Lost and found - Best of the West - Lost Recipes: Meals to Share with Friends and Family

Sunset, Feb, 2004 by Charity Ferreira

"A lot of young people have told me that cooking at home is too expensive because much of what they buy for some special recipe just goes to waste," writes Marion Cunningham in the introduction to her newest book, Lost Recipes: Meals to Share with Friends and Family. "But they are misguided. And that's because they don't realize what home cooking really is."

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Cunningham, the modern Fannie Farmer and celebrated champion of the home cook, has compiled a collection of unabashedly old-fashioned recipes. It's a primer for putting whole-some, economical meals on the table in an age when time is short and cheap fast food is overabundant.

Some of Cunningham's recipes, like flaky baking-powder biscuits, are in no danger of being forgotten. Others, like baked squash with butter and maple syrup, fish skillet supper, and lemon pudding cake, feel like found treasures.

Lost Recipes (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003; $22; www.randomhouse.com/knopf or 800/793-2665) is available at bookstores.