Booklist Review

The BBC led the world in producing television cooking shows until the advent of U.S. cable stations devoted solely to gastronomic art. Whether British fascination with eating is because of or in spite of the state of British cooking is a moot question. Nevertheless, BBC food programming, which first introduced Mediterranean and other "foreign" tastes to Britain's palate, has come full circle and has now sparked a revival of classic British cooking arts. Gary Rhodes' latest series for the BBC, seen in parts of the U.S. on PBS, transforms heavy, dull British dishes into New Classics. Commencing with archetypes such as Scotch Eggs, Shepherd's Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Jam Roly-Poly, and Scones, he adapts them to twenty-first-century tastes and modern kitchens. Dedicated British diners may even sample a simplified haggis, which Rhodes recommends topped with a curry sauce. Recipes are easy to follow, and color photographs make cooking them almost irresistible. Americans relish Middle Eastern foods, and recent world events have only increased interest in many aspects of life from that part of the globe. Perched at a crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, Lebanon has long welcomed people of all backgrounds to share its rich bounty. In Foods of the Lebanon, Cassie Maroun-Paladin introduces readers to the Lebanese national dish with a fair assortment of kibbi recipes: raw, fried, potato, and in stuffed balls. Skewered, broiled meats show the relationship of Lebanese foods to those of Lebanon's neighbors. Westerners may sidestep some of the tasty recipes for organ meats, but even fussy eaters will enjoy her Green Bean Stew with Lamb, lightly spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Close-up color photographs of finished dishes give the cook good guidance to how the product should appear when served. Complex Lebanese desserts featuring classic paper-thin pastry offer challenges even to experienced cooks, and Turkish Delight calls for unusual ingredients, including glucose and mastic. For an uncommon perspective on the Kosher kitchen, Jewish Cooking, Jewish Cooks focuses on the cooking of Australia's Jews. Ramona Koval and Robert Reichenfeld assume that readers know nothing of Jewish food and customs. They even resort to explaining thoroughly why no pork recipes appear anywhere in the book. For that reason, this is a worthwhile basic introduction to Kosher cooking, even though Koval warns that her family never kept Kosher observantly. (Her uncle was known to ride his bicycle on Saturday and to sustain himself on ham sandwiches.) Australian edible fauna, such as kangaroos and seals, not mentioned in the Torah, offer new challenges for rabbinical scholars to determine their permissibility under dietary law. Still, it's possible to cook some traditional Ashkenazic dishes in Australia. Cholent and Kugel vary little from elsewhere in the world. Any New Yorker would recognize Koval's Matzo Balls and Borscht. Scattered among the recipes are brief portraits of contemporary Australian Jews. The aptly titled Scent of Orange Blossoms presents Sephardic Jewish cooking from Morocco. Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane collaborated on this collection of recipes combining Moroccan, Spanish, and Jewish cooking. As the title implies, this cuisine offers more aromas and spices than the more familiar cooking of North European Jews. Preserved lemons, turmeric, chili peppers, cumin, and cilantro figure among the seasonings. Olive oil replaces butter as the fat of choice. Morocco's indigenous variety of white truffles appears in some recipes. And the dishes' original names reflect French, Spanish, Arabic, and Italian influences. Hearty Holiday Potato and Meat Pie forms an elaborate centerpiece for a meal of multiple accompanying salads. The authors cite the Sephardic festival of Mimouna, the last evening of Passover, when Muslims offer their Jewish neighbors a lump of leavened starter dough to replace the yeast discarded during Passover. Even a professional chef may well be daunted by the challenges implicit in La Cuisine de Joel Robuchon. The untranslated French title is the first clue that this is not a frivolous cookbook. The celebrated French chef offers some of his best dishes, organized seasonally. Robuchon's cuisine relies on prime ingredients cooked at the height of their succulent best. Upside-Down Apricot Tart calls simply for fruit, sugar, and puff pastry. Vanilla is honored in the lushest Creme Brulee of cream, sugar, and eggs. Both sea bream and leg of lamb profit from nearly ascetic roasting within salt crusts. Foie gras ennobles humble lentil sauce. On the other hand, Robuchon reveals a secret to his pie dough: elaborating it with ground almonds and vanilla seeds. Even a home cook can use this sort of enhancement to impress guests. Fresh, nonpareil ingredients form the essence of this cuisine, and Robuchon's essays on the provenance of these premier foodstuffs are more significant than the nearly irreproducible recipes. Measures are given in metric weights, another obstacle for the everyday American cook. Slightly more accessible French cooking appears in Georges Blanc and Coco Jobard's Simple French Cooking: Recipes from Our Mothers' Kitchens. Blanc, who named his own multistarred restaurant in honor of his mother, has documented the cooking of outstanding French women chefs from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These women started restaurants mostly out of obligation to their families' personal finances. Most hailed from the Lyon region of France, but some conquered the rarefied gourmet circles of Paris itself. Reading these women's inspirational stories only makes one hungrier to sample their recipes. Typical of the best French cooking, they rely on top-of-the-line ingredients, but the meticulous home cook can handily conquer the stews, casseroles, and soups. Several renditions of multimeat Pot au Feu make excellent dishes for winter dinner parties. Others, such as the homey yet very French Macaroni and Cheese, make even the plainest meals special. During winter's long, cold nights, people yearn for something rib-stickingly hearty. Comfort Food Fast not only meets the need for this kind of cooking but it also offers time-savers without resorting to canned soups and such. Anne Gardon has some fresh, attractive ideas for cooks. Instead of the expected pasta dishes, she offers a barley gratin loaded with carrots or squash. She stuffs acorn squash with chicken and vegetables and tops it with pastry for a healthy variation on potpie. Lest one begin to think Gardon knows vegetables only, she presents lamb stew with Moroccan spices, rabbit in pastry shells, a ham-and-onion log based on pizza dough, and an uncommon roast chicken stuffed with goat cheese and herbs. One of the earliest timesaving kitchen devices, the pressure cooker, is back in vogue. New stainless steel models and elaborate electric programmable models now appear in housewares stores. Express Cooking, by Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey, newly issued in paperback, addresses this new generation of pressure cookers with a winning group of contemporary recipes. Beef shanks stew with figs for a hearty entree. Veal breast cooks quickly in a pressure cooker, and the higher heat extracts veal's natural gelatins for a rich sauce. Grains also cook speedily in a pressure cooker, and some chefs even use it to prepare risotto with much less stress on the cook. The authors list tables of cooking times for many foods, and they helpfully give advice on converting standardly cooked recipes to the pressure cooker. Opposite the pressure cooker's speed stands the leisurely pace of the slow cooker, also enjoying new popularity. Despite the hyperbole of the title, The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes breaks out of the usual soups/stews confinement of other Crock-Pot cookbooks. Judith Finlayso