Great New British Cooking

Garmey, author of Great British Cooking, which explored traditional foods, turns her talents here to modern cooking. Her recipesmany from England's inns and country restaurantsencompass soups, meat and fish dishes, vegetables and desserts, all of which reflect English cooking conventions. Included are desserts with currants and liquor (trifles, fools, raisin and nut pie), dishes made with cheese (most notably, a cream of celery and Stilton soup), recipes for kippers, pasties (individual meat pies) filled with leek and veal, steak and kidney pie, venison with sour cream and capers, and vegetable recipes confined primarily to parsnips, turnips, beetroot and cabbage. The range of dishes presented is intended to ""bring American readers a sampling of some of the new recipes . . . in Britain and to give some sense of the variety of food that one can find there today.'' Garmey achieves this aim with finesse.October