Beef Today!: Recipes for Today's Lifestyle

Christy Conte is a member of the Parents Advisory Committee at the
YMCA’s Parent and Child Enrichment Centre, and a journalist.

In this latest volume of Company’s Coming’s slick and useful series,
Paré set out to meet two basic goals: to reduce fat content and
reliance on pre-packaged goods, and to create quick-and-easy recipes
using readily available ingredients. The result is Beef Today!, a
cookbook that, though lacking in charm and novelty, offers more than 200
lean, easily prepared recipes that use basic supermarket ingredients.

The recipes are laid out in 12 sections, from Accompaniments and
Appetizers to Stews and Stir-Frys. While a nutritional analysis is
provided in each case, preparation times are indicated only
occasionally. Each dish is illustrated with a color photo, and most will
appeal to the popular palate (none are too strongly or strangely
spiced). For a book intent on reducing the use of pre-packaged
ingredients, it contains a surprising number of recipes calling for beef
bouillon powder, pre-made pizza crust, dried herbs, and chili sauce. The
decision not to include a good beef stock recipe is curious, given the
book’s single-ingredient focus.

Especially useful are the charts and guides (the guide to beef cuts
will give shoppers plenty of ammunition when negotiating with the local
butcher), and the glossaries of cooking methods are equally instructive.
All in all, a practical com-pendium for the common cook.