It's the book that started it all, the well-loved edition that first brought Betty Crocker cookbooks into American homes and hearts. Published in 1950, this ground-breaking title made cooking easy, it made cooking appealing, and best of all, it made cooking fun. Packed full of practical tips, useful hints, and lavish color photography, this was the book that shaped cooking for generations, the book that people remember.

The kitchen classic that people everywhere have come to depend on is now more dependable with a new five-ring binder, strong, more durable cover, front flap to hold favorite recipes and front and back interior covers laminated for easy cleaning. 200 color photos.

For the first time in paperback, this newly-revised edition of the classic cook's companion includes 325 new recipes, including popular ethnic dishes that have become part of American cooking: salsa, risottos, sushi, stir-frys, quiches and pastas. Also features microwave, outdoor and vegetarian cooking. HC: Knopf

At last in paperback, this bestselling classic features more than 1,400 recipes of all kinds, menus, tips, dictionary of herbs and spices, calorie counts, nutrition information, and more. color photo gallery. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

In one spectacular volume, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins celebrate the tastes, ingredients, techniques, and dishes that comprise the best of our cuisine, in all its abundant pleasure and variety. Over 30 chapters include 875 recipes, techniques, charts and tips, microwave miracles, and illustrations. "The basic kitchen handbook for the '90s."--Philadelphia Inquirer. Illustrations throughout.

No other cookbook includes such a complete range of recipes in every category: everyday, classic, foreign, and deluxe. Now over 40 years old, this edition features new chapters on maintaining nutrients while cooking and explaining how and why certain materials commonly combined react as they do. "The classic work, which covers the entire gamut of kitchen procedures and is easy to use."--James Beard.

This is a cookbook whose pages are destined to become stuck together from constant use.

Hands on baking with recipes and techniques that teach you how to make great breads, pies, cobblers, cookies, cakes, and pasties, both sweet and savory. A world-class course in baking for new and practiced bakers alike.

More than 500 delicious recipes tested in the "Better Homes and Gardens" test kitchens, a wealth of baking tips, question-and-answer boxes, and more than 270 color photos make this book the one cooks will turn to for complete instructions.

A collection of 800 recipes with step-by-step instructions and illustrations. Each section on the different types of baking begins with a summary of relevant cooking techniques, necessary ingredients and equipment, and invaluable tips. 300 line drawings.

The third title in the successful Pillsbury cookbook series features 175 of Pillsbury's best-ever recipes for cookies, bars, and brownies. Each recipe is accompanied by helpful sidebars such as Kitchen Tips, Make It Special, Recipe Variations, and Ingredient Information, and by bullets denoting recipes as Editor's Favorites or Quick Bets. 60 color photos.

Along with a comprehensive glossary of baking terms and techniques, Betty Crocker's Best of Baking includes 350 of the best baking recipes from one of the most trusted names in the kitchen. Over 150 full-color photos, diagrams, and charts enhance the recipes for breads, desserts, holiday baking, side- and main-dishes.

An extraordinary baker distills a lifetime of experience into simple, sure-fire, and absolutely delicious recipes that anyone can follow and enjoy. The Perfect Recipe Baking Book contains 50 uncomplicated recipes guaranteed to produce spectacular and satisfying results for everything from apple pie to coffee cake, zucchini bread, and blueberry muffins. Line illustrations.

Cooking meals "can" be easy sometimes. From the bestselling author of "Recipes 1-2-3" comes a delightful new collection of recipes using only three ingredients, with creative ideas for all meals of the day.

Frozen Assets is small in stature, but jam-packed with meal-planning advice. It contains recipe ideas, plus detailed instructions on how to get the maximum value from your food dollar, while also slashing meal preparation times.

The solution to the dinnertime dilemma doesn't have to be ordered-in Chinese food or frozen pizza. Sam Gugino's 'Cooking to Beat the Clock: Delicious, Inspired Meals in 15 Minutes' offers a wealth of recipes that are ready in a flash-including carefully thought-out favorites, like jambalaya, which usually takes far longer.

Over 350 recipes show why Pillsbury has become the name to look for in recipes and great foods, and now, healthful eating. All of the recipes were selected from Pillsbury's Fast and Healthy magazine, which you see at supermarket check outs all over the country. And, of course, it's filled with those irrisistible photographs that we all love, and lots of interesting sidebars and cooking tips to make cooking a pleasure.

