Yet for all the appeal of ethnic and gourmet editions for the culinary cognoscenti, mainstream interest is on back-to-basics, homecooked and comfort foods with a side of convenience.
That is evidenced by books such as The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Classic American Recipes (Collectors Press, $29.95) edited by Richard J. Perry, the publisher. The recipes (tested by home cooks nationwide) reflect the foundation of contemporary American cuisine from Shrimp Scampi to Tamale Pie, Creamed Chipped Beef to Caribbean Pork Roast.
Another of this new breed of national "community" recipe collections is The Taste of Home Cookbook: Timeless Recipes From Trusted Home Cooks (Readers Digest, $29.95) by "Taste of Home" editors, again with more than 1,000 everyday recipes, these culled from submissions of the magazine's 3.5 million subscribers and tested by both home cooks and pros. Recipes run from a New England Boiled Dinner to Mongolian Fondue and come with a smattering of personal tales.
The Bon Appetit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild (Wiley, $35) takes 1,200-plus "all-time favorite recipes" from the more upscale food magazine (a subscription comes with each book).
In the same vein, the 75th anniversary edition of The Joy of Cooking (Scribner, $30) puts the joy back in a cookbook counted among the best ever written, and which had been diminished by earlier revisions. The voice and charm of authors Irma S. Rombauer and Marion R. Becker have been restored, along with some original recipes and features, plus new ones (like nutrition info) added.
