Book reviews

A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America by James E. McWilliams ($29.95, Columbia University Press) Texas State University-San Marcos assistant history professor James McWilliams begins with slaughtering pigs and a calf on a Maryland farm in 1650 and takes readers on a journey through the landscape of early American food production, visiting Puritan families, Iroquois longhouses and slave kitchens, among other stops. Fascinating stuff that will appeal to history buffs and serious foodies. This book resides more in the academic field than does, say, accessible works like Fast Food Nation or Botany of Desire. (Its 388 pages includes 32 pages of notes and a 20-page bibliography.) If there’s an area that could be improved, it’s the illustrations, which are infrequent and not well reproduced.

After the Hunt, Louisiana’s Authorative Collection of Wild Game and Game Fish Cookery by John Folse ($64.95, Chef John Folse & Company) is a behemoth of a book by Louisiana chef John Folse. It’s the follow-up to his last, The Encyclopedia of Cajun Cuisine, in which he devoted a mere 42 pages to the world of hunting and wild game. In his latest volume he expounds on the topic to the tune of 854 pages, or more than 10 pounds of paper filled with a photographic and literal journey through the colorful world of hunting and wild game cookery. Every huntable animal gets its just due. Recipes can be as basic as venison sauerbraten to more exotic fare, such as stuffed muskrat, black bear pot roast or pan-fried squirrel brains. This is by no means a book that is meant to be read cover to cover. It’s more like a collection of short stories to be plucked from the shelf when looking for an answer to an important question or passed around the lease with friends, ice cold beer in hand, discussing the day’s hunt and how you might show your day’s prize the respect and preparation it deserves.

Apple’s America: The Discriminating Traveler’s Guide to 40 Great Cities in the United States and Canada by R.W. Apple Jr. ($22.50, North Point Press) As we’re a Houston magazine, naturally we turned immediately to the chapter on Houston to gauge whether R.W. Apple “gets” Houston and, alas, we think not. He’s got the canned history-in-a-nutshell, paying special attention to our architecture and the Menil Collection, and for dining out he recommends (no surprise) Brennan’s, Cafe Annie, Goode Co. Barbeque, Hugo’s and Mark’s. But he misses the downtown renaissance entirely (the book has a 2005 copyright date — downtown’s 10-year-plus rebirth should have been noted), hasn’t much to say about the intensely rich cultural stew that makes this city quiver with excitement and mistakenly calls George W. Bush a former owner of the Astros (the president once owned part of the Texas Rangers). The map that accompanies the Houston chapter is practically useless.

Artisan Baking Across America: The Breads, the Bakers, the Best Recipes by Maggie Glezer ($40.00, Artisan) may be coffeetable-book size, but the recipes are intelligently written (e.g. ingredients are measured by volume, weight, metric and baker’s percentage) and laid out. Glezer also goes behind the scenes, to Kansas wheat fields and a stonemill, and gives sources for specialty flours and bread-baking equipment. Nicely comprehensive.

At Grandmother’s Table by Ellen Perry Berkeley (editor) ($24.95, Artisan) is subtitled “Women Write about Food, Life and the Enduring Bond between Grandmothers and Granddaughters,” and it is a charmer. Full of vintage photos, recipes that have been handed down and personal recollections, it would make an ideal gift for almost any modern woman who cherishes the past. It might even inspire you to create a family scrapbook/cookbook of your own.

Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden by Jeanne Kelley ($35.00, Running Press) matches up urban chic with earthy organic. A simple backyard vegetable garden in downtown Los Angeles inspired this collection of hearty, healthy fare, and it shows — freshness and flavor are the recurring themes throughout an otherwise diverse medley ranging from the classic (e.g. potato gratin, apple crumb pie) to the exotic (goat cheese and poblano pepita pesto quesadillas). The salad section is a creative highlight, featuring quirky and colorful dishes like the Mexican fruit gazpacho salad. And although the recipes usually include a real surprise or two — the ratatouille with lavender blossoms, the granita with blood oranges — kitchen novices need not fear, since Kelley always provides explanatory notes or ideas for substitution. The book’s design, like its recipes, is modern but casual: family snapshots from the garden illustrate the brief how-to guides on gardening and tending chickens, while sleek full-page spreads accompany most of the recipes.

Bon Appetit, Y’All by Virginia Willis ($32.50, Ten Speed Press) , despite its absurd name, offers an elite, European-influenced take on Southern cooking. Willis is a French-trained Southern chef, and she is more faithful to her schooling than her roots, including such “refined” choices as Gratin Dauphinois and La Varenne Gougeres (potatoes gratin and cheesestraws, for the uncultured) as well as hushpuppies and Mama’s Butter Beans. As a result, this book has much breadth—e.g. there are five preparations for okra—but this comes at quite an expense: The book’s theme of “refined Southern cooking” feels forced and a bit silly. Yes, there are scads of flavorful dishes here, but each seems randomly drawn from either a fancy Paris kitchen or a clapboard back porch cafe in the Bible Belt. There is no graceful fusion of the two. We missed the friendly tips and anecdotes from the other book, and were annoyed to realize there is no table of contents—expect to spend time flipping through the index in search of the recipe you want. Complex ingredients like “bouquet garni,” a cheesecloth-wrapped bundle of just the right proportions of thyme, parsley and bay leaves, are tossed out with abandon. This book could have artfully blended French sophistication with Southern comfort by subtly tweaking each recipe, but instead it awkwardly lumps together the two traditions in a way that feels heavy-handed—the laborious Belgian Endive Salad on page 21 and Poached Georgia Shrimp on page 22 seem like they shouldn’t belong in the same book, let alone the same chapter. Only recommended for advanced chefs with dual interests in French and Southern cooking.

Cal-A-Vie Living, Gourmet Spa Cuisine by Chef Steve Pernetti and Sous-chef Jason Graham ($34.95, Cal-a-Vie) proves that cucumbers are not just for facials. Authors Pernetti and Graham of California spa Cal-a-Vie—the spa is owned by Houstonians Terri and John Havens—share recipes for two weeks of healthful gourmet dining. Each day of the week features three meals, dinner being accompanied by an hors d’oeuvre and dessert. Short sections on beauty and therapeutic treatments interrupt the food focus to promote the spa side of things. When it does come to the food, the spa emphasizes a low-fat, low-sodium diet that features complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. To achieve this, Splenda and lite versions of certain ingredients are often used. Sumptuous menu items such as sweet soy-glazed swordfish are photographed lustrously, but prep secrets are not always fully revealed. For example, the recipe for green and white asparagus soup—a gorgeous yin-yang of creamy colors—instructs the home cook simply to “pour carefully” and “take care not to mix.” Murphy’s Law and past experience cooking for a date suggest that an attempt at this recipe would be an unmitigated disaster in our kitchen. But, then, this is gourmet cooking. After trying to recreate the ambitious wild mushroom and lobster strudel a girl might need a recuperative massage.

