Amazon.com (ISBN 0060188243, Hardcover)

What's the best meal of the day? For many of us, it's breakfast. Saluting that fact is Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison's A Real American Breakfast, a collection of 275 traditional and innovative recipes that cover breakfast comprehensively and in the best taste. Breakfast often competes with a tight morning schedule, which the book acknowledges by offering recipes that can be prepared the night before; regional, café, and bed-and-breakfast favorites are provided, as well. Dishes range from familiar eye-openers like waffles and cinnamon toast to less conventional fare like Salmon Croquettes and the Maple-Glazed Ham, Cheese, and Leek Sandwich--food that can also be enjoyed throughout the day.

Among other outstanding chapters, "Break an Egg," "Heavenly Hashes," and "Home-Crafted Cereals" score with exemplary recipes for fried eggs and bacon, red flannel hash, and crunchy granola, as well as "new" delights like Poached Eggs on Creamy Grits, Capitolade of Chicken, and Toasted Wheat with Caramelized Bananas. Other sections offer stratas and breakfast casseroles like Calabacitas Tortilla Casserole; dairy specialties, including lassi, an on-the-go chilled yogurt drink; and sweets, such as Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, Brown-Butter Apple Cake, and Chocolate Bread Pudding. With historical notes, old menus, and technique advice, the color-photo-illustrated book is the last word on the day's first meal. --Arthur Boehm