Authentic recipes, excellent stories, and fantastic photographs have made Saveur magazine a sensation. In just three award-winning years, it has established itself among those with discriminating tastes, enjoying a circulation of over 330,000. Chronicle Books is proud to present Saveur's first cookbook, a glorious look at food traditions and innovations throughout America. In 175 recipes and more than 400 color photographs, we visit kitchens across the country in search of great food: Old World Italian cooking in San Francisco's North Beach, original fusion cuisine in Hawaii, fiery specialties from Louisiana's Acadians, succulent spit-roasted lamb at a Greek Orthodox Easter in New York. In-depth and wonderfully varied, this is American cuisine in all its diverse flavors. Featuring outstanding food writing and recipes as well as luscious on-site photography and food and technique shots, Saveur Cooks Authentic American is a fascinating gastronomic journey. This colorful celebration of eating well is a sumptuous addition to any cook's library. What is American cooking? Fried chicken and apple pie are part of it--but what about sweet and sour pork or gnocchi with basil? Saveur Cooks Authentic American , created by the editors of the like-named food magazine, includes just such recipes, true examples of our all-embracing, melting-pot cuisine. Readers interested in exploring traditional and contemporary American food--from neighborhood Italian to Hawaiian fusion, from Louisiana Arcadian to California wine country, and more--will want the book. Organized by courses or food types, the book offers more than 150 accessible recipes, lavishly illustrated by over 400 color photos. Readers will find exemplary versions of favorite dishes, such as Carter Rochelle's Real Texas Chili, Aunt Gillie's Matzo Ball Soup, and a particularly tempting Lemon Meringue Pie from Alaska, but will also discover Warm Chanterelle and Pancetta Salad from the Napa Valley, Lamb's Neck Stew with Polenta, and chef Michael Robert's Corn Risotto. A chapter on breads offers such diverse specialties as New Mexican Corn Tortillas and Swedish Coffee Bread, a cardamom-flavored wonder. With notes on food traditions and techniques, and a final chapter devoted to that most American drink, the cocktail (recipes for drink-accompanying hors d'oeuvres are also provided), the book is a trove of good cooking American style, as well as a tribute to its enduring newness. --Arthur Boehm Saveur Cooks Authentic American Reviews From: The New York Times San Francisco Examiner The Boston Globe From: New York Times No matter what the recipes here may produce, the results appear irresistible in this pictorial celebration of American regional cooking. Even the macaroni and cheese made with good old Wisconsin cheddar looks like a gourmet special. From: San Francisco Examiner Magazine In the summer of 1994 the first issue of Saveur arrived in the mailboxes of America's clued-in foodies. This was a new kind of food magazine, full of stunning photographs picturing authentic cuisine from around the world and the residents who cook them. A celebration of culinary anthropology, the publication fell somewhere between National Geographic and Gourmet magazines. It was an immediate hit. (Let me just say that I have every issue stacked in my office.) Though international in scope, Saveur covers American cooking in-depth, concentrating on distinctive regional pockets (Tex-Mex border, New Bedford Portuguese) or beloved American ingredients (head lettuce; Vidalia onions). After four years of bi-monthy publication, Saveur 's editors were able to collect enough American pieces to create a handsome collection, Saveur Cooks Authentic American The work is a glossy volume of art-book quality color photography, as only Chronicle Books can produce, interspersed with sidebars and simple recipes laid out in Saveur's signature style vivacious images with a soupcon of eye-pleasing text. Once you pick up Saveur Cooks Authentic American, you can't put it down. This is food porn at its most riveting. It is one of the most sensually exciting cookbooks I've seen--and one of the most fun to browse. Like the magazine that inspired it, this is a gorgeous book, with color photographs on every page. There are close-ups of food, as well as depictions of the people who contributed or inspired recipes, and archival photos tracking American meals from decades ago. But looks aren't everything, especially when it comes to cookbooks. Fortunately, the recipes here are also appealing. They are accompanied by introductory notes and sidebars, information that documents the source of a particular dish, such as Chuck's three-day chowder, from a Plymouth resident, or Tutu-Man's chicken with teriyaki sauce, from a Hawaiian native. The book stresses the diversity of our nation of immigrants, and dishes wi