Aimed at the cook who intends to entertain, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook draws on Garten's experience as a caterer, as well as her knowledge of what customers really want to eat when they arrive at her shop. She has culled her favorite recipes and has included timesaving tips, always striving for ease and simplicity. Neither cooking nor entertaining should be a chore, according to Ina Garten, and her lovely cookbook is a case in point.

Avowed Martha Stewart fans--and the rest of us, too--have cause to applaud. The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, which marks the 10th anniversary of the magazine from which the book takes its name and 1,200 recipes, is a winner. A wide-ranging trove, it tackles with equal aplomb the basics--from fried chicken to apple pie--and "newer" dishes such as Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Soup, Veal Stew with Shallots and Wild Mushrooms, and Pistachio Gelato. Both daily cookbook and stylish culinary guide, Living should prove useful to cooks facing the what-should-we-have-for-dinner dilemma and those seeking delicious dishes for entertaining.

Learn what makes a recipe tick, says How to Cook Without a Book author Pam Anderson, and you'll serve great food fast. Recognizing that most cooks feel challenged in the face of daily meal making, Anderson provides a game plan: prepare dishes based on available ingredients and simple cooking techniques you've mastered--not on recipes you've got to look up and ingredients you'll need to shop for--and you maximize the potential of kitchen ease. Cooks looking for a way to address the what-will-we-have-tonight quandary definitively, or those who feel they lack the energy or know-how to tackle cooking every night, should find the book essential.

Since its first publication in 1938, Larousse Gastronomique has been an unparalleled resource. In one volume, it presents the history of foods, eating, and restaurants; cooking terms; techniques from elementary to advanced; a review of basic ingredients with advice on recognizing, buying, storing, and using them; biographies of important culinary figures; and recommendations for cooking nearly everything.

The elegant simplicity and exquisite flavor of Deborah Madison's food make her one of America's leading cooks. In Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, she offers more than great food: her book includes comprehensive information about ingredients and techniques, plus more than 800 recipes. The recipes range from dishes as familiar as Guacamole to those as distinctive as Green Lentils with Roasted Beets and Preserved Lemons, and Cashew Curry. The 124-page chapter titled "Vegetables: The Heart of the Matter" is a virtual book of culinary revelations; you could use it as a manual on buying and preparing vegetables. Madison provides equally inspired recipes and guidance for everything from grains and soy to dairy foods and desserts.

The new edition of one of America's best-selling culinary reference books is bigger and better than ever, with almost 6,000 listings on subjects related to food and drink. Hailed by Bon Appétit magazine as "one of the best reference books we've seen, a must for every cook's library," it's the ultimate kitchen tool. Here are answers to questions about cooking techniques, meat cuts, kitchen utensils, food, wine, cocktail terms, and much more.

Perhaps more than any other person, Marcella Hazan is responsible for bringing Italian cuisine into the homes of American cooks. We're not talking spaghetti and meatballs here--Hazan's cuisine consists of polenta, risotto, squid braised with tomatoes and white wine, sautéed swiss chard with olive oil and garlic.... Twenty years ago, when Hazan first exploded into the American consciousness with The Classic Italian Cook Book and More Classic Italian Cooking, such recipes were revolutionary. With time, however, these classic dishes have become much-beloved family favorites.

Irma Rombauer collected recipes from friends for the first Joy of Cooking, and published it herself. For this sixth edition, the All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking, Ethan Becker, grandson of Irma and son of Marion Rombauer Becker, worked with Maria Guarnaschelli, senior editor and vice president at Scribner's. Together, they called on top food professionals to produce a Joy that reflects the way we eat today. Five new chapters satisfy today's love of pasta, pizza, noodles, burritos, grains, and beans, including soy. The roughly 3,000 recipes, most revised from earlier editions, give the food processor and microwave their due. Interest in ethnic flavors, grazing, leaner meats, more fish, and less fat are reflected, and old standbys such as Tuna Noodle Casserole and Fried Chicken are updated. Information on canning, jams, pickles, and preserves is replaced by expanded material on grilling, barbecuing, flavored oils, and vinegars. Also gone is the personal voice of the old Joy. The new Joy of Cooking is comprehensive for today's cooks. Time will tell if it remains the long-loved, dog-eared kitchen companion and teacher Joy has been since 1931.