Canning & Preserving for Dummies by Karen Ward ($16.99, Wiley Publishing) should help dispel your fear of canning. Canning food at home is so fraught with danger—or so it seems to many modern cooks, scared silly by the prospect of poisoning the entire family—you have to wonder how our ancestors did it for generations. Sensible and inspiring, author Karen Ward walks readers through water-bath canning, pressure canning, freezing and drying. Love the idea of home-canned pickles, spaghetti sauce or peach chutney? This new book will help you find satisfaction in a Mason jar.

Chinese Cuisine Made Simple by Dorothy Huang ($27.95, Pinewood Press) is the new, updated version of Dorothy Huang’s Chinese Cooking, which was published more than 20 years ago. Since then, Houston’s own Huang has seen her book through six reprintings and has taught hundreds of cooking classes in Houston and around the country. This book is a revised, revamped and re-tested edition of the original, and more than half of the 160 recipes are new. It boasts clear instructions (supplemented by photos), easy-to-read format and a charming design.

Chocolate: The Sweet History by Beth Kimmerle ($39.95, Collectors Press) will appeal to those who believe that chocolate inhabits a special place in ones realm of indulgences. (This may explain the many, many chocolate books that cross our desk.) This scrapbook-style history of the native American treat includes reproductions of old advertisements, a chocolate historical timeline, glossary of terminology and a handful of classic recipes. We can’t imagine dipping into this book without a bar of Scharffen Berger 70 percent bittersweet at hand.

Ciao Italy by Damian Mandola and Johnny Carrabba ($24.95, Bright Sky Press) will appeal to fans of Mandola and Carrabba’s PBS cooking show, Cucina Sicilia. The recipes are hardy and reality-based—e.g. stuffed sardines, eggplant ravioli, roast pork shanks, chicken hunter’s wife style—and the photography is very appealing.

Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl ($24.95, Artisan) is the second installment of the memoirs of Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl. This covers “the California years,” and there’s plenty of juicy stuff about food-world scenemakers, including her lover Colman Andrews (now the editor at Gourmet rival Saveur) and husband-and-wife team Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff. No movie star kiss-and-tell sizzler has anything on this book.

Commander’s Kitchen by Ti Adelaide Martin and Jamie Shannon ($35.00, Broadway Books) is the first cookbook from New Orleans’s preeminent restaurant since 1984. This time a younger generation is at the stove in the kitchen and at the computer keyboard. All the traditional Commander’s favorites here, as well as many newer, lighter, more experimental recipes. Lots of cooking/shopping tips and New Orleans trivia.

Complete Book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani ($27.95, Robert Rose) uses recipes to illustrate a culture. A follow-up to Vaswani’s first book, Easy Indian Cooking, this creation is a more comprehensive look at how recipes relate to the regions from which they were born. Vaswani’s skills as a Houston cooking instructor are obvious. The ingredients and directions are clearly delineated, and a tip usually sits on the side margin of every page. Although some of the ingredients may be unfamiliar or require an effort to find, Vaswani has put together a glossary of those very ingredients at the beginning of the book, helping to further demystify Indian cooking. Recipes are arranged according to the area of India they represent, and candy store colors liven the pages. A special section is dedicated to chaat, popular Indian street food for which Vaswani shows special affection.

Cooking New American: How to Cook the Food You Love to Eat by editors of Fine Cooking magazine ($29.95, Taunton Press) offers 200 recipes — typical are chicken and tortilla soup, short ribs with ginger, star anise and leeks, seared asparagus with parmesan curls and strawberry shortcake — into a useful cookbook that is larded with “cooking right” tips and no-nonsense head notes. This one is likely to get food stains on it from real use.

Cooking With Texas Highways by Nola McKey ($24.95, University of Texas Press) . Editor Nola McKey puts it succinctly when she writes in her introduction that Texas Highways is hardly in a culinary league with Gourmet or Bon Appetit, but “you can’t travel the state for more than three decades … without picking up a few good recipes.” And here they are, from Lone Star classics (e.g. chicken-fried steak, green chile cornbread, tortilla soup) to fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, tabouli, paella, tacos al carbon and Lady Bird Johnson’s peach ice cream. The recipes are homecook-friendly, and we love the travel photography. What a swell melting pot of a state we live in.

Cooking: 600 Recipes, 1500 Photographs, One Kitchen Education by James Peterson ($40.00, Ten Speed Press) may be simply named, but the title is apt. It tells the reader everything he or she needs to know about cooking in the 21st century. Penned by famed food instructor and prolific cookbook writer James Peterson, this textbook could well be the only one your kitchen needs. Not only because it includes recipes for just about everything, but because it doesn’t suggest you follow them mechanically. Peterson makes it possible to learn general methods and even little-known tips that will be applicable to all future cooking, cookbook present or not. Recipes range from boiling an egg to an elegant cassoulet, with a leaning towards French and American cuisine. The photography is exceptional, with step-by-step pictorial instructions accompanying a number of recipes. Other photos present for aesthetic reasons, and taken by Peterson himself, nicely break up the text.

Cornbread Nation 4: The Best of Southern Food Writing by various authors ($17.95, University of Georgia Press) affirms that Southerners truly are what they eat. This is a smorgasbord of newspaper articles, personal essays and even a few photos and recipes to explore the link between food and identity in the South. Topics range from the deeply moving, such as Houston Chronicle food editor Peggy Grodinsky’s powerful piece on the culinary homesickness of New Orleans natives who relocated to Houston in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to the lighthearted, like Tom Hanchett’s history of soft drinks in the South, including their regional variants. (Will the fierce “pop” vs. “soda” debate ever be laid to rest?) Robb Walsh, restaurant critic for the Houston Press, contributes an essay on the quirky Beaumont, Texas, tradition of barbecued crab. “Sugar: Savior or Satan?” takes our prize for funniest title, while Jim Myers’ essay on moonshine will have you giggling. As Rick Bragg writes in an ode to New Orleans food after the devastation of Katrina, “What good is a life without hot cornbread?” A celebration of the persistent cultural power of food, Cornbread Nation’s answer to that question is a resounding “none.”

Cowboy Cocktails by Grady Spears and Brigit L. Binns ($14.95, Artisan) is the second book from Texas chef Spears, who had the marvelous Reata restaurants in Alpine, Fort Worth and Beverly Hills. Engaging graphics and a “recommended listening” song title for each drink. This is so entertaining, even teetotalers will enjoy it.

