A rabbi, gourmet chef, and Jewish historian rolled into one presents readers with not only a delicious selection of both traditional and more inventive kosher recipes, but also information on the historical and religious context of each dish. 20,000 first printing. Dupree (Nathalie Dupree Cooks Quick Meals for Busy Days, LJ 2/15/96) has been the host of numerous television cooking shows; this book is the companion volume to a PBS series starting this fall. Her intent is to make entertaining unintimidating, and she includes lots of useful material on planning, budgeting, presentation, and more, along with often-amusing anecdotes and cautionary tales from her own experiences. Menus range from Three Simple Suppers to an Eye-Popping Menu for Eight to a Buffet for 12 to 50 in Four Hours; surprisingly, the recipes within a particular menu don't always "match" in terms of number of servings. The true novice may find Elaine Corn's Now You're Cooking for Company (LJ 9/15/96) more helpful, but Dupree's more ambitious menus and informative text should appeal to many readers-and her new series is sure to be popular. [Good Cook/BOMC selection.] Marks's The World of Jewish Cooking (LJ 9/15/96) was a wide-ranging exploration of Jewish food, culture, and culinary history; now he has written a guide to Jewish entertaining equally broad in scope. Marks includes religious holidays rarely mentioned in similar cookbooks, and his family celebrations range from A Middle Eastern Wedding Shower to A Southern Jewish Family Reunion. Marks, both a rabbi and former editor of Kosher Gourmet, provides a lot of information in a straightforward, readable style, starting with "A Guide for the Perplexed Host." Chapter introductions, headnotes, and boxes cover religious as well as culinary history and include many suggestions to make entertaining easier. Recommended. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. Marks' second book, a companion to The World of Jewish Cooking , is an appropriate synthesis of his varied careers as caterer, magazine editor, and rabbi. Each of the more than 270 recipes--grouped by type of celebration--features tradition with a twist, much of it flavored with Middle Eastern ingredients and techniques. An apple-glazed roast turkey, in itself New England fare, is blessed here with what Marks calls biblical fruit stuffing, a rice studded with apricots, raisins, and the like. Occasionally, he's a bit too simplistic, as in the directions for a deli platter (after all, who among us doesn't know how to order and arrange cold cuts?). On the other hand, the boxed sidebars prove fascinating, with holiday tidbits on Israeli Independence Day and upshearin (the first haircut for three-year-old boys) guaranteed to intrigue both Jew and Gentile. Barbara Jacobs Gil Marks, a chef, rabbi, writer, and historian, is a leading expert in the field of Jewish cookery. He is the author of The World of Jewish Cooking and two plays, and is the founding editor of Kosher Gourmet magazine. Marks lectures frequently on Jewish cooking, including at The Culinary Institute of America, DeGustibus at Macy's, and at the Kosher Cooking School at New York's Ninety-second Street Y. He lives in New York City. Used Book in Good Condition