MOM'S SECRET RECIPE FILE: MORE THAN 125 TREASURED RECIPES FROM THE MOTHERS OF OUR GREAT CHEFS

In Mom's Secret Recipe File editor Chris Styler presents 125 simple recipes from the mothers--and other female relatives--of star chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Sara Moulton, Jacques Pépin, and Lidia Bastianich. These simple formulas nurtured talent, it turns out, and one of the book's many pleasures is reading the frequent assertion that "Mom's cooking is where mine began." Less felicitously handled, the book might feel gimmicky, but Styler keeps his eye on the always compelling relationship of food to family ritual, while presenting ethnically diverse recipes that everyone can use. These include the likes of Ming Tsai's mother's Hoisin Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches; Sara Moulton's mother's Meatball Stroganoff; