COOKING USA: 50 Favorite Recipes from Across America

A map of America in rainbow sherbet colors, dotted with cartoon cows, poultry, fish and fruit, adorns the cover of this pint-sized collection, suggesting a vivid and retro cross-country tour. But while the graphic design and multitude of reproduced postcards, travel brochures and road maps make this a page-turner, the uninspired collection of recipes is purely pedestrian. Margolies, an expert in American commercial design, culls many wonderful pieces of kitsch from his personal archive. There's a postcard from South Dakota featuring "Albert, World's Largest Bull" and a brochure proclaiming, "Ohio Suggests an Auto Tour!" But food editor Orcutt fails to deliver. The 50 recipes are arranged alphabetically by state and include, more often than not, the commonest of selections. So there's New York Cheesecake, Maine Steamed Lobster and Idaho Baked Stuffed Potatoes. The Chicago Pizza calls for two pounds of "refrigerated pizza dough" while Carolina Pulled Pork meets its demise in a Dutch oven full of bottled barbecue sauce. (At least 15 of the recipes come from such sources as Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., the Cherry Marketing Institute and the Hawaiian Electric Company.) Stately food facts precede each recipe, serving as helpful nuggets for dinner party conversation. "Each year, the World Championship Chili Cookoff is held in Reno" leads into what's perhaps the book's best bet: Reno Red Chili, an homage to ground chuck and garlic. Otherwise, there's Utah's Funeral Potatoes. Although the dish is a popular choice at Mormon funerals, its mix of cream-of-celery and cream-of-chicken soups, sour cream, cheddar cheese and butter suggests an end-of-the-road-meal of heart-stopping proportion. (Apr.)