Do the Old Standbys Stand Up? : Cookbooks: The old standards were--and still are--great, but don’t expect them to help you in using a microwave.

We used to have heated discussions about which was better: “Joy of Cooking”; “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook”; “Fannie Farmer,” or any of the other standard cookbooks.

Each had its loyal supporters. These weren’t books you bought for a season. They went through life with you. The memories of your culinary milestones were woven into your standard cookbook.

I can still remember how, as teen-agers, my friend Florence and I made our first cream of potato soup from “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.” It was a simple soup, but we thought it was special, and our success with it encouraged us to venture further into the magical arena of the kitchen.

But recently I found myself consulting the standards and not finding what I sought. When I wanted was a recipe for Senate bean soup, I looked in four cookbooks; not one of them had it.

Similarly, when I turned to the standards for a tapioca pudding recipe using small tapioca pearls (better than quick-cooking tapioca and available in Asian markets), I could only find recipes using quick-cooking tapioca.

This prompted me to take a new look at our standard cookbooks. Are they still serving our needs?

I chose to examine “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook” by Marion Cunningham (Knopf: 1990), “Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook” (Meredith: 1989), “The New Doubleday Cookbook” by Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna (Doubleday: 1985, reissued with a new cover in 1990), “Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Macmillan: 1975) and “The New Basics Cookbook” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (Workman: 1989).

To get an idea how well these standard cookbooks addressed basic cooking questions, I first compared how each of them treated flank steak, and their recipes for Spanish rice, potato salad and split pea soup.

I was surprised at the enormous diversity I found, even as to basic cooking questions. How do you make Spanish rice (an American invention)? Do you bake it, steam it or stove-top cook it? Do you make it with bacon? With mushrooms? With cheese or cheese sauce? The answer depends on which standard cookbook you use.

It was the same with all the recipes I compared. I was bewildered and felt like the TV host of a game show, asking, “Will the real split pea soup please stand up?”

I also compared the books with attention to baking, ethnic recipes and microwave cookery.

“Better Homes and Gardens” always had a good baking section and still does, especially with its coffee cakes. “Joy of Cooking,” the oldest of the books reviewed here, is in need of revision but still has some excellent cookie recipes.

I do hope, though, that I’ll find a recipe in any of the standards for the wonderfully moist, plain old butter cake I remember from my youth. I’m sure a lot of young people don’t even know what good cake tastes like, and I’m not talking about one of those puffed-up, full-of-air mixer recipes.

In specialized areas of microwave, vegetarian and ethnic cookery, the standards must compete with specialized cookbooks, many of them written by experts who have extensively explored their subjects and who have acquired admirable expertise that cannot be equalled by generalists.

When I want to cook ethnic food, I don’t turn to the standards, because I’m not interested in Mexican recipes made with canned chiles instead of fresh and dried ones, or Jewish recipes that use meat and dairy foods together. Yet, some ethnic recipes have earned a place in American cooking (aren’t pizza and tacos part of growing up in America?). Such recipes belong in the standard cookbooks, but not as watered-down adaptations.

So too with microwave cookery. Today, almost 80% of American households have microwaves, and, obviously, the authors of these cookbooks think they must pay attention to it.

I don’t recommend using “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook” for microwaving, especially with vegetables, because I can point to at least half a dozen microwave specialists who have written books with excellent techniques for vegetables, none of which you will find in “Fannie Farmer.” The author used the same technique with every vegetable, and in no case did she find any vegetable that the microwave does better than conventional cooking. Microwave specialists and others say otherwise.

In “The New Basics Cookbook,” the authors say, “After spending so many years simmering jams, marmalades and chutneys . . . for hours, we were delighted with the fresh fruit and vegetable chutneys turned out in less than 20 minutes in the microwave . . . . It’s hard now to buy a jar of mango chutney when fresh mangoes are in the market.” This is a good approach, not claiming all-around microwave expertise but rather focusing on some of the highlights.

Finally, the standard cookbooks would be more useful if they included information and recipes about new foods that now are part of the contemporary American food scene: tofu, sun-dried tomatoes, sweet onions, new grains and many exotic fruits.

Another thing I’d like to see is a return to an emphasis on culinary basics. Without mastering these, one can never hope to be a great chef or a great home cook. America’s talented young chefs have shown that our cuisine can be as great as that of any nation in the world, and the standard cookbooks can play a role in this national food consciousness by providing a good foundation in the basics.

I’d also like to see a reduction in the number of recipes included. Most of the standard cookbooks have become unwieldly. The truth is, consumers don’t want to do all their cooking from one book, no more than they want to listen to the music of only one artist. Give us the best and weed out the rest.

If the standard cookbooks are to regain their place in today’s crowded field of cookbooks, they must recognize today’s realities.

SPLIT PEA AND HAM SOUP

(From “The New Basics Cookbook” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, Workman Publishing: 1989)

1 pound dried green split peas

5 cups chicken stock or canned broth

5 cups water

1 meaty ham bone or 2 smoked ham hocks

2 stalks celery, leaves included, diced

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried tarragon leaves

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced onions

1 leek (white part only), rinsed and sliced

1 cup slivered fresh spinach leaves

2 tablespoons dry Sherry

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Rinse split peas in strainer, then combine with stock and water in large soup pot. Bring to boil. Add ham bone, celery, 1 tablespoon parsley and tarragon. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add carrots, onions and leek. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add to soup pot, along with spinach. Simmer, partially covered, 30 minutes.

Remove soup from heat. Remove ham bone and shred meat from bone, removing any excess fat. Return meat to soup.

Add Sherry, pepper and remaining 2 tablespoons parsley. Heat through and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

SPANISH RICE

(From “Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook,” Meredith Publishing: 1990)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon oil

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, cut up, undrained

3/4 cup long-grain rice

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Several dashes hot pepper sauce

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, optional

Cook onion, green pepper and garlic in oil in large skillet until tender but not brown. Stir in undrained tomatoes, rice, sugar, chili powder, pepper, hot pepper sauce and 1 cup water. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese when serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.