The Art of Low-Calorie Cooking

Food & Wine columnist and New York City caterer Schneider has crafted a low-calorie cookbook that, in her own words, ``is more about cooking creatively than it is about dieting, more about pleasure than denial.'' The author makes suggestions for a ``new wave'' of cooking techniques based on coaxing every bit of flavor from high-quality ingredients, many of which would never appear in a dieter's pantry. From a low-calorie version of cassoulet to a ragout of duck legs, a clove- and pepper-cured roast pork, warm cherries with zabaglione, and espresso creme brulee, recipes will surprise and delight weight-watchers who have long forsaken such ingredients as butter, sour cream and salt. Schneider has even devised a method for curing at home a lower-calorie pork-loin prosciutto--to most dieters but a distant pleasure. Another surprise, and a counterpoint to Schneider's elegant formality, are Robledo's warm, casually styled photographs. While many ingredients called for will be unavailable outside of the world's great cities, serious cooks will find the book's radical ideas inspiring. (Oct.)