THE HUSBAND'S COOKBOOK

McGrady, who parlayed a year's role-swapping with his wife into The Kitchen Sink Papers (1976), also emerged from the experience with a syndicated column, of which this is the fruit. The approach, dictated by the well-known fact that the mere sight of a recipe reduces the most capable man to fainting-fits, is Early Locker-Room Pep Talk (""We can do it, gang""); the format is based on timetable schedules for complete menus (""5 PM: Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. . . 6:15 PM: All that remains is to put together a little salad""). McGrady's tastes are erratic. One gets beef Stroganoff with catsup and carrot salad with an entire can of condensed tomato soup, but also a perfectly respectable Greek spinach pie, ratatouille, and cold tomato soup (uncanned). Not any worse that you might expect, and the menus are more intelligent than anything to be found in about 99 percent of the menu cookbooks on the market.