The meal-in-a-bowl brews at the Daily Soup, a Manhattan food chain,
excite customer devotion. Now Leslie Kaul, the stores' executive chef,
along with the owners, offer The Daily Soup Cookbook, a collection of
200 favorite recipes for soups, stews, and stocks. These straightforward
formulas, drawn from a globe-spanning repertoire, will please cooks of
all kinds, from beginners to the accomplished.Organized by ingredients
such as vegetables, beans, grains, and fruit, the recipes include old
favorites like French Onion and Chicken Matzoh Ball soups, as well as
less familiar brews such as Jamaican Pumpkin soup, Shrimp and Scallop
Seviche, and Poblano Corn Chowder. In addition to a chapter devoted to
chilis---Braised Pork Chili with Black Beans and Corn is a particular
winner--the authors provide notes on ingredients and techniques,
historical asides, and a series of tongue-in-cheek sidebars, offering,
for example, the Periodic Table of Soups and Baby Names for the New
Millennium ("Art E. Choke" is one). If these digressions aren't always
apt, there are always the soups, with several piece de resistance
examples--Peking Duck; Lamb, Artichoke, and Rosemary Stew; and Saffron
Mussel soup--guaranteed to please. A final section on stocks provides
basic soup building-block information, and Things to Do with Leftover
Soups offers next-day options, should any of the delicious bowls not be
devoured instantly. --Arthur Boehm -- Publisher Marketing
