Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts (Trade Version)
Prentice Hall is taking advantage of the Webster's name in this title of a new dictionary of cooking. The three authors have written definitions for more than 16,000 culinary terms. Labensky appears to be the only author with a culinary background, having written a recent cooking-technique textbook with an accompanying videocassette.The definitions are short, usually less than two sentences. Pronunciation is included for less familiar or foreign terms--levain,oyako nabe,sofrito. There are foreign words from Dutch, Portuguese Romanian, Swahili, Turkish, and many from Polish. Proper names are also defined--Beard, James,Jelly Belly,Shirley Temple,Spam,Spa Food.Seereferences are used, although terms that appear within entries but also have entries of their own are not indicated. For example, country gravy is mentioned in thechicken-fried steakentry, but there is nothing to show that it also appears as a separate entry. The only illustrations are a few line drawings interspersed throughout the text. Most of the illustrations are for equipment--a sandwich spreader, an ice chipper, a reamer. Appendixes list metric equivalents, temperature equivalents, and stages of cooked sugar.This is a good choice for cooking collections that need definitions only.The Cook's Dictionary and Culinary Reference(Contemporary Books, 1996) andFood Lover's Companion(2d ed., Barron's, 1995) contain derivations as well as definitions but have far fewer entries.