cover image The Fort Cookbook: The New Foods of the Old West from the Denver Restaurant

The Fort Cookbook: The New Foods of the Old West from the Denver Restaurant

Samuel P. Arnold, Sam Arnold. William Morrow & Company, $30 (310pp) ISBN 978-0-06-017567-2

In his 40 years of running The Fort restaurant, a Denver landmark, Arnold (Frying Pans West) has researched and cooked just about everything associated with Western cuisine. The current Fort is a replica of the 1830s Bent's Fort, a center of fur and mercantile trading. Arnold's recipes, reflecting a blend of Hispanic, Native American and Mountain Man influences, are interspersed with the account of his serendipitous adventures in learning the restaurant business and snippets of Western history and lore. While most of the recipes are within reach of moderately experienced cooks, the adventurous will relish Moose Nose (simmered, cooled and sliced and tasting like pig's feet), Cold Rattlesnake Cocktail and Rocky Mountain Oysters (yes, bull testes, prepared in a variety of ways). For the gustatorily timid, there's Chicken Adobe, a Westernized--with crushed tortilla chips and Monterey Jack cheese--Cordon Bleu, and Lakota Indian Fry Bread. Desserts include the challenging Chocolate Chile Cake and Green Chile Ice Cream. For those whose local grocer doesn't carry moose, elk or the necessary chile, Arnold provides a list of suppliers. While the Western schtick is laid on as heavily as a molasses-rich barbecue sauce, Arnold's tales are entertaining and the recipes intriguing enough to spark many a hankering for buffalo steak or a Prickly Pear Margarita. (Oct.)