Mark Bittman, award-winning author of such fundamental books as Fish and Leafy Greens and food columnist for the New York Times ("The Minimalist"), has turned in what has to be the weightiest tome of the year. There are more than 900 pages in this sucker--over 1,500 recipes! This isn't just the big top of cookbooks: it's the entire three-ring circus. This isn't just how to cook everything: it's how to cook everything you have ever wanted to have in your mouth. And then some.

The Silver Palate, a small but notable New York eatery, won several national awards and distributed their packaged goods to fine food stores across the country. Owners Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins wrote The Silver Palate Cookbook so that lovers of their chunky apple cake with cider glaze or their fruit-stuffed Cornish hens can re-create these dishes at home. In addition to a lively collection of recipes that are suitable for both entertaining and everyday, there are valuable menu and serving suggestions, literary quotes, food guides, food lore and whimsical illustrations by Ms. Lukins. The book won the 1991 James Beard Cookbook Award.

Reading about the ins and outs of baking the perfect, flaky pie crust is a little like reading about how to achieve the perfect golf swing: the proof is in the doing. And it often takes a remarkably intuitive reader to understand exactly what the author is getting at. Not so the work of Rose Levy Beranbaum, the author who gave us The Cake Bible. If ever there was a cookbook author who could place her hands on top of yours, putting you through the proper motions, helping you arrive at just the right touch, Beranbaum is the one.

Famous for turning frequently bland vegetarian fare into a menu of comfort foods with ethnic panache, the Moosewood Collective knows better than to toy with a successful formula. It has evolved, however, and its most encompassing volume so far offers mainly new hits. The original Moosewood Cookbook seems dated compared to spunky new recipes such as zesty Tabouli with Shrimp and Oranges, and Middle Eastern Lentils and Pasta, which gets bite from onions and chilies. Recipes are consistently easy to make; Black Bean and Sweet Potato Hash, and Tuscan Panzanella, are a cinch on any family's weekly menu. Many dishes, such as Instant Tamale Pie, will appeal to the pickiest of taste buds. A chapter on seafood, with Pecan Crusted Fish and Cioppino, is offset by vegan recipes such as Baked Tofu Sticks, Curried Quinoa and Vegan Lasagna. Macaroni and Cheese with Tofu is a welcome low-fat alternative to a classic, and Lovely Low-Fat Latkes contain only 2.5 grams of fat each. Complete nutritional information and tips on substitutions and recipe histories, as well as sections on organic standards and a guide to ingredients, make this book beginner friendly. With a section on sandwiches and wraps and a generous dessert section (including Big Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pistachio Cardamom Cake and even a Vegan Oil Pie Crust), this may be for vegetarians what the Silver Palate's New Basics was for aspiring gourmets. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov. 5)Forecast: This cookbook will join the ranks of the topselling original.

Based on the popular PBS TV series, Cook's Illustrated's America's Test Kitchen Cookbook presents more than 200 recipes in short, essay-like investigations that reflect exhaustive ingredient, equipment, and method testing. Over the years, Cook's Illustrated magazine has set itself to the task of finding the best versions of favorite dishes. The result has been often-definitive reports on how to achieve fare like thin-crust pizza, oven-fried chicken, and blueberry muffins. Readers who look to the magazine for the last word on dish preparation, and others seeking reliable, enlightening cooking counsel, will welcome this book.

"Italian-American food--what cuisine is it?" asks Lidia Matticchio Bastianich in Lidia's Italian-American Cooking, a cookbook based on her eponymous PBS TV series. The author of two previous works, La Cucina di Lidia and Lidia's Italian Table, and co-owner of three acclaimed Manhattan restaurants, Bastianich is ideally suited to explore all Italian fare. "Americans fell in love with Italian cooking first," she says, thus enshrining a cuisine born of immigrant adaptation. In celebration of that affection, the book offers over 150 recipes for a wide range of dishes--traditional favorites like Baked Stuffed Shells and Lobster Fra Diavolo as well as personal adaptations such as Scampi alla Buonavia and canneloni made with roasted pork and mortadella. These easily done dishes benefit from Lidia's subtle polishing; fans of her foolproof palate and her direct yet relaxed approach to Italian cooking will welcome the book.

