The College Cookbook: An Alternative to the Meal Plan

This well-intentioned book will embolden the novice in the kitchen, college student or not. With directions on everything from how to boil water to saving money at the supermarket, Harrington ( The Salad Book , etc.) cheerfully exhorts readers to learn basic principles of cooking and to ``improvise to suit your budget or what happens to be on hand,'' providing a specific glossary of cooking terms and a guide to the use of spices and herbs. Recipes collected from college students around the country make only modest demands on busy schedules and small budgets while yielding substantial dishes, such as beef stew or fried rice. Whole chapters are devoted to inexpensive foods like ground beef and eggs. Generally avoiding processed foods, Harrington promotes the use of leftovers with such items as ``The Whatever-You-Have-in-the-Fridge Quiche.'' Unfortunately, the pedestrian or inauthentic quality of many recipes (tuna-and-spaghetti casserole, ``chicken cacciatore'' made with commercial spaghetti sauce and stuffed olives, a dessert called ``Apples with Creme Fraiche'' that does not contain the latter ingredient) and some dubious kitchen lore (``almost any proportion of main ingredients tastes good as long as you have enough sauce for pasta'') will disappoint readers with any serious interest in food. (August)