Crazy for Crab by Fred Thompson ($19.95, Harvard Common Press) strikes us as an overdue single-subject cookbook. This is a fairly thorough treatment of crabs—plenty of recipes, tips on buying/handling and waterfront photography—but we couldn’t help feeling slighted that Gulf Coast crabs, recipes and traditions were given such short shrift. The emphasis in this book is clearly on the Chesapeake Bay area, the Carolinas and the West Coast’s Dungeness crabs. Still, it would be handy to slip into the “seafood” section of your cookbook shelf.

Creating Empty Bottle Moments by Cliver Berkman ($30.00, Baxter Press) comes from Houston chef/restaurateur Clive Berkman (of Charlie’s 517, Clive’s, Crème de la Crème Catering and concessions company True Concessions). The book’s organization can be confusing, with recipes that are grouped sometimes by menu, other times by ambiguously named category (“The Best is Yet to Come” = dessert). The first 40 pages are devoted to recounting Berkman’s life history and religious conversion, while anecdotes sharing memories and “life lessons” from the restaurant business are scattered throughout. This is obviously a labor of love, and there are some appealing recipes to be found here (e.g. lemon and thyme potato gratin, papaya relish), but the layout is awkward, and the prose tends to be preachy. Berkman’s passion for food and for Houston is commendable, but it sometimes gets lost in Empty Bottle Moments’ less-than-rigorous editing.

Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food by John Dickie ($26.00, Free Press) is, for those with more than a passing interest in Italian cuisine, an interesting and generally enjoyable read, if not the last word on the subject. It is an intentionally meandering and selective history that begins with the polyglot Norman kingdom in Sicily in the 12th century. Though many of the most popular foods in Italy (and by extension, in this country, too) purport a strong linkage to an idealized rural past and locale, this is mostly a fallacy. “Italian food is city food,” the author asserts many times, and this is the book’s most enduring theme. But, this linkage to the countryside is good marketing, and “the Italian gastronomic landscape abounds with food traditions — some of them real, some exaggerated, and some entirely fanciful,” which might give slight pause when you are shopping for balsamic vinegar or mozzarella di bufala to make that authentic Italian meal. The vast majority of what we know as Italian food is fairly modern, from within the past century and a half at most. Tomato sauce was first matched to pasta in a cookbook only in the mid-1800s (rather tepidly, too), and “pizzeria” was not recorded in an Italian dictionary until 1918. Pesto genovese in its sacrosanct present form was still not quite complete in a 1955 definition. All this is certainly due, in part, because until the economic success in the 1950s, much of the Italian population had struggled for centuries to survive on a monotonous diet of porridge and breads from inferior grains. As Dickie notes, “for the underfed millions, the only way to start eating like an Italian was to leave Italy altogether.” This instigated Italian-American cooking, which is yet another story.

Easy Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani ($18.95, Robert Rose) is the first cookbook from Houston’s popular local culinary instructor. Based on the recipes that she teaches at her cooking school, these are manageable by any cook of moderate ability. In keeping with traditional Indian cooking, there are a significant number of vegetarian dishes. Alas, we could not find the recipe for Suneeta’s famous tomato chutney.

Fast Fish by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison ($19.95, Ten Speed Press) is a very useful book, full of quick, healthful recipes, straightforward photos and a brief background on various kinds of fish. It’s a pretty book, but not silly (like so many specialized cookbooks). Each fish group includes substitution lists and recommended cooking techniques. Fast Fish has already become one of our favorites for seafood cookery, and we recommend it. The authors even display a conscience, noting, for example, that Chilean sea bass is endangered and imploring readers, “Please do not buy this fish.”

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser ($25.00, Houghton Mifflin) is subtitled “the dark side of the all-American meal,” and we guarantee this book will make you reconsider the next time you’re tempted to head for the closest drive-thru. Is it an indictment of American fast food? In a word, yes. It almost illustrates the power that McDonald’s et al have for good (i.e. nutritional Happy Meals, Earth-friendly farm policies) as well as bad. Let’s hope Ronald McDonald is reading.

Fearless Baking: Over 100 Recipes That Anyone Can Make by Elinor Klivans ($30.00, Simon & Schuster) offers a step-by-step course designed specifically for beginning bakers. The book begins with detailing the basics and recipes that require nothing more than simply stirring ingredients together (e.g. Toasted Hazelnut Peach Crisp). Subsequent chapters build upon the basics, and by the end include recipes for melting sugar, rolling crusts and making meringues.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris ($25.00, William Morrow) follows up Blackberry Wine and the best-selling Chocolat. The novel is set, again, in France and, again, a mother’s memory haunts a daughter possessed of a gift for cooking. This time the heroine operates a crperie rather than a chocolate shop.

Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue by John Demers ($19.95, Bright Sky Press) is one man’s journey to eat his way through Texas — specifically, by sampling 119 mom-and-pop barbecue joints. Former Houston Chronicle food editor and current host of the local food-themed radio show Delicious Mischief, Demers organizes his book geographically, profiling barbecue in the four corners and the center of the state. His reviews are as personal as they are culinary, each narrating the diverse stories of cooks and owners in DeMers’ spunky prose: “Here is food made by someone who learned from the ground up, who takes no shortcuts while also taking no prisoners” and “What schizophrenic genius was in charge of detour?” An intriguing essay on the history of barbecue and its regional variants, plus 48 recipes for meats, sides and sweet dishes are part cultural history, part road journal — and always a celebration of the power a smokin’ plate of ribs has to bring people together.

Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art by Tom Gilliland and Miguel Ravago; text by Virginia B. Wood ($34.95, Shearer Publishing) . Oh, that every restaurant might publish so lovely a book as this on its 30th anniversary! It’s beautiful to look at, fun to read (especially if you know Austin) and offers a straightforward guide to Mexican cooking. Need another recommendation? Mexican food authority Diana Kennedy wrote the Foreword as “a love letter.”

Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian ($39.95, Ten Speed Press) straddles two worlds. It tries via essays and reporting to be an academic and thoughtful discourse on the indigenous foods of the Americas, including Hawaii. At the same time, it sells a tried-and-true cookbook formula, featuring recipes from Chile to Alaska. It’s a lovely book, beautifully produced, but its stretch is too thin, too wide and too derivative. Wild goose with sauerkraut and juniper? Fava bean soup with mint? Hmmm.

