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Eat Their Words

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2008

"Field Guide to Cookies," by Anita Chu (Quirk, $15.95)

We love the playful unstated conceit here: that you could be out in the wild somewhere and come upon a cookie that you might need to identify and replicate in the kitchen. Whether you like your cookies dropped, barred, molded or rolled, there's a good chance that they and their recipes are represented here in some fashion. The South American alafajores (caramel sandwich cookies) will be job No. 1 the next time we bake.

"Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages," by Anne Mendelson (Knopf, $29.95)

"Many thousands of years ago, somebody saw an animal nursing her young and had the eccentric, not to say dangerous, idea of getting in on the act." So begins this engaging, informative and enlightening book, one of several in recent years to drill deep into one food item. After explaining the origins of how humans came to cultivate sheep, goats and cows for dietary purposes, she shares lots of delicious-looking recipes for such dishes as dulce de leche, curd rice and buttered eggs.

"Frozen Desserts," by Francisco J. Migoya (Wiley, $60)

Migoya, an assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of America and former executive pastry chef at The French Laundry, has produced a behemoth volume that is as beautiful as it is authoritative and creative. This book is for the serious pastry chef who is looking to learn from a master. The Bitter Chocolate Sorbet and Ganache Napoleon looks like something Frank Lloyd Wright would have used as inspiration for his "Falling Waters" house.

"The Art & Soul of Baking," by Cindy Mushet (Andrews McMeel, $40)

There are times when you read a cookbook and you think, "They should just stop making them after this. There's nothing more to say." Mushet has written a 440-page guide for Sur la Table that you have to sort through and spend a little time with to figure out where to dive in first. Yeast breads? Fruit desserts? Cakes? Custards and puddings? It makes you a little woozy to think about the choices, until the realization hits that there is no bad place to start.

Jeff Houck

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