Spring into the kitchen with new cookbooks

Cookbooks are an amazing travel aid. It's nearly 7,000 miles from Dublin to the heart of Vietnam, yet new cookbooks from the two nations can sit next to each other on your shelves.

And just as there's now a Web site and a cable channel for every specialty and hobby out there, so too is there a cookbook that focuses on nearly every course or ingredient. In addition to the books on Irish and Vietnamese cuisine, this season, we look at new cookbooks focusing on one-dish chicken meals, vegetable soups, and appetizers that can be made into full meals.

We also take a look at the giant (1,264 pages) English-language version of Italy's famed “Silver Spoon” cookbook. A treasure, to be sure, but did it lose something in the translation?

Happy cooking!    —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Food o' the Irish
St. Patrick's Day is over, but the recipes in Margaret M. Johnson's "Irish Pub Cookbook" (Chronicle, $25) work just fine year round. Ireland doesn't often earn praise for its cuisine, but there's a wonderful rich pubbiness to the dishes of Eire that tastes just as good on a rainy Seattle day, or during a Minnesota blizzard, or even when the sun is shining in L.A. Yet the main dishes from this book that I tested, while perfectly acceptable, didn't do much to boost the nation's culinary reputation.

Ever since tasting the beef stew served at Dublin's Guinness brewery back in 1999, my husband and I have rhapsodized about it. Sadly, the version of that recipe in the book lacks some of the extraordinary depth and satisfying warmth of the Dublin dish (perhaps it helps to have such fresh stout at hand). Potato-leek soup from a County Kildare country inn was a bit bland, and colorful three-pepper soup from a County Galway inn was tasty but floury.

Non-main courses fared better. I've made the brown soda bread from Mac's Pub in Bunratty Folk Park three times since picking up the book — it's hearty without being dry. The Pavlova with fresh fruit was simple and sweet, yet impressed guests. A beautiful dish that combined Guinness chocolate mousse with a topping of white-chocolate mousse to look like a creamy pint was fabulously rich, but best in tiny portions (one diner took only a bite, then handed it back).

As befits an extraordinarily beautiful nation, "The Irish Pub Cookbook" is a gorgeous book, littered with color photos of the dishes and the pubs and inns that supply the recipes. It's fun to read and just to flip through. Although not every dish delighted, I'll be keeping this book handy for St. Pat's parties and beyond.    —G.F.C.

Chicken tonight
Many American cooks lean heavily on chicken, and for good reason. It's cheap, it's easy to come by, it's widely loved, and it can be a base for dishes of all cuisines, all spice levels, and can be prepared by novices and gourmets alike. Mary Ellen Evans' "The One-Dish Chicken Cookbook" (Broadway, $18) will keep chicken even more upfront in home cooks' minds.

It's hard for a family to complain about getting too much chicken when one night it's chicken cacciatore, another night it's smothered inside enchiladas suizas, and another night spicing up the plates with kung pao chicken. India's chicken korma has long been a favorite of mine, but I've shied away from making it due to the complication. Evans' simple recipe is now my standby. Only one problem: I don't generally have crème fraiche on hand, and the korma isn't the only dish in the book that requires it. Shop ahead, I guess.

Her jambalaya recipe was tasty and quick, but it mixes both andouille sausage and bites of chicken. The diners in my house picked around the chicken and chomped on the andouille instead. They enjoyed the dish, but it was a bit odd to see the title ingredient shunned. Chicken and dumplings, that comfort-food classic, was a bit bland, even for such a homey dish. It was certainly quick to prepare, and would work on a weeknight when you just have to have chicken and dumplings in a hurry, but I'd rather prepare a different recipe, even if it took much longer to make.

I certainly can't argue with this book's versatility and simplicity. As promised, the dishes I tried only require you to dirty one pot (although a blender or other appliance may also get involved) For as long as chicken reigns in our kitchens and on our tables, there'll be a place for this book.    —G.F.C.

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