Ten Late Breakfasts

Large late-morning breakfasts are big business, as anyone who has sampled a hotel's Sunday brunch can attest. Here food writer Carlier makes her own suggestions for brunch menus and recipes, reproducing the prodigious late breakfasts served in Scotland, Cornwall, Alsace and New Orleans, at country estates and in city apartments. But Carlier's breakfast will have to be served late--in some cases, very late--if cooks follow her urgings. Most dishes require several hours or more to prepare; some recipes, such as beef tenderloin en brioche, require cooks to stay up the night before. And menus offer vast amounts of food. The New Orleans brunch includes juice, cocktails, fresh fruit, eggs Benedict, New Orleans chicken (with sauteed bananas, creamed corn and rice cooked with red peppers), breads and rolls, blini and pecan pie. The best recipes are sophisticated: a roasted hazelnut yogurt to accompany fresh granola and an Alsatian bread made with dried fruits. This would be the ideal cookbook to take on a long weekend holiday with several hard-working gourmands in attendance--or plenty of kitchen help on hand. Illustrated. (Apr.)