Amazon.com (ISBN 0767902017, Hardcover)

A breakfast that includes fresh pie is indeed a meal to enjoy. Authors Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison assure us in American Home Cooking that pie for breakfast was standard American fare in the days before Corn Flakes and Cap'n Crunch. The home cook at the turn of the last century was faced with seemingly overwhelming reasons to abandon the traditional cooking of her progenitors--ease and speed of packaged foods, the barrage of advertising, and mounting health concerns among them.

"The amazing thing is not what we lost in this period," the authors write, "but what survived.... In every corner of the country cooks refused to give up their most cherished regional and ethnic dishes. They may have reserved them for special occasions, or may have altered them in some ways for convenience or health purposes, but they kept the heritage alive for future generations."

And at the turn of another century where we are besieged by even more advertising, more foods built around speed and ease, and more health concerns, Jamison and Jamison have compiled a book of recipes that gives us the flavor of where have come from as Americans and who we are. This is not a unique concept. But where so many books that have preceded American Home Cooking have been rife with recipes for dishes you'd rather never serve, let alone taste, Jamison and Jamison have let delectability be their bellwether.

Serve your hungry the likes of Georgia Bits and Grits Waffles for breakfast, as well as a slice of Apple-Cranberry Pie. Perhaps a Brown Oyster Stew with Benne for lunch, accompanied by an Oregon Hot Crab and Cheddar Sandwich. There's Crawfish Etouffée to consider, as well as Willamette Valley Grilled Chicken with Blackberry Sauce. Check out the Chicken-Fried Steak, and the directions for making your own fresh lard, ye of nonsqueamish nature. When you get to the Broccoli-Rice Casserole and the recipe for Wilted Greens with Hot Bacon Dressing, you're only halfway through the book. Potato and bean dishes are yet to come, as well as sweet and sour pantry goodies, breads and rolls, those great pies and cobblers, and cookies and cakes. It's all here, ending with a mint julep. --Schuyler Ingle