Food journalists see an amazing number of cookbooks over the course of the year, and while some are not memorable, a surprising number of them do stand out. So it's hard to pick just two or three favorites, but here are a food writer's choices for three must-haves from the 1994 crop:
* "Spur of the Moment Cook," by Perla Meyers (William A. Morrow, $25). I've loved Perla Meyers' practical, humorous approach ever since I discovered her "Art of Seasonal Cooking" back in the '70s.
Her new book is exactly the way I cook in the '90s: Keeping a good pantry, buying what's fresh or seasonal, improvising with what's on hand. She relies on fresh vegetables and grains, pasta, sautes, and grilled dishes.
"The joy of being spontaneous is finding that cooking can be liberating, creative, and exciting," Ms. Meyers writes in the introduction to the book. "You can experiment, use your judgement, make up your own rules, do everything different from the way your mother taught you, and still produce great dishes and dinners!"
* "Lauren Groveman's Kitchen," by Lauren Groveman (Chronicle Books, $24.95). Although this is another pantry-and-seasonal-food book, it is dense with information about ingredients, techniques and helpful tips from a chef and cooking teacher.
Ms. Groveman's goal is to nurture the cook, whether expert or novice, so that food preparation becomes not a chore but a delight.
Ms. Groveman's zeal is compelling, her enthusiasm is contagious and her recipes, while practical, are not run-of-the-mill.
* "The Entertaining Survival Guide," by Lora Brody (William A. Morrow, $20). "Practical" might as well be Ms. Brody's middle name, and this book, the second in a series of "survival guides" is packed with straight-forward, worthwhile information about every aspect of entertaining, from picking a style to cleaning the house to dealing with unexpected guests to planning portions and buying provisions.
The second half of the book offers recipes for every kind of entertaining, from roast turkey for a holiday meal to a simple vegetarian lasagna. Recipes are fairly simple and everything is enlivened by Ms. Brody's cheerful humor.