lazeldes@wlcrjs.UUCP (Leah A Zeldes) (02/26/85)
I ran across this book on remainder, and I thought it might be of interest to gourmets and gourmands on the net. "Menu Mystique: The Diner's Guide to Fine Food & Drink," Norman Odya Krohn, Jonathan David Publishers, Inc., Middle Village, N.Y, 1983 "Menu Mystique" is an encyclopedia of menu terminology and trivia. It contains names and explanations of hundreds of dishes in various international cuisines. It is a valuable reference book for anyone who ever wanted to know what "Konigsberger Klopse" (German meatballs in sauce) or "Cotelettes de Saumon a la Danoise" (Salmon steaks with anchovy paste in a wine, cheese and lobster butter sauce) consist of, or who Lucullus was. There are no recipes -- just descriptions (usually a paragraph or so each) of how a dish is made, where it comes from, and, in many cases, how it originated. The number of cuisines covered is substantial, including, along with the European and Asian countries, Uganda (you don't want to know what "Bushman's Rice" is), Ethiopia, the Middle East, Mexico, the regional United States, Jewish cuisine and more. The coverage of European cuisine, especially French, is very good as far as I can tell. "Mystique" covered every Jewish dish I could think of, including "gribenes" (chicken cracklings), and some Chinese foods I never heard of. The entries are well cross-referenced; "gribenes" refers you to "schmaltz," for example. At 400 pages, the book is pretty extensive, but, of course, it can't cover everything -- I could find no references for "mandu" (Korean wonton), "fajitas" (a Tex-Mex dish of beef strips served with tortillas and garnishes) or "gyros" (Greek meatloaf), for example -- and there are a few mistakes -- the references to "sushi" (Japanese vinegared rice topped with raw fish) are wrong -- but all in all, it's a marvelous effort and well worth having. I bought the reprint edition for $5.95 from Kroch's and Brentano's (Chicago) bargain books table. The dust jacket says "Original edition published at $14.95. (By an odd coincidence, I happened to buy a copy of "Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe" by Nan and Ivan Lyons the same day, and had great fun looking up all the dishes mentioned. "Chefs" is lots of fun, if you like culinary crime stories.) -- Leah A Zeldes ...ihnp4!wlcrjs!lazeldes