A Return to Cooking

This practical and very spirited cookbook, with nearly 150 recipes, covers subjects as diverse as making pancakes and assembling picnics; shows you how to slow-cook White and Black Bean Ragout with Sausages in your fireplace, cure your own duck ham, and make simple, impeccable last-minute desserts. From spring's Rhubarb Puree to fall's Pumpkin, Acorn, and Butternut Squash Soup with Walnut Oil, here are four seasons of great meals to enjoy with friends. Readers will love Eric's total lack of pretense (to wit his fondness for alphabet soup, bottled mayonnaise, and Tabasco) as well as his insights into what makes a meal a success.