Jasper White's Cooking from New England: More Than 300 Traditional and Contemporary Recipes

Few cookbook authors seem willing to acknowledge the threat pollution poses to our national food supply. Thanks are therefore due to White, a chef and teacher who takes an environmentalist stance while providing an informative introduction to New England cookery. White adores seafood and devotes his first three chapters to fresh fish, shellfish, and dried, smoked or cured fish. Little wonder that he decries the state of the shoreline near his Boston home, adding, ``Sometimes I fear that in my lifetime the experience of eating fresh shellfish will exist only in memory.'' Yet this is no political treatise. White's opinions are as pungent as the fresh herbs he prefers, but his cookbook finds plenty to celebrate in Yankee tradition. ``Instead of the provincial and stodgy stereotype that is all too often associated with New England,'' the author sandwiches in wild rice pancakes and brown bread waffles among old standards. A traditional Christmas roast goose is decked out in ginger and hoisin sauce for a gleaming brown glaze. A ``secret'' ingredient--cooked potatoes--is added to cakes to lighten them. Cooks who enjoy a little dry New England humor will find it in plentiful supply, along with 300 well-documented recipes. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)