This is a great cookbook. With the bulk of its recipes divided into twelve chapters to highlight seasonal menu options for each month of the year, Creative Cooking serves up a fair number of recipes that are both challenging and uncommon for the casual cook. You'll occasionally stumble over some ingredients that your less adventurous dinner guests might not approve of - calf brains, for example - but there's enough variety within these pages for you to plan a menu that everyone will like.

But recipes are just half of this book, as book-ending the seasonal recipes section are informative chapters on how to gauge the quality of ingredients purchased, and basic cooking methods for everything from soups and desserts to preserves and garnishes. If you are looking to expand your cooking skills and your menu, this book is the perfect reference. ( )