Retailers push their own cookbooks

Tomorrow kicks off the holiday shopping season, and two major retailers want to steer gift-seeking browsers toward cookbooks. But instead of "Joy of Cooking" or "How to Cook Everything," Macy's and Neiman Marcus are pushing titles of their own.

For "Great Gatherings" (Book Kitchen, $29.95), Macy's tapped the talents of its constellation of 16 star chefs, otherwise alliteratively known as the store's Culinary Council. Here's the gimmick: Each chef offers a half-dozen recipes that reflect their culinary mindset while fitting into some variation on entertaining. For example, Mexican food authority Rick Bayless wraps his head around a "Fiesta for Friends" and comes up with tomatillo-braised pork loin, cinnamon-scented margaritas and grilled shrimp with chimichurri sauce.

It's a cool concept. Readers get to graze on a chef's party platter without having to invest in, say, an entire Todd English or Tyler Florence title. The 100-plus recipes are concise and easy to follow, and Maren Caruso's vivid photography really pops off the page.

Macy's keeps the self-promotion to a minimum; there's barely a mention of Frango Mints.

Best of all, the recipes aren't so wedded to their party-party-party framework that they can't be used out of context. Wolfgang Puck's stir-fried chicken lettuce cups don't require an Oscar night celebration, and I would happily sip Ming Tsai's ginger ale cocktails before and after Chinese New Year. (One disappointment: Pastry chef Gale Gand's talents seem wasted on a kid's birthday party segment that feels more Woman's Day magazine than sophisticated cookbook.) I also appreciate the global variety, too, from Nancy Silverton's kumquat acqua fresca and Marcus Samuelsson's cured tuna with a papaya-daikon salad to Takashi Yagihashi's ginger-sesame chicken wings. As soon as I can get my hands on a madeleine-plaque mold, I'm going to make Cat Cora's white cheddar-scallion corn bread madeleines. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can find one at Macy's?

Published as a part of the store's 100th anniversary celebration, "Neiman Marcus Taste" (Clarkson Potter, $45), sticks close to glorifying the store's name without repeating its 2003 predecessor, the "Neiman Marcus Cookbook." In other words, those seeking NM's most famous recipe -- chocolate chip cookies -- will have to turn to the first book.

What could have been called "Neiman Marcus Cookbook 2" is an oddly disjointed effort. Author (and NM executive chef) Kevin Garvin devotes a lot of pages to exploring elegant variations on let's-make-this-for-dinner-tonight dishes: crab-stuffed flounder, corned beef hash, stuffed twice-baked potatoes, rice pudding, spiced apple cider. All well and good, but haven't we seen this before?

The book's more compelling side is its tribute to the late Helen Corbitt, the store's first food director. Now here's a story with potential. After being aggressively pursued by Stanley Marcus himself, Corbitt joined the store in 1955 and spent the next 15 years establishing Neiman Marcus as an innovative force on the American culinary scene, wrote Garvin.

"Taste" lovingly resurrects a pantheon of Corbitt classics that mysteriously didn't make the 2003 book, including carrot soufflé, lamb stuffed with chicken livers, ham croquettes, pretzel sticks and orange marmalade cookies; all have the timelessness of an Armani suit hanging on a Neiman's sales rack. This being Neiman Marcus, "Taste" is great to look at, thanks in no small part to Ellen Silverman's lavish food photography; the Needless Markup reputation probably plays a role in the rather steep price tag.

After successfully test-driving a few Corbitt recipes, I began to wonder if a copy of 1957's "Helen Corbitt's Cookbook" is lingering in some Twin Cities used bookstore, calling out my name. Maybe NM's next book will be a full-on -- and much deserved -- tribute to Corbitt's obviously potent legacy. Or perhaps that's what "Taste" should have been.

Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757

Rick Nelson • rdnelson@startribune.com