From Home Plate to Your Plate: A Collection of Recipes from the Houston Astros Family by various ($20.00, Astro Wives Organization, Inc.) is a wire-bound recipe collection from the players and management of Houston’s baseball team and was produced as a fundraiser, with proceeds going toward the fight against uterine cancer at MD Anderson. The book functions as much as a photo and personal stats album as a cookbook, and the recipes are very easy. Great gift for a baseball fan.

From My Mother’s Hands: Remembrances and Recipes from Texas Women by Susie Kelly Flatau ($21.95, Republic of Texas Press) Clearly a book created with great affection, this is a collection of poignant memories from 33 notable Texas women. It’s woven together with recipes, observations, family photos and personal profiles. If ever there was a book perfect for a Texan’s Mother’s Day gift, this would be it.

Gordon Ramsay’s Just Desserts by Gordon Ramsay and Roz Denny ($29.95, Laurel Glen Publishing) was nearly overlooked by our editors. Just another sweets book, we thought. However, a closer look reveals a very useful dessert book from British culinary superstar Gordon Ramsay. The 100-odd recipes (e.g. fruit tempura, mocha tart) are very simple, quick and generously illustrated. If you like fruit desserts especially, this book is a good choice.

Great Firehouse Cooks of Texas by Ron and Caryl McAdoo ($18.95, Republic of Texas Press) Co-author Ron McAdoo is a former Dallas firehouse cook himself, so this book is off to a good start. The couple interviewed some 40 firemen from all over Texas, men who have honed their talent cooking for hearty, albeit discriminating, appetites. Recipes range from chicken and dumplings to Bruno’s spaghetti and meatballs to jalapeno meatloaf to Captain’s coconut pie.

Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass by Wendy Hutton ($35.00, Tuttle Publishing) is the perfect cookbook if you can’t decide what variety of Asian food you like most. Subtitled Southeast Asia’s Best Recipes from Bangkok to Bali, it covers scores of dishes you will recognize and explains many mysteries. Ever wonder how Vietnamese beef-ball soup gets that odd springy texture in the meatballs? Hutton explains it all. (The secret weird ingredient is bicarbonate of soda.) Absolutely gorgeous photography by Masano Kawana.

Haiku-Sine: 217 Tiny Food Poems by Texans Who Love to Eat and Feed Their Heads  by Micki McClelland (editor) ($9.95, Lazywood Press) Food, glorious food—how do we love thee? Let us count the syllables! Adopting the ancient Japanese haiku form to accomplish our exercise, Lazywood Press (publisher of My Table magazine) presents more than 200 poetic munchies, written by Texan foodies and devoted to the delights of palate and tummy. Purchase from Amazon.com or from the My Table store.

Home Sausage Making by Susan Mahnke Peery & Charles G. Reavis ($16.95, Storey Books) The cover subtitle—How-to Techniques for Making and Enjoying 100 Sausages at Home—nicely sums up the book, which stands alone as a most-serviceable guide for both home cooks and restaurant chefs. (This is the third edition of the 1981 original, greatly revised.) Certain semi-vegetarians around our office were grossed by this book, but most of us found it fascinating and demystifying.

Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid ($40.00, Artisan) boasts some of the most beautiful food photography we’ve ever seen, both color and coffee-toned black and white. There are some 175 recipes in the book, but the personal anecdotes, photography and gorgeous production make this more an intimate journal of food discovery than a working cookbook. Indeed, we can’t imagine bringing it into the kitchen: It might get splattered with food stains.

Houston Dining on the Cheap: A Guide to the Best Inexpensive Restaurants in Houston, 3rd edition by Mike Riccetti ($17.95, Tempus Fugit Press) spotlights the fact that Houstonians eat out five times a week as compared to the average American’s three times, and that can get expensive. But Riccetti also contends—and it isn’t hard to agree—that Houston has plenty of great food at good value. Houston Dining on the Cheap helps locals tap the highlights of this bounty by profiling 300 of the city’s best inexpensive restaurants. The book is organized alphabetically with indices in the back for further useful guidance. The profiles are very lengthy, in part because the menu is often discussed in detail. There is so much minutiae, in fact, that the anticipated surprises that come from visiting a new restaurant may go missing. Restaurant descriptions are broken up every now and then with “Asides & Ramblings,” which are amusing ponderings and factual tangents that epitomize Riccetti’s ordinary-guy approach. It seems a veritable feat of strength that Riccetti personally visited more than 1,000 restaurants in order to create this guide. All in all, even tightwads like to eat well, and Riccetti deserves a pat on the back for championing that attitude.

Insatiable by Gael Greene ($25.95, Warner Books) New York magazine restaurant reviewer Gael Greene’s newest book is a straight-forward memoir of the past 50 years best described by its subtitle, Tales from a Life of Delicious Excesses. In it she chronicles America’s obsession with food, as well as the rise and fall of chic restaurants, celebrity chefs, hip clubs and icons. It is also a chronicle of her libido.

Italian Food, Family & Foolishness by Paul Provenzano and Nash D’Amico, Jr. ($14.95, Paul Joe Provenzano Publishing) is a labor of love from two well-known Houston cooks, Nash D’Amico (D’Amico’s Italian Market Cafe) and his “Old Uncle” Paul Joe Provenzano. The little paperback is stuffed with Italian-American recipes, from osso buco to mezzaluna. The foolishness? A lagniappe of the family’s Cajun recipes. What could be more Houstonian?

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain ($24.95, Bloomsbury) must be the year’s most-talked-about book in foodie circles. Bad boy Bourdain is a chef (at Brasserie Les Halles in New York City) as well as a novelist, and he tells the real story of what goes on in the kitchen. Don’t say we didn’t warn you: It may well be more than you really want to know. The New York Times calls it “deliciously depraved.”

Les Recettes du Petit Dejeuner: A Breakfast Cookbook from the Chefs of La Madeleine ($19.95, La Madeleine de Corps, Inc.) isn’t about the kind of breakfast you poke into the kids on their way to school. This is luxurious, pretty, sensual breakfast, the breakfast of fantasy or, at least, of leisure. Recipes include wild mushroom crpes, muesli bread, chocolate croissants and various omelets.

Lilly For Company: Austin Casual Menus for Palm & Plate by Jane Lilly Schotz ($16.95, Culinaria) is a modest monograph (112 pages) that feels like it was handmade. It’s from long-time Austin caterer Jane Lilly Schotz, who owned the popular Lilly & Co. (It closed in 1998.) Schotz divides the book into sections that suit different serving styles: finger menus, fork menus, fork-and-knife menus and soups. When you’re stumped as to what to prepare for your next cocktail buffet for 30, this book will help.

