Faye Levy's International Chicken Cookbook

This impressive compendium of technical advice and 300 recipes may constitute the final word on poultry. Levy ( Faye Levy's International Jewish Cookbook ) surveys the spectrum of methods for preparing chicken--from roasting to braising to boiling--and explains how each one enhances the meat in different ways. Recipe adaptations are equally thoughtful: they combine Levy's familiarity with world cuisines with her sure hand in experimentation. The resulting dishes, such as Mediterranean chicken with okra, jalapeno peppers, and tomatoes, or Lebanese chicken pizza, may mix cuisines while still remaining true to the integrity of the dishes. Levy's recipe introductions are also serious and concentrate on a dish's culinary technique or cultural importance instead of only making chatty mentions of the incident that spurred the recipe. Chapters on marinades and storing and handling poultry are quite useful. In fact, the book is so comprehensive and purposeful that it may exhaust the less stalwart; long before Levy has offered her last thought, some may shrink before the sheer number of recipes. To fully appreciate the cookbook's breadth, one might best savor it bit by bit. Uninspired drawings act mainly as filler. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)