The Single Shelf

Most cookbook authors assume their readers cook for a family, or some sort of group. Few consider the needs of those who cook for one.

Yet single cooks are asking for help, says Ellen Rose of the Cook’s Library in Los Angeles. She laments the lack of good cookbooks to assist them.

The following list highlights what has been published in the last few years. Two are English imports that are likely to be found only in specialty stores.

CHINESE COOKING MADE EASY By Michael M. T. Lee (Wei-Chuan Publishing: $14.95; 1991) Families are shrinking, and Wei-Chuan is revamping its cookbooks to reduce recipe size accordingly. The practice started with this book, which cuts most recipes to two servings. A few braised and roasted dishes serve four to six because long cooking methods are impractical for small quantities.

Wei-Chuan, which specializes in Asian cookbooks, was founded in Taipei and has an American office in Monterey Park. Su-Huei Huang, company president who is based here, comments that it’s easier to increase a small recipe than to reduce a large one. She has also ordered that recipes be revised to trim oil content and to incorporate ingredients that in the past were not available in Western markets. Cooking methods, however, reflect the Western kitchen, and ingredient substitutions are suggested.

Author Lee, now chef at a seafood restaurant in Japan, formerly taught at Wei-Chuan’s cooking school here and understands the novice cook’s needs. He provides lots of appetizing two-serving dishes like roast pork chops and garlic, four-flavored prawns, fish and hot bean paste, ground beef in lettuce and stir-fried chicken with vegetables.

Real time-savers are the seasoning sauces that can be prepared in advance for use with a variety of dishes. There are 13, including spicy Hunan sauce, Mongolian barbecue sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce, lemon sauce and sesame baking sauce.

In October, Wei-Chuan will release a revised version of an earlier book, “One Dish Meals,” again featuring recipes for two servings. At the same time, the company will introduce a new book, “One Dish Meals From Popular Cuisines.” The five cuisines represented are Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Mexican and Italian.

INTIMATE DINING By Barbara Swain (Fisher Books: 1993; $9.95) There’s even a pot roast for two in this book, which is crammed with favorites from the past, contemporary dishes and international flavors. The recipes are varied enough to satisfy almost any whim of the single cook. Most make two servings, but anyone baking macaroni and cheese surely wants enough for another day.

Swain’s eclectic approach roams from pork tenderloin with green-peppercorn sauce and grilled chicken breasts with mango salsa to Swiss steak and old-fashioned potato soup. Ethnic-inspired dishes include Cuban-style black beans, Chinese chicken salad, polenta, snapper Veracruz, fajitas and quesadillas.

Desserts are just as varied and tempting: bread pudding with bourbon sauce, blueberry cobbler and apple cake with caramel-apple sauce are samples. It’s not easy to reduce baked goods like cakes and brownies to miniature portions. But Swain has taken up the challenge with excellent results.

THE 15-MINUTE SINGLE GOURMET By Paulette Mitchell (Macmillan: 1994; $23) Minneapolis-based Mitchell plunges into the ‘90s with low-fat dishes that incorporate ingredients like wasabi powder, balsamic vinegar, quinoa and couscous. A lacto-ovo vegetarian for 15 years, Mitchell has switched her focus to trimming fats and allows chicken, lean fish and shellfish back into her diet.

Sample recipes include ginger-steamed red snapper with lemon-sesame sauce, lemon-basil chicken in pita bread, quinoa-couscous salad with lemon-cinnamon dressing, warm bean-and-sweet-pepper salad with balsamic vinaigrette, and sea scallops in chutney, apple and pear sauce.

Mitchell’s staples include non-cholesterol egg products, low-fat ricotta cheese, low-fat yogurt, powdered vegetable stock and low-sodium soy sauce. Nutritional analyses accompany the recipes.

COOKING FOR 1 OR 2 By Katherine Greenberg and Barbara Kyte (Nitty Gritty: 1993; $8.95) Neither fancy nor trendy, the recipes in this book represent the sort of food most people eat at home. That means lentil-and-sausage soup, Manhattan clam chowder, lamb stew, turkey Tetrazzini, potato salad and coleslaw. Recipes like lamb chops ratatouille, let the cook choose one or two servings. It’s even possible to reduce cheese strata and cheese souffle from normal casserole quantities to single servings. Meat sauce for spaghetti gets trimmed too, and salad dressings yield just one-quarter to one-half cup.

DELIA SMITH’S ONE IS FUN! By Delia Smith (Hodder & Stoughton: 1985; $22) Smith, author and presenter of the BBC complete cookery course, has produced a wide-ranging book with flavors of the British empire and a continental slant. Along with bangers and mash (pork sausage and mashed potato) and individual steak, kidney and mushroom pies, there are French and Italian dishes, paella, and recipes from the East, such as yogurt beef curry and Singapore noodles. Smith includes a chapter for vegetarians and some nice desserts, like raspberry shortcake crumble and an individual creme caramel.

ALL FOR ONE By Janette Marshall (Penguin Books, London: 1990; $9.95) “I think there should be a more celebratory attitude to cooking for oneself,” writes Marshall in this British import. With that as her credo, she launches into recipes like monkfish masala , quail with potato and turnip dauphinoise , cold cucumber-and-walnut soup and quick crepes Suzette. Health-conscious Marshall also favors organically produced meat and includes a chapter for vegetarians. There’s also a chapter on game--the book is aimed at an English readership--and another explaining what to do with leftovers.

DINNER FOR TWO, A COOKBOOK FOR COUPLES By Bev Bennett (Barron’s: 1994; $14.95) This softcover book was first published as a 1985 hardcover titled “Two’s Company.” Despite the titles, the book is intended for singles too. “Cooking for one--is independent. It is never having to say you’re sorry for the garlicky aroma in the kitchen,” Bennett writes in the introduction. She tells how to halve two-serving recipes when feasible and suggests that single cooks make the entire dish anyway so they’ll have another meal on hand. Recipes are divided according to months of the year to take advantage of seasonal foods. April’s suggestions include lamb kebabs, turkey Marsala, bulgur pilaf, sweet soy slaw and avocado souffle. Additional chapters cover extravagant foods for special occasions, desserts and classic dishes like Waldorf salad and baked chicken.

GOING SOLO IN THE KITCHEN By Jane Doerfer (Knopf: 1995; $24) The lone cook has lots of advantages. “If your food doesn’t come out well, you’re the only one who knows it,” points out Doerfer. And if you’ve cooked something awfully messy to eat, like oxtails or lobsters, there’s no one to watch you splatter the table.

Due out in May, this book is loaded with practical advice, as one would expect from an author who not only cooks solo but conducts cooking classes for singles. Doerfer provides shopping tips, discusses equipment, tells how to store food and avoid waste, gives ideas for leftovers and adds variations to get more mileage from the recipes.

Most of the more than 250 recipes can be prepared in less than half an hour. Some take much less. Sauteed shrimp with garlic and scallions clocks in at only six minutes, while a piquant chicken breast takes just 10.

Doerfer’s solo cooking isn’t all quick sautes and stir-fries, though. Sweet-and-sour brisket bakes for 2 1/2 hours, and oven-braised pot roast takes three. Dishes like these are normally limited to families and parties, but Doerfer has trimmed them to two to three servings.

She also trims fats, espousing home cooking as a way to foster good nutrition and escape the sameness, high cost, and caloric overload of much takeout and junk food.