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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, November 5, 2003

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Cookbooks for holiday gift-giving

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

I live inside a stack of books, both at the office and at home, and many of them are cookbooks. Cookbooks make excellent holiday presents if you're sure of the interests of the recipient and if you're sure the book is all it advertises itself to be. Today and over the next few weeks, as the holidays barrel down on us, I'll review new releases to help you make good choices.

Today, some fancier gift books:

"Neiman Marcus Cookbook" by Kevin Garvin with John Harrisson; Clarkson/Potter, oversize hardback, $45. The country's most luxurious department store, known for its fine restaurants as well as fine fashions, has published two previous cookbooks, but those were collections of customers' recipes. Garvin, vice president of Neiman Marcus restaurants, points out this is the first "official" Neiman Marcus cookbook, made up of the restaurants' most-requested recipes. Yes, the popovers are here. The chicken broth. The chocolate-chip cookies (an insider joke). So are a number of recipes (including oxtail soup) created by chefs at Mariposa here in Honolulu. Photographer Harrisson lives in Hawai'i. A+ for charming introductory copy, photographs, well-designed recipe spreads. Give this with a cookbook holder so as not to stain this beautiful book.

"Flavor" by Rocco Dispirito with Kris Sherer; Hyperion, hardback, $35. You'll have one of two reactions to this book — "Oh, him!" (smile, sigh, swoon) or "Oh, him!" (grimace, head-shake, dismissive wave of hand). Whatever you think of the star of NBC's so-called reality show "The Restaurant," this high-style, high-speed cookbook reveals his cooking philosophy and his prejudices (a photo spread illustrates tools he loves and loathes). Graphics rules: Every recipe is illustrated with multiple photos; colored boxes show cooking time, degree of difficulty, portion size, wine matches. Ingredients are classified by colored dots indicating "taste group" (sweet, sour, salty, bitter). An entire chapter is necessary to explain how to use the book. Contemporary, ingredient-focused, but actually not too complicated, the recipes are for the sort of person who isn't put off by cleaning live clams or trimming an artichoke down to the nub. B, for busy.

"Once Upon a Tart" by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Andureau with Carolynn Carreño; Knopf, hardback, $27.50. Named for the respected SoHo bake shop and restaurant founded by the authors, this book is not just about tarts but also the other menu items offered there — "soups, salads, muffins and more." It's well-designed, with recipes confined to a single page or facing pages, lots of advice on techniques, a detailed guide to tart-making (as you would expect), lots of pretension-busting quotes from the authors, who come off as smart and likable. If there's a baker on your list, this one's a good bet. It gets an A.

"Sweets: A Collection of Soul Food Desserts and Memories" by Patty Pinner; 10 Speed Press, hardback, $24.95. As much a cultural history of the African-American table as it is a cookbook, this well-written book employs a sort of photo-album approach, with snapshots of families posing for the camera, gathered at tables piled with food, grandmas in the kitchen, dads at the wheel of the car, even the dog. The recipes are for traditional cakes, pies, cobblers, puddings, desserts, cookies, candies and ice cream, and the little stories that introduce them are charming. Pinner captures the voices as well as the delicious dishes. A+.