Magic in the Kitchen by Jan Bartelsman ($50.00, Artisan) is striking for its astonishing photographs of 40 of America’s top chefs (including Houston’s own Robert Del Grande). These photo-montages by Dutch photographer Jan Bartelsman are worth the price of the book alone, and the profiles of the illustrated chefs are interesting enough. The recipes, however, are too long, too complicated and too bizarre to appeal to the average home cook.

Mastering Barbecue: Tons of Recipes, Great Tips, Neat Techniques, and Indispensable Know-How by Michael H. Stines ($19.95, Ten Speed Press) is a good basic cookbook, loaded with recipes for dry rubs, marinades, mops and sauces. It’s not just about great slabs of meat, either; there are chapters on seafood and vegetables. Well, okay, the vegetable chapter is just seven pages.

Matt Makes a Run for the Border: Recipes and Tales from a Tex-Mex Chef by Matt Martinez Jr. and Steve Pate ($29.95, Lebhar-Friedman Books) offers more than 150 recipes, all with a Lone Star Tex-Mex accent. Martinz comes from a long line of Texas chefs and restaurateurs. He currently operates six restaurants in Dallas, including Matt’s No Place.

Neiman Marcus Cookbook by Kevin Garvin with John Harrisson ($45.00, Clarkson Potter) is one gorgeous and useful book, with super-saturated color photography and well-written recipes. The recipes reflect American cooking at its best: Eastern shore crabcakes, herb-crusted salmon, chopped salad, braised pot roast, Reuben sandwich. Good head notes, easy-to-buy ingredients, clear cooking methods. Pricy, yes. But there’s nothing frou-frou about this book (except its good looks).

Our Latin Table by Fernando Saralegui ($29.95, Bulfinch Press) is a book of Latin-accented “celebrations, recipes and memories” from the former executive director of the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival in Austin. Before he became festival director, Saralegui was a New York chef, restaurateur and designer. This book, clearly a labor of love, is built around holidays and special occasions, such as a christening lunch, good-luck fishing trip, Fourth of July Latin clambake and Christmas family brunch.

Our Texas Heritage: Ethnic Traditions and Recipes by Dorothy McConachie ($19.95, Republic of Texas Press) The Lone Star State’s history and tradition are written here in recipes, from Native Americans (e.g. fry bread, chile casserole) to Mexican (enchiladas, empanaditas) to German (steamed bratwurst in sour cream sauce, bierocks) to, yes, Italians (shrimp sauce for spaghetti, fig cookies). A total of 14 ethnic groups are represented with a bit of history and several recipes.

Peace Meals: A Book of Recipes for Cooking and Connecting by the Junior League of Houston ($32.95, Junior League of Houston) is an elegant book that reclaims the dinner table as a place to take time for family and flavor. Designed to give the stressed-out cook pause for thought, 330-plus colorful recipes — such as the slow-cooked Moroccan vegetable stew with currants, almonds and six fragrant spices — all emphasize slowing down and taking pleasure in the simple delights of cooking. The fourth in the Junior League’s acclaimed cookbook series, Peace Meals gathers favorite recipes from Houston women in a format at once sophisticated and casual. The gorgeous food photography by Terry Vine complements recipes ranging from elaborate (e.g. orecchiette with caramelized onions, chocolate Grand Marnier truffle soufflés) to classic (macaroni and cheese, brandy apple pie). Look for contributions from renowned Houston eateries — Cafe Annie, Churrascos, Goode Company, Ouisie’s Table and T’afia, to name a few. A handy appendix with substitutions and conversions, large page numbers placed clearly in the middle of the margin and a ribbon bookmark are among the user-friendly touches that make this comprehensive, Houston-flavored tome a favorite.

Perfect Preserves by Hilaire Walden ($19.95, Artisan) is a more elegant tome than Canning & Preserving for Dummies, full of delicious-looking, highly styled color photos. It covers some of the same ground, but is less about truly mastering a craft than about offering recipes for some very basic items (e.g. Provençal herbs, zucchini chutney, oven-dried tomatoes), then using these foods in other recipes.

Prosciutto Pancetta Salame Cooking With the Cured Meats of Italy by Pamela Sheldon Johns ($18.95, Ten Speed Press) . Did you know that a butcher can get 35 to 40 salami from a single pig? Or that lardo — a kind of cured pork fat — is a much-appreciated topping for crostini? If you are intrigued by Italy’s classic cured meats, this small book will be of interest. There’s background on the various styles of cured meats (nearly all an homage to the pig), plus recipes for using them in sandwiches, salads and simple cooked dishes.

Ralph Brennan’s New Orleans Seafood Cookbook by Ralph Brennan ($45.00, Vissi D’Arte Books) answers the question, What’s different about the meat that comes from a crab’s claw? And about 100 other seafood questions, too. (The answer? Claw meat has a sweeter taste and spongier texture than shell meat, making it a popular choice for flavoring gumbos and stews.) New Orleans restaurateur Ralph Brennan — co-owner of Brennan’s in Houston — offers more than 300 pages of recipes for every imaginable seafood dish: fish and shrimp, of course, but also turtle soup and spicy alligator sauce (“two pounds tail meat, trimmed of all fat and silver skin” may be one of the more intimidating ingredient listings we’ve seen). Many of the recipes are long and arduous — for instance, the golden crab and oyster-mushroom gumbo with salad is a full three pages of dense text — but a plethora of helpful, specific tips will keep an experienced cook from feeling overwhelmed. Visually a little lackluster, the book would benefit from a bolder layout and more large photos, but this is a minor fault. Our favorite feature is the practical seafood prep guides, which use clear instructions and step-by-step photos to demystify the daunting task of filleting fish and cracking crabs.

Recipes from Historic Texas by Linda & Steve Bauer ($24.95, Taylor Trade Publishing) will appeal to collectors of all things Texan. This cookbook/travel guide from local Houston-area writers Linda and Steve Bauer takes readers across the state, visiting historic inns and restaurants, and collecting recipes along the way. More than 60 of your day-trip favorites — e.g. The Brazos Bell in Burton, The Tremont House in Galveston, The Salt Lick in Driftwood — are included. Note: We’re not fond of the awkward recipe formatting that separates the ingredients from the cooking method.

Rick Stein’s Complete Seafood by Rick Stein ($40.00, Ten Speed Press) is stuffed with more than 500 photographs and is one of the most inspiring fish cookery books we’ve seen in a long while. It’s written for people who love seafood but don’t like to cook it at home. The author, who is also a long-time PBS cooking show host, organizes the planet’s fish by group so that various fish can be cooked in similar ways. Full of how-to photo spreads, illustrated guides and glossaries.

