Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods

This sixth title in Hagman's""Gluten-free"" series follows up on volumes covering bread and dessert with recipes for everything from Fruited Dressing for Pork and Chicken and Four-Star Chili to Biscuits and Gravy, Microwave Chicken and Dumplings and Chocolate Pecan Cupcakes. After a short introduction, Hagman offers a condensed history of celiac disease, whereby glutens produce an autoimmune reaction that leads to dangerously low levels of calorie absorption. She notes that while one in 150 people may have celiac, only one out of 10 people with gluten intolerance has been properly diagnosed. The""Growing Up Celiac"" discusses the specifics of diagnosis and psychological reactions to the disease, and a short section covers""Autism and the GF/CF gluten-free/casein-free Diet."" After annotated lists of""Exotic Flours and How to Use Them"" and""Supplies Used in Gluten-free Baking"" (along with an appendix in the back of where to find them), Hagman dives into the recipes. None are more than a page long, and all are tersely but clearly explained, with the calorie, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, protein and fiber counts broken down for each. Since the dishes here are""comfort foods,"" they're not exactly elegant: biscuits, meat loafs, shepherd's pies and casseroles hearken back to home cookery of earlier decades. But they make use of a wide variety of grains, including amaranth, millet, teff and quinoa, which means a greater choice of flours (and, by extension, dishes) for celiacs craving grain-based carbs and gluten-free baked treats. (Indeed, Hagman offers over 40 recipes with an""exotic flour"" as a basic ingredient.) For those feeling nostalgic--or simply ready to enjoy a nice gluten-free Lemon Pudding Cake--Hagman offers the goods.