Everyone loves a winner

REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

Whether lured by cold cash, a cushy cruise, or the chance to bolster their bragging rights, over a million Americans enter cooking contests every year. Joyce and Don Campagna have published The Cooking Contest Newsletter for more than a decade, focusing their gastronomic gaze on this growing craze and tracking the winning recipes. Now, they've compiled the best of these award-winners in The Cooking Contest Cookbook: More Than 100 Prize Winning Recipes.

Each competition -- from the national Pillsbury Bake-Off with its million dollar first-prize to smaller, local contests -- has a unique set of rules and a sponsor who uses these events to find out what consumers are cooking and eating. The cooking contestants come from every walk of life -- a psychologist from Texas, a homemaker from New Jersey, a market researcher from California -- but share a passion for kitchen creativity. And whether there are 30 contest judges or just three, all the recipes have been tasted and tested by the pros. From appealing appetizers to dazzling desserts, each category is filled with both international, trend-setting specialties and up-dated, all-American standards: inimitable Italian aromas waft from Sizzlin' Spicy Scampi Pizza; Mexican magic works wonders with orange-infused Yucatan Chicken, served with Peach-Avocado Salsa; Pacific Rim Glazed Flank Steak gets its vim from Asian seasonings; and for a new take on an a golden oldie, just bite into a sumptuous, super-chocolatey 3D Brownie. Inspired to enter a contest yourself? The Campagnas give you all the skinny on winning a big fat prize.


Aye, there's the rub

No, that's not Hamlet hamming it up as he contemplates a rack of baby back ribs, it's none other than Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue Bible, and grand guru of the grill. This time around, Steve tackles the very foundation of the craft, "the cornerstones on which unforgettable live-fire flavors are built" -- the essential seasonings that give grilled food its character and its deliciously distinctive personality. Don't even take a minute to ponder the nature of "essentials," they're all listed right up front in the title -- Barbecue! Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes. And above and beyond these flavor-enhancers or, more accurately, on the side, are the condiments, sensational salsas, sambals, relishes, and chutneys. Before you start marinating, rubbing, or slathering, our conscientious grillmeister wants to make sure you're all on the same page when it comes to cooking with fire.

Assuming, with much modesty, that not everyone has memorized The Barbecue Bible, Raichlen begins with a crash course for neophytes and a refresher course for longtime grillers that includes techniques, tools, and vocabulary. Then he gets to the heart -- and heat -- of the matter, and here too, there's something for everyone, from basic seasonings for those who have just found the thrill of the grill to the unusual and exotic for experts in the game of the flame. You'll find home-grown favorites like the Basic Barbecue Rub (the granddaddy of them all) The Only Marinade You'll Ever Need, Garlic Butter Baste (the "world's most popular"), and a Sweet-And-Smokey Barbecue Sauce that's as American as apple pie. International entries range from Central Asian Seasoned Salt, Balinese Spice Paste, and Belgian Beer Marinade to Coconut Curry Baste, Mexican Chili Oil, and Chilean Onion Relish.

Raichlen's enthusiasm is contagious and his encouraging tips, found in the margins, but never marginal, accompany almost every one of the more than 200 recipes. He's all fired-up, and you will be, too.


Sophisticated Dining for Summer and Beyond

Style and simplicity are just what every host and hostess hopes to achieve, but as anyone who has aimed for those celestial heights knows, it's not easy and it's not simple. It takes planning, thought, and the genuine desire to make people feel wanted and at home. Ellen Wright has been wowing her guests for many years; she knows what works, how to put everything and everyone together, and how to enjoy her own parties. Now she shares her years of experience in Bridgehampton Weekends: Easy Menus for Casual Entertaining. The format is sleek and chic, with lots of full-color, full-page photographs of food, flowers, interiors and exteriors -- a visual celebration of the good life as lived in this exclusive Eastern Long Island enclave and, most importantly, a culinary celebration of the good food Ellen cooks up for friends and family. There are 22 elegant menus, arranged seasonally -- dinners, including an al fresco do for her ex- husband (these folks are civilized!), lunches, holiday fetes, and a birthday bash for the kids. The recipes, from a simple, summery, crustless Cold Berry Pie to the sumptuous complexity of long-simmered Sesame Short Ribs with Tortillas, are carefully detailed and "Ellen's Tips," served on the side, impart her comforting, practical, practiced know-how -- the little things that make entertaining a triumph rather than a terror.


Sybil Pratt has been cooking up this column for more than five years.

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