cover image What's Cooking

What's Cooking

Burt Wolf, Burton Wolf. Simon & Schuster, $19.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-66584-5

Wolf, editor of more than 60 cookbooks, a cookware entrepreneur and TV chef of the syndicated ``What's Cooking'' TV spots, knows how to combine good eating with good reading. This unpretentious cookbookreminiscent of any city's Junior League offeringcontains over 200 of Wolf's most popular American and ethnic dishes, ranging from simple cheese straws to comforting rice pudding, from spaghetti carbonara to Dublin coddle (a traditional Saturday night ``Irish bacon and sausage-based stew''). Nearly all recipes are standard, but the uncomplicated directions, easily found ingredients and relatively short cooking timesmost dishes can be prepared in less than an hourwill attract novice home chefs, and maybe those who haven't the time or inclination to spend long hours in the kitchen. The chatty sidebars about cooking tips, food lore, nutrition, equipment and ingredients are less predictable than the selection of recipes (e.g., in ``Coffee Facts and Folklore,'' we learn that the origins of coffee-drinking ``are traced to an Arab goat herder who saw how active his goats were after eating coffee beans and coffee leaves''). Illustrations not seen by PW. Author tour. (Feb.)