Doorway to Creative Cuisine

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

The author has won several prizes in baking contests, and the recipes here have been tested by her family and friends. Though they are basically hearty family fare, they represent a variety of national cooking styles, and they range from breakfasts and brunches though the various courses of dinner. The vegetable section contains many vegetarian alternatives to meat main dishes, such as eggplant patties and walnut burgers. Among the European and Asian recipes in the international section, the most unusual and exotic ones are the Doukhobor favorites (e.g., Hallooshi, Nalesniki, and Vareniki), which may be unfamiliar to most readers. The book is strong on desserts and sweets, and also includes recipes for home-made liqueurs.

The recipes are clearly set out and easy to follow, varying in difficulty from the convenience and simplicity of brunch dishes that call for cans of soup, to more complex or time-consuming items like Doukhobor yeast pastries and home-made lapsha noodles.

The handy spiral binding allows the book to lie flat on the counter, and good color photographs illustrate the dishes. The arrangement of the index, however, is not ideal. Instead of a straight alphabetical listing by main ingredient or type of dish, the recipes are listed in sections under their contents heading (e.g., appetizers, salads) then alphabetically by title of the dish within each section.

The little homilies and quotations found throughout the book will not appeal to all readers, but they do express the personality and philosophy of life of the author. This book should be useful particularly for those who are looking for some new ideas to perk up family meals.