Taste of the South

This pensive, affectionate volume offers recipes that will bring the charm and delicious appeal of Southern homestyle cooking to any table. While the emphasis is squarely on recipes here, notes on ingredients, techniques and history support Thompson's belief that this comforting food ``is a link to the past, perhaps even the mind's link to an imaginary past before the Civil War.'' Appetizers are trendy like garlic-tomato bread with mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes or tradition-rooted like cheese beignets. Salads, such as chicken salad Veronique with almonds or apple and fennel salad with celery-seed dressing, and soups, including Florida conch chowder and oysters Rockefeller bisque, reflect an active and innovative cuisine. Southern fried chicken with cream gravy, rabbit sauce piquant and North Carolina barbecued pork are regional classics. Seafood ideas abound with Creole shrimp stew, fried catfish with dill sauce and crawfish-stuffed bell pepper. Desserts, including Mississippi mud cake, burnt sugar cake and vinegar pie, attest to a Southern fondness for sweets. Thompson, a cooking instructor and restaurant consultant, is author of Cajun-Creole Cooking. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)