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose ($32.50, Clarkson Potter) is everything that a collection of classic Southern recipes should be: simple, laidback and part of a long line of traditions and family histories. All the Southern staples are here—cheese grits, fried chicken, okra gumbo, blueberry cobbler, mint juleps—but adventurous chefs looking to spice up old classics with a dash of global flavor won’t be disappointed, either. Foose, a Mississippi chef, offers tabouli from the Middle East, crab salad from the West Indies and tamales from Mexico right alongside lemon icebox pie and glazed ham. Prep instructions are detailed and clear, and notes in the margins give useful tips and alternate ingredients. The book’s best feature, however, is the colorful, conversational narratives that accompany the recipes, revealing a story behind each dish. For instance, the origin of Biloxi Banana Bread was a highway accident that spilled some 200 pounds of bananas, free for the taking. “No telling how many loaves were baked that week,” Foose notes wryly. And the “Sweet, Salty, Ridiculous” recipe for buttermilk bacon pralines includes the tale of civil rights activist Robert Wilkerson, who started a praline shop from his jail cell. While it’s a compact, lighthearted collection, this cookbook also does a marvelous job of highlighting the cultural contrasts at the heart of Southern food: tradition vs. change, comfort vs. creativity, and spicy vs. sweet. Ginger molasses cookies, anyone?

Seasonal Southwest Cooking by Barbara Pool Fenzl ($35.00, Northland Publishing) Beautiful nature photography is a nice addition to this cookbook that spotlights Southwestern cuisine. Barbara Pool Fenzl, a well-known food writer who often covers the Southwest, offers a dozen seasonal menus and 150 recipes, ranging from corn soup with polano chiles to chicken fajita salad to Southwest corn pudding. This is a lovely, oversized cookbook … not the kind of thing you’ll want to get covered with food stains.

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch ($24.95, William Morrow) tells the story of the author’s short-lived career in Thomas Keller’s highly acclaimed New York restaurant, Per Se. She writes, seemingly without guile, how she maneuvered her way into one of the most coveted restaurant jobs in the city and finds true love. During the journey Damrosch discovers the training, devotion and hard work that go into making a great restaurant.

Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman ($16.95, Storey Books) Peas finally have the spotlight, in Serving Up the Harvest. Twenty-nine other vegetables get their turn as well in this sunny cookbook organized by crop-readiness. Each vegetable has at least five recipes devoted to it, as well as growing tips for the garden. Serving Up the Harvest never gets tedious and is handy for all types of home cooks. Gardeners who find themselves with an overabundance of a certain vegetable can use the simple, easy-to-follow suggestions on turning their backyard bounty into meals. Vegetarians, and even people who just want to add more greens to their diets, will find genuinely tasty dishes here. Chesman’s “master recipes,” basic recipes for classic vegetable preparation that fill the first pages of the book, are directed towards those who are especially new to the kitchen.

Smokehouse Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country by Lolis Eric Elie ($19.95, Ten Speed Press) is a niche travel book that looks deep into the heart of barbecue. It has history, personalities, anecdotes, travel lore, even a chapter titled “Sexual Implications.” Texas is well represented, warranting its own chapter.

Southern Fried Spirits: A Guide to Haunted Restaurants, Inns and Taverns by Robert Wlodarski and Anne Powell Wlodarski ($18.95, Republic of Texas Press) Did you know that Texas is populated by a whole horde of ghosts, many of them apparently residing in downtown San Antonio’s finest hotels? Yes, the Menger Hotel, Gunter Hotel, Crowne Plaza St. Anthony and others all have live-in ghosts. Here are those stories and several dozen more about Southern eateries and hotels and their friendly spirits.

Spectacular Restaurants of Texas: An Exclusive Showcase of Texas’ Finest Restaurants by Jolie Carpenter ($39.95, Gibbs Smith Publishers) This is a silly and useless book. It’s a large-format, photo-heavy and text-light collection of the interiors of 60-plus restaurants in the state’s largest cities. For each restaurant, photos of varying number and quality (there are roughly three dozen photographers credited) are accompanied by a paragraph or two (or more for Dallas restaurants). This sports the feel of one of those hardcover advertising guides for restaurants that you might find in a hotel, but is not nearly as useful. The information is slight, the writing and editing are sloppy, and the restaurants that are featured will give further doubts about any usefulness.

Stalking the Green Fairy and Other Fantastic Adventures in Food and Drink by James Villas ($26.95, Wiley Publishing) is an eclectic collection of essays (the green fairy of the title refers to absinthe, of course) that range from Southern Pig (in praise of pork) to Gastronomic Goo (a discourse on peanut butter) to Super Suds (on American micro-brews). It’s lively, insightful and packed with the author’s favorite recipes. Not required reading by any means, but a lovely distraction and amusement.

Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey by Efisio Farris ($39.95, Rizzoli) is really an effort to welcome the reader into a personalized experience of Sardinian culture and it is quite obvious that the author holds his home’s history dear to his heart. Sandwiched between breathtaking photos of the Sardinian countryside are pictures of Farris’ family. Many fans of Arcodoro restaurant here in Houston and Arcodoro & Pomodoro in Dallas will be pleased to know that Farris has translated his sophisticated fare and style into text. The book includes more than 100 recipes, many of which come from his family. Yet this book isn’t ideal for the casual home cook. While the reader can learn what pecorino cheese and mosto d’uva are from between the covers, she might not be prepared to deal with raw sea urchin or calf sweetbreads in her own home kitchen, much less making her own bread and pasta.

Tamales by Mark Miller, Stephan Pyles & John Sedlar ($19.95, Wiley Publishing) tackles that classic Texas holiday favorite. Alas, tamales are usually more fun to eat than to make. These uptown recipes from three of the country’s best-known Southwestern chefs aren’t anything you’ll ever find at your favorite Tex-Mex parlor. Rather, these might be said to be inspired by the idea of tamales—consider Coney Island Corned Beef and Cabbage Tamales with Mustard Sauce or Ginger-Sticky Rice Tamales with Mango and Basil. An interesting perusal, but we can’t imagine any Texan actually cooking from this book.

Texas Food Companies: A Tasty Guide by Rhonda Cloos ($18.95, Republic of Texas Press) A roadmap for dining chair travelers, this nifty paperback tells the stories of many of Texas’ best-known food companies (e.g. Blue Bell Creameries, Collin Street Bakery, The El Paso Chile Company), and many small outfits as well. There’s a chapter devoted to companies that host tours.