Whip begins with a section of tools and prime conditions for whipping, including essential advice on when to use whisks, metal and wooden spoons, and how to handle electric mixing gadgets. The book then carefully explains and illustrates the components of technique so that cooks will know how their mastery of various consistencies and crucial timing affects the lightness of a complex soufflé, the richness of a basic roulade or custard, or even the taste of an omelet. Each technique section provides a wide variety of mouth-watering recipes that develop a cook's ability to gauge crucial timing and the confidence to create main dishes, sauces, sides or stellar desserts from scratch.

This primer on Thanksgiving cooking and traditions brims with fresh ideas for both food preparation and table decoration. Morgan (Cooking for the Week) is the anti-Martha Stewart none of these recipes is fussy for the sake of fussiness. They are instead guides to creating updated classics such as Gratin of Fennel and Tomato, and Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Cranberries, Walnuts and Hickory-Baked Tofu. In deference to the holiday, instructions for advance preparations and shortcuts are provided: for Lasagna with Sugar Pumpkin, Ricotta, and Fried Sage Leaves, for example, Morgan explains how to substitute fresh pasta or no-boil lasagna noodles. A chapter on turkey provides instructions for buying and handling the bird, as well as recipes for Barbecued Turkey and a simple Roast Turkey Breast for a Small Gathering. There are even a few vegetarian entr‚es, including Spaghetti Squash with Zucchini, Garlic, and Tomato Sauce. The dishes here are new, but never so adventurous that they would be inappropriate for a traditional holiday celebration. Stuffing ideas include Italian Sausage, Mushroom and Sage Stuffing, and Chestnut, Leek, and Fresh Herb Bread Pudding. Desserts play on classic Thanksgiving flavors: Chocolate Gingerbread with Sugar-Glazed Apples, and Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crumb Crust. A chapter on using leftover turkey offers Turkey Potpie with a Biscuit Crust, and Turkey Enchiladas. Menus for variously sized parties and clever ideas like miniature pumpkins cut to encase votive candles round out this spot-on effort. (Nov.)Forecast: This is an incredibly useful little book. At this modest price, it should sell briskly and prove a solid seasonal backlist item as well.

Drawing on more than 20 years of experience as a food writer in Paris, Wells (Bistro Cooking) presents cherished recipes from famous Parisian restaurants, such as BenoŒt Guichard of Jamin's Tarte Tatin (Caramelized Apple Tart), Jo‰l Robuchon's Creamy White Bean Soup, Caf‚ Bonaparte's Chicken Salad and Le D“me's Sole Meuni‚re. She ferrets out the best recipes from the authority venues, such as La Maison du Chocolat's Bitter-Sweet Chocolate Mousse and Chef William Ledeuil's Fresh White Beans with Mimolette, Roquette and Pistachio Oie. If readers can get over some haute cuisine pretension (a Black Truffle Mayonnaise recipe suggests using "eggs that have been enclosed in a glass jar with the truffles for 1 day"), they will find down-to-earth recipes such as The Market Gardeners' Zucchini and Curry Soup and The Taxi Driver's Wife's Secret Mussels. Regional France is well represented by the likes of southwestern polenta (H‚lene's `Polenta' with Sheep's-Milk Cheese) and seafood from Brittany (Memories of Brittany Lobster with Cream). Wells has a knack for choosing simple yet elegant recipes quintessentially French with reliable results in the North American kitchen. She follows a growing trend of replacing red meats (although there is a short chapter on them) with poultry, seafood and vegetables (a whole chapter is devoted to potatoes). This book is a must for any Francophile yearning for Brasserie Balzar's Midnight Onion Soup, and for visitors who want a great resource for where to buy and how to handle the spectacular foods in Paris. Photos. (Nov.)Forecast: Wells's fans will be pleased, for this is very much in the tradition of her other books. Despite a glut of French cookbooks, Wells is the real deal, and her latest offering will satisfy its readership, which includes anyone who loves France, or who lives there and wants to learn more about its foods.

Cake mixes are undoubtedly convenient, but do they produce good cakes? They can, says Anne Byrn, author of The Cake Mix Doctor, if you know how to tweak them. Doing this involves the addition of ingredients to enrich the mixes and flavorings to enhance and, in some cases, conceal questionable tastes. To prove her point, Byrn offers more than 175 recipes for mix-based cakes and other desserts, including formulas for frostings that, Byrn maintains, must be made from scratch. The results are convincing; readers interested in satisfying, dependable desserts prepared quickly and with little fuss should welcome the book.

