Mirroring the magazine on which it is based, this collection of 1,200 recipes is accessible, applicable to most home cooks' lives and a pleasure to cook from. Editor-in-chief Fairchild, who started at the magazine in 1978, sums up the classic Bon Appétit
recipe as "a sophisticated twist on a beloved classic, and it's easy to make"—qualities illustrated in such dishes as Upscale Macaroni and Cheese, which uses blue cheese, red peppers and celery, and a lighter Chicken Paprikás, which omits sour cream in the sauce but uses both hot and sweet Hungarian paprikas. There's a nice range of dishes, from American to Chinese, Latin American to French, and the introductions to the recipes helpfully offer serving recommendations, notes on ingredients and possible substitutions. Refreshingly, recipes for suggested sides appear alongside recipes for main courses (e.g., Pan-Seared Chicken with Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes). Novice cooks will feel comfortable using the book; "Notes from the Test Kitchen" detail all manner of culinary tools, key pantry items, cooking terminology and techniques like rolling out pie dough. Although the book's approach is more plebeian than, say, that of The Gourmet Cookbook
, fans of Bon Appétit
will relish this invigorating compilation of greatest hits. 32 pages of color photos, 59 illus. (Sept.)
