Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients: Buying and Cooking the Staple Foods of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia; Foreword by Alice Waters

Cost ( Ginger , East and West ) here surveys fresh, dried, preserved and bottled ingredients found in Oriental food markets, and offers advice on how to buy, store and use them. His book is more than timely or helpful; it rolls reference, recipe and history book into a single innovative volume. Tracking each ingredient through history and placing it in a cultural context, the author clarifies the differences between Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian cuisines and pairs ingredient descriptions with recipes that feature them. Recipes include delicious soft-shell crabs with ginger, lemon and black beans; fresh coriander and peanut salad; daikon in orange peel sauce; and clams with basil, mint and chilis. Cost cuts a swath through the confusing array of Asian foodstuffs and makes Oriental cuisine make senseeven to beginners. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)