With his ubiquitous Food Network cooking programs, Good Morning America appearances, five bestselling cookbooks, six celebrated restaurants, and starring role in an NBC sitcom, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse may be the ultimate "food ambassador." "Nothing makes me happier than getting people involved with food, excited about food, and cooking food," he says in the introduction to Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef. We may wonder if Emeril's over-the-top antics actually inspire his legions of viewers to spend more quality time in the kitchen, but there's no argument that he gets people excited about food. The mere addition of garlic, heavy cream, butter, or the slightest drop of truffle oil to one of Emeril's decadent dishes and his studio audience explodes with a fevered enthusiasm akin to a frenzied mob of face-painted hockey fans up in the nosebleed seats during the playoffs. As an Amazon.com customer from Boutte, Louisiana, writes, when it comes to Emeril "...there are two competing factions. Those who love and worship Emeril and those who refuse to." But, as Emeril might say, we "won't go there."

Lileks pokes fun at food advertising and promotional ideas from the '50s nascent food industry. Making sport of the assumptions that underlay American cookery at mid-century is an easy target. The reigning belief that anything technological or manufactured was by definition superior to nature's bounty today appears naive at best. Add to that the mindless nutritional opinions of the era, and there's plenty of laughter to be found in these ads. A vibrantly rendered shot of a thick, untrimmed porterhouse steak slathered with ketchup and then topped with sliced hard-boiled eggs looks ready to clot every coronary artery, not to mention its complete void of fresh flavors. Most hilarious are advertisements showing pretentious "French" chefs promoting their favorite ways to use marshmallows. How a dish of scrambled eggs topped with cheese, ketchup, and cream of mushroom soup earned the moniker "Eggs Oriental" goes beyond the inscrutable.

Offered up as a lively and comprehensive alphabetical discussion of some 350 types of wine grapes, Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes could double as a crush course in viticulture as taught by the award-winning, U.K.-based wine writer and coauthor Margaret Rand. Beginning with three lines for Abouriou ("on the way out, and won't be much missed") and ending with nine pages for Zinfandel, the book certainly delivers. And the approachable scholarship included in the introductory pages--touching on everything from the difference between a hybrid and a cross and the floating definition of "ripe"--provides an informative overview. Blending Clarke's Mourvedre-like, dryly tannic, intoxicatingly kicky writing style with the firm Syrah-esque backbone of Rand's collaboration, Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes is premium juice.

No other holiday captures the spirit of home cooking the way Thanksgiving does. From the perfect roast turkey with wild rice and chestnut stuffing to a rich, old-fashioned pumpkin pie, good food shared with family and friends is what makes this day so special. Williams-Sonoma Collection Thanksgiving offers easy-to-follow recipes you will want to include in your own holiday menu year after year. In these pages, you'll find inspiring first courses and a tempting variety of side dishes and desserts as well as some new ideas for the main course. This vividly photographed, full-color recipe collection will become an essential addition to your kitchen bookshelf.

His multitude of fans drool over his spiced-up cookbooks. . . And they flock to his New York restaurants.

Affable Essex boy Jamie Oliver continues the British culinary invasion with The Naked Chef Takes Off, the smashing follow-up to his bestselling The Naked Chef. For Oliver, the young Food Network import, food is all about "passing the potatoes around the table, ripping up some bread, licking my fingers, getting tipsy, and enjoying the company of good friends and family," and cooking up "what real people at home really want." The thing is, "real people" picking up cookbooks are often seeking easy-to-follow recipes. But that's not Oliver's bag. The layout of many of his recipes may frustrate traditional-cookbook readers--instructions often appear as one big chunk of conversational text with nary an ingredient or measurement in clear view--but that's part of the charm of Oliver's cookbooks. His commentary, tips, and cooking steps come across in a very approachable, colloquial style and leave plenty of room for individual flair or improvisation. Oliver's enthusiasm for cooking is infectious; the recipes and chapter introductions spill out like a best mate who just can't stop talking about food and how much fun--and simple--it can be to whip up these spectacular dishes.

