The New Doubleday Cookbook (Doubleday: $16.95, 965 pp., illustrated).

This is a revised edition of the award-winning Tastemaker Best-Cookbook-of-the-Year. Like its predecessor, the new Doubleday cookbook features hundreds of food-preparation techniques, glossaries covering kitchen equipment, oven temperatures, tables of equivalents, emergency substitutions and recipes for basic food items. But this version also includes a great number of new and updated recipes, cooking techniques, hints and tips that reflect cooking and eating today.

There are recipes for vegetarian pates and entrees, whole-grain breads and pasta and low-cholesterol pastry. Microwave cookery, as well as a guide to chopping with the metal blade of the food processor, is also included.

This book is essential for beginners and can be a help to more experienced cooks as well. It details the basic techniques of chopping, mincing and slicing while offering tips for making better sauces. It also provides explanations on things that go wrong with cakes, all in a conversational style that makes it as easy to follow as it is educational.