NORTHWEST BOUNTY

The second cookbook this season on a cuisine the authors (Fred Brack and Tina Bell) of Taste of the Pacific Northwest (p. 820) claim does not exist might seem unfortunate--especially when both books kick off their chapters on fish, meat, fruit desserts, and so on with admiring profiles of local cooks or growers. In fact, though, both pay their way with attractive recipes; each collection has its distinctive stamp, though both work with the same ingredients, from salmon and oysters to apples and berries; and this one, by far the more substantial and enduring, manages to project an authority of taste that earns users' confidence--and to convey a sort of rooted integrity that unites the regional mix of ""good American cooking"" with occasional touches of the Southwest, the Far East, or whatever European country an exemplary local butcher, gardener, or restaurant proprietor hails from. True, the authors' undisputable advice, to buy fresh, local, and in season, might limit duplication of some dishes--say, a slow-baked pheasant with chanterelles and Walla Walla onions--outside the region; but, while the indigenous products are well worth specifying, both for the record and for those who can obtain them, almost all the recipes will work well elsewhere.