marred by clumsy writing, but a special section on using certain ingredients (substituting maple syrup for sugar and tips on clay-pot cooking) are solid. (Sept.)