Emeril Lagasse is in love with Louisiana. His first book, the masterful New New Orleans Cooking, began the relationship. In Louisiana Real and Rustic, Emeril has turned it into a full-blown affair. Along with coauthor Marcelle Bienvenu, Emeril set out across the state in search of that "culinary state of grace" Lousianans seemed to be naturally blessed with. The result is 150 recipes that serve at once as cultural history, geography lesson, and some mighty fine eating. This is a roots cookbook through and through, and the first lesson to learn is that in Louisiana, the roots run deep. Acadian, Creole, north Louisiana, south Louisiana, Bayou, country, city--each figures into the mix, and Emeril explores them all. He shows you gumbos that can be made with a French roux, African okra, or a filé from the indigenous Indians. There are famous Meat Pies from Natchitoches, Louisiana; Creole dishes like Catfish Pecan Meuniere; and classic étouffées, jambalayas, and fricassees--the one-pot meals that are the heart of Acadian (a.k.a. Cajun) cooking. The opening sections on the "Garde Manger" (food safe) and "Sauces" (try the recipe for homemade Worcestershire sauce) are indispensable for anybody even remotely interested in the food of Louisiana. More importantly, Emeril understands that food is another part of history, the people, and their culture--and in Louisiana, they eat well.

Like any artist, a great chef relies on that mysterious impulse called inspiration - as well as a deep understanding of the basics and a flair for experimentation. This probing, far-ranging cookbook takes readers inside the minds and kitchens of 23 of the most inspired and revered chefs in America today. It illuminates how they think and demonstrates a suprising truth: spectacular cooking can be done at home. Only a great chef could have created these recipes-but re-creating each dish at home is a piece of cake, using the clear recipes in this book.

In Clarke & Spurrier's Fine Wine Guide, Oz Clarke--the one-man brand of stylishly iconoclastic wine reportage--and Steven Spurrier--author, merchant, teacher, and patron saint of Napa Valley (ever since a Stag's Leap Cabernet and a Chateau Montelena Chard bested Bordeaux and Burgundy at his infamous 1976 Paris tasting)--present a valuable and handsome reference work brimming with maps and enlightened opinion. From the Cote d'Or and Canada to New South Wales and Walla Walla, serious enophiles will find much to inform their fine-wine choices, whether investing ("Buy double what you want, sell half for double what you paid, and drink for free") or cellaring ("To have kept a bottle too long is far, far worse than to have drunk it before its time"). Vintage recommendations for this "new edition" top out at 1998, and Oz's subjective list of "Great American Wines" will no doubt push a few noses out of joint--assuming readers can pull theirs out of the informed pages of Clarke & Spurrier's Fine Wine Guide. --Tony Mason

Anyone who loves the sound of Chef Emeril's voice as much as he does is going to enjoy Every Day's a Party. Yet it is something of a "big hat, no cattle" kind of book. The 125 recipes seem like reheats, like afterthoughts, flavorful and evocative though they may be. But the editorial copy is rich and thick, like a wicked cake frosting that begs for a finger swipe or two.

It's time to celebrate Christmas the Creole way: Corn Cakes with Caviar, Sugarcane Baked Ham with Spiced Apples and Pears, Jiffy Pop Firecracker Shrimp (yes, you do make it with popcorn)--these are the dishes guaranteed to make your holiday season festive. Your guide to this Creole Christmas is Emeril LaGasse, renowned chef and owner of several restaurants in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and also the host of two television cooking series, The Essence of Emeril and Emeril Live. In addition to great appetizers, entrées, and desserts, Emeril includes some terrific stocking stuffer ideas--everything from his Homemade Worcestershire Sauce to a delectable recipe for Orange Pralines that are so good you might just decide to keep them for yourself. And if the recipes themselves weren't mouthwatering enough, the book is studded with gorgeous color photographs guaranteed to send you running for the kitchen--or your travel agent. Spend Christmas in New Orleans with Emeril Lagasse and laissez les bon temps roulez!

How many times have you found yourself searching through five different cookbooks for a few simple things--those terrific stuffed mushrooms, Mom's mashed potatoes, something new to do with asparagus, and which cut of pork to use for the best chops? Pillsbury's Complete Cookbook may be the answer to all your rummaging. Capturing down-home cooking at its finest, the chefs at Pillsbury have not only compiled a list of America's favorite recipes, they've created a handy reference guide to boot. The table of contents runs the gamut of American cuisine, featuring traditional fare such as Pot Roast and Gravy and Grown-up Macaroni and Cheese, as well as recipes with a modern twist like Tofu Piccata and Grilled Walleye with Pecan Butter. With menu ideas, step-by-step instructional photographs, nutritional information, dietary exchange recommendations, cook's notes, and buying guides, the Complete Cookbook proves true to its name. And, the five-ring-binder format stays open while you're cooking and allows you to include your celebrated family secrets throughout. --Melissa Asher

