Weight Watchers Slim Ways Chicken

Chicken is terrifically popular, economical, full of flavor, and endlessly versatile. From Chicken Chili to Chicken Pad Thai and Chicken Enchiladas Mole, the 150 recipes range from homey favorites into new culinary territory. All of the recipes conform to the Weight Watchers Food Plan, assuring they’re low in fat, sodium, and calories, yet high in flavor. For those not following the Food Plan, complete nutritional information is also given, allowing recipes to be included in any healthy eating plan.

Beer-Can Chicken: And 74 Other Offbeat Recipes for the Grill

Steven Raichlen's Beer-Can Chicken tells everything one should ever need to know about roasting a chicken upright on top of a can of beer. For those who find that premise strange or silly (Raichlen, in fact, thanks his publisher for being "wacky enough" to produce the book), the author describes beer-can chicken as "the perfect bird, crackly crisp, succulent within ... the most flavorful chicken you've ever tasted."

Raichlen's goal is to encourage grillers to have fun and use their imagination, and he presents 74 "offbeat recipes" as starting points. Notable selections include Beer-Can Turkey, which requires a giant 32-ounce can of Foster's to do the job; Welder's Chicken, a stewing hen wrapped in aluminum foil and turned with welder's gloves; Dirty Steaks, cooked right on the coals; and Diabolical Chicken, soaked with spicy French mustard and which Raichlen makes "whenever I'm short on time or fancy ingredients but want to impress the hell out of my guests." There are also recipes for "beerless birds" (Ginger Ale Chicken, Black Cherry Soda Chicken), side dishes, and desserts, as well as info on grilling techniques and equipment.

A chicken straddling a beer can, at the very least, makes a great conversation piece at an outdoor beer bash. Raichlen's most helpful hint? Make sure the beer can is open before putting it on the grill. --Andy Boynton

Healthy Meat and Potatoes

Hundreds of thousands of home cooks use waterless/greaseless cookware because it makes cooking healthy, hearty food amazingly easy. And Healthy Meat and Potatoes shows readers how to use this revolutionary cookware to make all kinds of delicious, nutritious dishes. From all-American favorites to mouthwatering ethnic delights, readers will learn how to cook scrumptious meals without losing the flavor and nutritional qualities that traditional cooking methods can take away. In addition to the wide range of original recipes, the book also includes hints, tips, and valuable information for the health-and taste-conscious cook.

The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews

Everyone loves soups and stews--but how best to prepare these sometimes challenging dishes? The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews, part of the Best Recipe series from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, has the answer. Applying its signature "trial and error" approach to the business of choosing definitive recipes and techniques, the magazine tested 23 noodle soups, 40 corn chowders, and 54 beef Burgundies. The results? Not only 200 exemplary recipes--ranging from Manhattan Clam Chowder and Cream of Tomato Soup to Lobster Bisques, Chicken Noodle Soup, Irish Stew, and Beef Goulash--but an armament of technical information, tips, and equipment recommendations all cooks will welcome. Among these are authoritative stock-making suggestions, keys to choosing tender stew meat, and recommendations that yield a superior crust for onion soup. Readers also learn why blender jars with interior flutes produce the best purées, which brand of matzo meal to choose, and how best to crush tomatoes and slice flank steak. The book also covers accompaniments such as baguettes, mashed potatoes, rice, and cornbread. With ingredient profiles, "Science" sidebars (How Starches Work, is one), plus step-by-step how-to illustrations, Soups & Stews will help all cooks achieve mastery of these beloved dishes --Arthur Boehm

The Thrill of the Grill: Techniques, Recipes, & Down-Home Barbecue

In his jacket photo, ace grill chef Chris Schlesinger has the look of Howdy Doody with a stomach full of barbecue. It's a speechless kind of look. Schlesinger, however, is not a speechless kind of guy. Starting with the motto, "Brown food tastes better," Schlesinger and his writing partner, John Willoughby, show the reader exactly why that is. The ride lasts nearly 400 pages.

It's hard to imagine a pre-Thrill of the Grill time in American culinary life, so mighty has the impact been. It's a book with a built-in virus of insidious and infecting qualities that will have even the least interested among us out at the grill, getting the fire glass-melting hot, trying a few ideas like Grilled Shrimp with Pineapple-Ancho Chile Salsa, or Grilled Chicken Rubbed with Ethiopian Berbere (hot, hot, hot), or Grilled Swordfish Steaks with Yucatan Orange-Herb Paste, or maybe Beef Heart Grilled and Marinated in the Peruvian Way (or maybe not).

Actually, that right there--beef heart--is rather telling. Who else in their right minds would include grilled beef heart in their cookbook? These guys, Schlesinger in the lead, breaking trail, will go anywhere, do anything, and bring it all home to grill and eat.

The sheer love of food pours off these pages--the way it tastes and feels, the way super spices fire up your nervous system, the way the juices run down your forearm and off your elbow--and that's the way it should be. Relaxed. Determined. Thrilled. And with Thrill of the Grill tucked under one arm, you are sure to have the time of your life every time you fire up your grill and start cooking.

Plan on buying a couple of copies. This is one of those cookbooks that will get so grease- and sauce-splattered it will become unreadable. --Schuyler Ingle