Recipe Yearbook 1987: Editors' Choice of Recipes from 1986

This ""first annual'' Bon Appetit cumulation includes more than 200 recipes from the magazine's 1986 issues. Though limited in size, the collection captures some of the styles and flavors popular in 1986. White chocolate ravioli and peppered lemon-saffron pasta with onions and dill evince the trendiness of the '80s. An international influence appears in tandoori-style chicken and Hungarian creamy chestnut soup. Other dishes, such as blueberry buckle with cinnamon-bourbon sauce and ``catfish-fried'' chicken, reveal their roots in homestyle American cooking. Southwestern cuisine can be sampled in cold tomatillo soup and mussel, scallop and corn salsa salad. However, the core of the book is the useful yet unusual fare that is the Bon Appetit trademark, like pear and hazelnut country bread and jade prawns. Rich, full-color photos are more decorative than instructional. The volume closes with ``News '86,'' upbeat, gossipy tidbits for those who want a foolproof device for making sushi or are curious about Princess Diana's oven. (July)