Texas on the Plate by Terry Thompson-Anderson ($34.95, Shearer Publishing) marks the first cookbook from Shearer in many years. As you would expect, it’s stunningly designed and photographed, right down to the flyleaf. Terry Thompson-Anderson’s 150-plus recipes are upscale versions of the Lone Star state’s tried-and-true (e.g. venison and mango enchiladas, mesquite-smoked oysters), all very elegant. On the other hand, how many cookbooks offer a recipe for squirrel? Like all of the recipes, Alton and Virginia Anderson’s Braised Squirrel and Dumplings is even paired with suggested wines.

The Amazing World of Rice by Marie Simmons ($19.95, William Morrow) Rice seems to be neck-in-neck with corn in the race for most-written-about grain. This latest volume offers 150 recipes for pilafs, paellas, risottos, rice salad, rice puddings and more. It doesn’t have much in the way of color photos (there are none, in fact) or cutting-edge design. Nevertheless, this is a handy reference book written by the well-known Bon Appetit magazine contributor.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan ($24.95, Random House) is ostensibly a book about plants, but it’s just as much about food and culture. Pollan tells the stories of four everyday plants—apples, tulips, marijuana and potatoes—using a juicy blend of history, science and personal memoir. In doing so, he dispels the myth that man has control over these species; in fact, as Pollan illustrates, the plants have done a remarkable job of using us. A witty and engaging work.

The Breath of a Wok by by Grace Young and Alan Richardson ($35.00, Simon & Schuster) . We had a hard time with the title of this book; it was oddly offputting. But after a reluctant review of its pages, we are charmed by the writing, the photography, the recipes and scope of the scholarship. We came away a believer that the wok is the most versatile piece of kitchen equipment and that this book belongs on the bookshelf of every serious cook. No surprise that it won two 2005 cookbook awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook & Guide by Paula Lambert ($35.00, Simon & Schuster) tells the story of Dallas-based cheesemaker, Paula Lambert. You’ve no doubt eaten her cheeses—she began by making fresh mozzarella back in the early 1980s—in restaurants or purchased them in better supermarkets. This is her story, lots of recipes and general cheese info. She even tells you how to make your own cheese at home.

The Culinary Institute of America’s Gourmet Meals in Minutes ($40.00, Lebhar-Friedman Books) offers more than 200 of our favorite recipes, from grilled vegetable appetizer to soba noodle salad to a Reuben sandwich to risotto with scallops and asparagus to molten chocolate cake. Nearly every culinary influence currently enjoyed in American dining is represented. Impressive pedigree, easy-to-follow recipes, accessible ingredients, restrained layout.

The Essential Eating Well Cookbook by Patsy Jamieson, editor ($29.95, Countryman Press) is subtitled “Good Carbs, Good Fats, Great Flavors,” and the recipes in this book will be familiar to subscribers of Eating Well magazine. Many traditional recipes (e.g. macaroni and cheese, lasagna, pizza margherita) are reworked here, netting less of the bad stuff. We like the modest production (non-glossy paper, all the photos grouped into one section) but hate the hard-to-read brown ink used throughout.

The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook by Kitty Brohier & Kimberly Mayone ($14.95, Marlowe & Company) is one of a slew of slow cooker cookbooks that have recently crossed our desk. This is among the better choices. The authors spend time explaining their methodology (e.g. why the recipes were developed using salted butter instead of unsalted) and the recipes have more freshness and complexity. Very user-friendly; good for beginner cooks.

The Flavors of Life: Culinary Reflections of Mary Nell Reck by Mary Nell Reck ($49.95, The Coronado Club of Houston) is a tribute to and gift from the late Mary Nell Reck, who died in 2003 of breast cancer. You probably know her name from her many years writing a cooking column for The Houston Post and operating local restaurants. In contrast to many locally produced cookbooks, this is a gorgeous effort, with lush photography, outstanding graphic design and well-edited recipes. Proceeds from the sale of The Flavors of Life go toward several breast-cancer organizations. Highly recommended.

The Guide to Ridiculously Easy Entertaining: Tips From Marfreless by Mike Riccetti and Michael Wells ($17.95, Tempus Fugit Press) Veteran food and restaurant writer Mike Riccetti (he’s a regular My Table contributor as well as author of Houston Dining on the Cheap) and Marfreless owner Michael Wells have assembled a guide for entertaining in the 21st century. Yes, even confirmed couch potatoes can pull off a party with real food, entertainment and sexy drinks practically guaranteed to facilitate social intercourse. Useful tips range from how to stock a bar and mix pitchers of drinks to hiring the band to, alas, dealing with a hangover. Lots of good party-food recipes, too.

The Last Days of Haute Cuisine: America’s Culinary Revolution by Patric Kuh ($24.95, Viking) offers another insider’s view of the American food scene, this one by a chef/novelist. The book is framed by the story of what happened when Europe’s elitist haute cuisine met the populist approach of our country’s various ethnic styles, but there’s more than just history here. Lots of gossip, personalities and insider poop.

The Niman Ranch Cookbook by Bill Niman and Janet Fletcher ($35.00, Ten Speed Press) If you are abreast of food trends, then you’re aware of Niman Ranch meats, the national model for sustainable farming. It’s kind of a co-op that is supported by more than 500 independent family farmers who raise cattle, pigs and sheep according to strict animal husbandry protocols. Now founder Bill Niman, along with San Francisco Chronicle food writer Janet Fletcher, has collected more than 40 recipes from well-known chefs, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mario Batali. It’s called a cookbook, but this project is also about handling meat and the politics of raising livestock.

The Oldways Table: Essays & Recipes from the Culinary Think Tank by K. Dun Gifford & Sara Baer-Sinnot ($32.50, Ten Speed Press) This is more of a manifesto than anything else. The non-profit Oldways organization believes that what it calls “techno foods,” over-processed and ready to eat, are responsible for America’s declining health. The authors, who are founder and executive vice-president of Oldways, also think the language of nutrition and dieting isn’t doing its job in educating families about the right way to eat. The task of this book is to reassert the “old ways” in cooking as well as in the enjoyment of food. The Oldways Table includes numerous scholarly essays from chefs, food writers and nutritionists. The recipes don’t dominate the pages of this book, but are still simple and appetizing. Many recreate dishes that come from Mediterranean and Asian cuisine, two types of fare that Oldways has identified as being naturally healthful. Oldways has become an impressive force in today’s food world, and The Oldways Table is a reader’s comprehensive guide.

The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather with Alison Oresman ($29.95, Ten Speed Press) is a gift from the popular owner of Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe in Fredericksburg, Texas. The state’s many baking traditions — Mexican, Czech and German among them — are represented here, as are many of Texas’ best-loved ingredients, including pecans and peaches. Ten Speed Press always produces a good cookbook, and this is no exception.

