cover image Fresh from the Freezer

Fresh from the Freezer

Michael Roberts. William Morrow & Company, $19.95 (314pp) ISBN 978-0-688-08543-8

For preserving food, the freezer is ``unbeatable,'' says Los Angeles-based Trumps chef Roberts in his well-organized guide to becoming a ``freezer gourmet.'' For its type, this is a breakthrough book. Starting with dozens of ``core'' recipes for soups, meats and seafood, Roberts ( The Secret Ingredient ) first shows how to cook, freeze and defrost basic dishes, then how to transform them into such delicacies as paprika chicken with roasted peppers and seared marinated tuna with tomato tarragon sauce. In the chapter ``Frozen Helpers'' the freezer becomes the source for culinary accoutrements such as fresh mango chutney and mushroom duxelles, which can turn a tired dish into a delight. A section on desserts runs the gamut from familiar creations (brownie pound cake) to more exotic entries (brown butter peach charlotte). Finally, for a quick take on single ingredients, there is a comprehensive ``freezer dictionary,'' covering everything from asparagus to vanilla. This is no scattershot collection of tips on freezing but instead a thoughtful reexamination of an underrated cooking practice that helps cooks to do what so-called ``quick'' cookbooks have seemingly forgotten: save time, use imagination. Author tour. (Nov.)