PERFECT POULTRY

As part of their Great Healthy Cooking series, Reader's Digest offers a variety of poultry dishes for every appetite and occasion. In this case, poultry does not just mean chicken and turkey, but includes all manner of fowl and game birds, such as duck, goose, pheasant and quail. A brief preamble on eating well (featuring the venerable food pyramid) is followed by a more substantive introduction to poultry, which includes a buying guide; instructions for freezing, stuffing, spicing and trussing; plus a few recipes for stuffing and stock. The dishes themselves vary from light openers like the Turkey Salad with Red Cabbage with its tang of cranberry vinaigrette, to substantial mains, including the robust Chicken Bourguignonne and the piquant Chicken Marsala with Fennel. The book draws on a variety of international cuisines with entries like Chicken Satays and Mexican Tostadas. Time is also taken into consideration with several quick and easy dishes such as the Turkey Escalope Sauté with Citrus and Sweet Onion Sauce and the Spiced Stir-Fried Duck. Each recipe includes tips for healthy cooking, nutritional values and possible variations, and is accompanied by a mouthwatering photo. In all, the book is a thorough, well-rounded resource. (Mar.)

Note: Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen by Food Network's Kathleen Daelemans, originally scheduled to be published by ReganBooks, is now being published in April by Houghton Mifflin (ISBN 0-618-22632-X). (Please see the starred review of this book in PW, June 4, 2001.) Houghton Mifflin plans an eight-city tour and a March 26 appearance on the Today show.