For almost half a century, the Pillsbury bake-off has celebrated American home cooking. Media coverage generated by the contest's million-dollar prize has given this event the aura of an Olympics for the home chef. Some may quibble that winning recipes rely on prepackaged convenience foods to the exclusion of fresh, natural produce; but whatever purists contend, this compendium of winning bake-off entries persuasively illuminates an increasing diversity in American home cooking. Ten years ago it would have been improbable that a peppery Indian appetizer would be a Pillsbury prize winner, but one inventive cook's use of refrigerator roll dough to duplicate samosas accomplished just that. Other recipes further document the mainstreaming of pasta and of Mexican dishes in the 1980s and 1990s. Today's nutrition consciousness has appended a fat and sodium analysis to each recipe, but a profusion of cakes, pies, and cookies mark this book as anything but calorie obsessive. Mark Knoblauch --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

More Than 300 Recipes for Casseroles, Skillet Dishes and Slow-Cooker Meals. Convenient casseroles, quick and healthy stir-fries, comfort foods from the slow-cooker: One-dish meals are perfect for today's busy cook. Pillsbury, America's most trusted name in the kitchen, has collected more than 300 delicious recipes for casseroles, skillet dishes, and slow-cooker meals that everyone--including the cook--can enjoy.

For generations, Eagle(r) Brand desserts-made from recipes clipped from newspapers, magazines, and can labels-have been family favorites. At last, these recipe treasures are bound in one volume. 71 luscious recipes, 38 full-color photographs. Recipes range from traditional desserts to 15-minute, stir-together treats. Chapters include "Eagle Brand Classics," "Treats in Record Time," and "Kids in the Kitchen." Basics chapter shows time-saving tips and tricks for using Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.

A comprehensive buttermilk cookbook reveals the secrets of this low-fat, low-calorie ingredient used by Southern cooks in a delectable assortment of more than 275 tasty recipes. By the author of Oh, Fudge!

The award-winning authors of Bread in Half the Time present a detailed, engaging, practical guide to making almost one hundred European-style breads, from sourdough to focaccia to raisin pumpernickel, using a bread machine.

Think Caramel Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting, Strawberry Banana Muffins, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Sour Cream Coffee Cake. These old-fashioned comfort sweets are among those that Jennifer Appel turns out at her Buttercup Bake Shop. And while The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook evokes lazy afternoons in small towns, white picket fences, well-worn aprons, and warm fruit pies cooling on the window sill, the Buttercup Bake Shop is actually in Manhattan. Appel has included 80 bakery favorites in this little gem of a book, and the recipes are easy to follow and easy to make, and read like a list of favorite American desserts: Rice Krispies Treats, Gingersnaps, Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie, Glazed Pumpkin Squares, and Rice Pudding. Keep this wonderful cookbook in the kitchen, close at hand, so that with just a moment's notice you can whip up a special sweet something that'll make everyone smile. --Leora Y. Bloom

Foragers who enjoy using wild ingredients will appreciate Steve Brill's Wild Vegetarian Cookbook, a unique vegetarian cookbook which focuses on natural foods available in field and in market.

This lifestyle book features menus, recipes, and shopping lists for a month's worth of meals; simple exercises to do several times a week; and tips on how to arrange your time so you can fit it all in.

Presents a blueprint for from-scratch good eating that relies on a thoughtfully stocked larder, a few fresh ingredients, and truly streamlined recipes.

Focusing on a central theme in each issue, such as 25 party ideas (number 25: nautical party) or 35 quick and tasty dishes, Food & Wine indulges a broad range of culinary connoisseurs and thirsty enophiles. Expect a number of well-rounded recipes and festive commentary on the theme at hand, but don't expect that Food & Wine will be weighed down by said theme--each issue also contains a home shopping guide (in case you need to know where to purchase a green bamboo tray), restaurant reviews, a Drinks/Wine section, and shorter articles that run from "Win a Date with a Chef" to "The Joy of Slow Cooking."

Anyone who has so much as made a batch of cookies knows that this is where it all begins. Butter lends flavor and richness, sugar adds sweetness and melting textures, flour provides substance, and eggs bring it all together. Afterwards, the baker can allow flavor to take over: chocolate, citrus, fruit, nuts, cheese, and spices complete the dessert-making roster.