The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, photography by Simon Wheeler ($40.00, Ten Speed Press) At times reading The River Cottage Meat Book feels a bit like stumbling into an NC-17 slasher film; it’s not for the faint of heart. The two serious-looking knives that appear on the first page should give the reader some idea what she’s getting into. Whereas a different book might highlight a juicy hamburger topped with fresh greens and a side of fries, The Meat Book instead showcases the raw beef coming out of the grinder. The shock value is essentially the most valuable tool the author uses to make his point: Meat should be enjoyed ethically and with full knowledge of the animal, where it comes from and how it is brought to the dinner plate. Not only does it look like a text book, it reads like one too. Following a scholarly discussion on “Meat and Right,” Fearnley-Whittingstall gets down and dirty with every edible animal and every membrane and gland. Once you get to the recipes themselves, you may find them a bit complicated — a fact that could have been remedied with some simple numbering. That aside, everything you ever wanted to know (and see) about meat is within The Meat Book.

The Soup Peddler’s Slow & Difficult Soups by David Ansel ($0.00, Ten Speed Press) . Austin’s locally famous soup peddler has written a quirky book that is equal parts memoir, cookbook, business motivational and call to action. Soupmaker David Ansel began his business with a yellow bike, a used trailer and a few two-quart containers of homemade gumbo, delivering soup to his friends and neighbors in Bouldin Creek. It wasn’t long until he had 700+ “soupies.” If you’re among those who wish to “keep Austin weird,” this is your book.

The Tailgater’s Cookbook by David Joachim ($14.95, Broadway Books) Texas may be the capital of tailgating, what with our many sports teams and typically fine weather right through the end of football season. The tradition has changed, however: No longer is a pre-game beer and mug of chili enough. Today devotees spend thousands on pick-ups with built-in grills and coolers, fancy canopies, folding chairs with footrests and cup holders and gas-powered blenders. This cookbook is for them. It includes chapters on cooler stuff (dips, salads, salsas, etc.), grilling, pot cooking (such as stews, soups, even deep-fried turkey), drinks, breakfast and tailgating menus. There are even tips on healthy tailgating, but that seems pointless, doesn’t it?

The Texas Cowboy Kitchen by Grady Spears with June Naylor ($34.95, Texas Monthly Custom Publishing) may make you wonder, as the celebrity chef’s name is larger than the cookbook title. Yes, Grady Spears is BIG —practically an industry unto himself—and this is a BIG cookbook with BIG type throughout. If you’ve used other Spears cookbooks, you’ll recognize the folksy, Texas stylin’ throughout. His co-author is My Table magazine’s Dallas-Fort Worth correspondent June Naylor.

The Top One Hundred Italian Rice Dishes by Diane Seed ($14.95, Ten Speed Press) includes more than 50 risotto recipes among its 100 rice dishes. Prettily illustrated by Sarah Hocombe, this is a useful little book that thoroughly addresses the subject of rice cooking, Italian-style, without overreaching. (You may recall that Diane Seed was our cooking instructor for My Table’s Off the Eaten Path trip to Italy last November.)

The Waldorf=Astoria Cookbook by John Doherty with John Harrisson ($50.00, Bulfinch Press) is printed with tankerfuls of gold, black and deep rich burgundy ink. This gorgeous book is both the story of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City and executive chef John Doherty’s first cookbook. Larded with historical photos and close-up photos of the hotel’s Art Deco architectural details, this book will please lovers of New York and urban history. Doherty, who has cooked for more presidents, world leaders, rock stars, celebrities and billionaires than probably anyone in the world, has made sure that his recipes are home-cook-friendly — not always the case with restaurant cookbooks — and the head notes give each an arresting back-story.

The Wines of Texas: A Guide and a History by Sarah Jane English ($26.95, Eakin Press) October is Texas Wine Month, so we thought it appropriate to alert you to the fourth edition of one of the original Texas wine books, first published in 1986. If you attend wine and food festivals in this state, you’ve surely met author Sarah Jane English, who teaches, writes about, eats and breathes Texas wine. This brand-new edition tells the stories of more than 20 state wineries and traces the history of the industry, beginning in 1659 near El Paso. Two other recommended Texas wine books include Touring Texas Wineries by Thomas and Regina Ciesla (Gulf Publishing Co.) and Texas Wines & Wineries by Frank Giordano (Texas Monthly Press).

Under the Texan Sun: The Best Recipes from Lone Star Wineries by Rhonda Cloos ($17.95, Taylor Trade Publishing) What a jumble of a book. We like the idea of rounding up more than 25 Texas wineries and asking the owners and winemakers to contribute recipes and food-wine matches. But we’re sorry that this book is carelessly edited — recipe headnotes could use a firm and consistent hand, for example — and the recipe collection highly uneven, with too many recipes that rely on things like boxed brownie mix, Velveeta and dehydrated soup mix. The wine-label graphics are poorly reproduced, and the bonus chapters that comprise about a third of the book have no apparent organization or function except to fill space. In other words, a good idea with mixed execution.

Vineyard Cuisine: Meals & Memories from Messina Hof by Merrill & Paul Bonarrigo ($24.95, Bright Sky Press) is a lovely and personal little cookbook from the owner/operators of Messina Hof Winery just outside Bryan-College Station. The 100 recipes—which include quick breads, brunch dishes, roasted meats, seafood, salads, soups and desserts—are all fairly short and easily replicated at home, and they are often headnoted with a family anecdote. Nice color photos of both food and the winery/resort grounds.

Wanderlust: The Life of a Globe-Trotting Chef by Joe Mannke and John DeMers ($28.95, self-published) is from the personable chef/owner at Bistro Le Cep (and until not long ago, Rotisserie for Beef & Bird). Mannke has finally gathered all of his stories and committed them to paper. Over the years, we’ve heard tales of a childhood in Pomerania as Nazi Germany came apart, about his years cooking in South Africa and Bermuda, and a stint at the legendary Stork Club in New York City. Later he worked for the Walt Disney organization, helping them to launch their theme park in Orlando. Ultimately he came to Houston, via the Hyatt Regency. Wanderlust is a personal chronicle of that journey, packed with photos, anecdotes, menus and recipes. (Alas, there is no recipe index.) Copies of the book are available at Bistro Le Cep.

Winning Styles Cookbook by James Beard Foundation Award-Winning Chefs ($42.00, Feeding Frenzy) was produced in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of American culinarian James Beard. This book is a tribute to him. It’s also a celebrity cookbook, and thus full of personalities and chef portraits. Former Houston chef Robert McGrath (now of Phoenix) is spotlighted, but there are no other Texas chefs included. Hmmmm.

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