Miss Ruby's Cornucopia: The Best Recipes from America's Natural Harvest - Hardcover

Every day is Thanksgiving in Bronz's ( Miss Ruby's American Cooking ) kitchen--or it should be. In her second book, Bronz plucks distinctively American foodstuffs (cranberries, pumpkins, chilies and, of course, corn) from native bounty and treats them with the celebratory respect usually awarded to haute cuisine mainstays. In an imaginative marriage of tradition and experiment, the author creates dazzlers like scallops in a blueberry-tarragon dressing; grilled tuna with corn relish; a Waldorf salad (made not only with apples, mayonnaise and romaine lettuce, but with Jerusalem artichokes, as well)); and apple-blackberry pie. She also offers eminently worthwhile versions of classics: greens-stuffed Kentucky ham with red-eye gravy; pecan-stuffed sweet potatoes; pumpkin pie and Indian pudding. Recipes are targeted to experienced cooks and food-shoppers, to those who will not need a formula for chicken stock, detailed instructions on pastry-making, or amplification of directions to render suet or lard, and to others able to cajole local merchants into supplying uncommon ingredients (buffalo meat or venison). Illustrations not seen by PW. Author tour; Homestyle Book Club and Better Homes and Gardens Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bronz is the author of Miss Ruby's American Cooking ( LJ 10/15/89) and owner/chef of a New York City restaurant specializing in regional American dishes. While not all cooks would agree with her assertion that our natural bounty and traditional recipes have been ignored or overlooked until now, she does make a case for reexamining the potential of such ingredients as cranberries (Shaker Cranberry Pot Roast, Cape Cod October Pie) or sweet potatoes (Sweet Potato Salad), among others. This is certainly an eclectic collection, but Bronz has some good and unusual ideas.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.