Annual Cookbook Issue : BOOK REVIEW : The Essence of Good Cooking : ESSENCE BRINGS YOU GREAT COOKING <i> By Jonell Nash (Amistad: 1994; $29.95; illustrated, 465 pp.) </i>

There’s turkey ham in the collard greens and skim milk in the mashed potatoes in this collection of recipes from the African-American women’s magazine Essence. Jonell Nash, the food editor, has shaped the book to modern trends in light, low-fat eating.

Such hallowed staples as salt pork, ham hocks, lard and cracklings are relegated to a passage titled “Let Them Rest in Peace.” They’re hardly missed in a collection that ranges from Africa to the Caribbean, the American South and other parts of the United States.

Essence, which turns 25 next year, goes to a million readers, and the recipes are as varied as their tastes. Fajitas, Thai fried rice and salmon teriyaki share space with such old Southern favorites as catfish gumbo, corn bread and crispy fried chicken (fats may be limited, but they’re not totally banished).

Curried chicken from the West Indies, joloff rice from West Africa, Jamaican jerk chicken and Cuban black beans represent home cooking in those areas, while macaroni and cheese, navy bean soup and budget beef Burgundy are typically American.

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The appeal of this book is in this remarkable diversity. If you’re stumped for a menu, it provides lots of solutions. The recipes sound awfully good; they’re clearly written, not elitist and complex, and each is accompanied by a nutritional analysis.

Some to consider for the holidays are acorn squash stuffed with apple dressing, baked yam casserole with Cognac, roast turkey with old-fashioned giblet gravy, Southern corn-bread dressing and spicy orange-glazed turkey drumsticks. Dessert could be ambrosia, sweet potato pie with whipped cream topping, or apricot-brandy pound cake. The cake, says Nash, is one of the magazine’s most requested recipes.

APRICOT-BRANDY POUND CAKE

1 cup butter, at room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, at room temperature

3 cups unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

1 cup sour cream or low-fat sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon rum flavoring

1 teaspoon orange flavoring

1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring

1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring

1/2 cup apricot brandy

Apricot slices, lemon leaves, optional

In large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at time, beating well after each addition. In medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In medium bowl blend together sour cream, vanilla, rum, orange, lemon and almond flavorings and brandy.

Alternately add flour and sour cream mixture to sugar mixture, beating well after each addition until ingredients are blended.

Pour batter into greased and lightly floured 10-inch tube pan or 4-quart baking mold. Bake at 325 degrees 70 minutes or until wood pick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven. Cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Garnish with apricot slices and lemon leaves, if desired. Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

533 calories; 297 mg sodium; 156 mg cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 73 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 0.09 gram fiber.