First things first

REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

We all know that eating breakfast is important -- it sets us up for the day, reduces fast-food frenzies and just makes us feel better. And though nutritionists, diet gurus and educators have been after us for years to start the day right, most of us eat on the run, gulping coffee, swallowing cereal, getting boxed-in by boxed doughnuts. Now, with two new breakfast cookbooks, there are two terrific reasons to do more than wake up and smell the coffee.

Breakfast should always be good enough to eat and in Carrie Levin's expert hands, it's even better. Carrie, chef/owner of Good Enough To Eat, a popular restaurant on New York's Upper West Side, has been serving superb breakfasts from early morning to tea time for more than 20 years. The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook, written with William Perley, is as comfy and cozy as her restaurant -- not overblown, not over-sized, but chock full of the recipes that Carrie has tested and tweaked and presented to thousands of contented customers. Because she has been so successful, she urges her readers to pay close attention to the details on technique, even if they make some recipes seem a little long. Her tricks of the trade can make a world of difference -- your scrambled eggs will be softly rumpled and have a golden sheen, your pancakes will be a warm chestnut brown, your muffins will have crunchy domes and a "vanilla bath" will give your Sour Cream Coffee Cake that special, secret something. From Almond Granola to Zucchini-Prune bread, with stops for Orange-Bourbon Marmalade, unbeatable bacon, heavenly hash browns, Matzo Brei, Chai and other eloquent edibles, there's more than enough to make your breakfasts good enough to eat everyday.


Wake-up call

Moving from the personal to the panoramic, Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, the award-winning authors of American Home Cooking, have put together what might be called a "sweeping saga" of breakfast. To write A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day, the Jamisons did a culinary crisscross of America, a tasting tour that allowed them to talk to hundreds of people and collect the best and the brightest regional recipes and down-home ideas. They've also done a lot of research on the evolution of American breakfasts and liberally season their text with stories, menus from our past and quotes. Note that even in 1884 the famed Boston Cooking School Cook Book advised, "The practice of taking only a cup of tea or coffee with hot biscuit, and possibly pie or doughnuts, gives a very poor foundation for the morning's labor." We may not need to consume the "the brawny and bracing" breakfasts that our ancestors did, but it's good to vary a dull routine and fun to find wake-up foods that send you off singing. The Jamisons offer 275 recipes and variations to do just that. There are dishes you know well, such as Buttermilk Pancakes and Corned Beef Hash, but there's also a rich roster of more unusual, though not necessarily difficult or time-consuming, breakfast bonanzas -- eggstras like Tex-Mex Migas and Basque Piperrada, five takes, plus 13 variations, on French Toast, sensational Stratas, sandwiches and home-crafted cereals (you've got to try the Sweet Couscous with Figs), a bounty of breads, morning cakes, cobblers, sweet treats, breakfast meats and more. Abundant headnotes, footnotes and sidebars with ingredient and technique tips add depth and interest to this tantalizing tribute to our most homey and comforting of meals.


Honeymooners at home

February seems to be the month for wedding and wedding-related books to make their debuts. In keeping with that tradition we have The Bride & Groom's Menu Cookbook by Abigail Kirsch, with Susan Greenberg, a perfect gift for engagement and wedding showers and fine for a first anniversary or any other newlywed occasion. Ms. Kirsch, a renowned caterer and wedding specialist, understands that entertaining at home is a wonderful way to enjoy a new life together and a wonderful way to build a new world of friends. The menus and recipes are divided seasonally, with an introductory chapter on Mix-and-Match Hors D'Oeuvres and closing chapters on desserts and drinks for anytime. Though Kirsch has a relaxed attitude toward entertaining, she doesn't leave much to chance; necessary kitchenware is spelled out for every recipe, as is prep time, marinating time if needed, cooking time and "do-ahead" possibilities. The recipes are inventive and inviting even for this veteran of all-too-many-seasons in the kitchen.


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

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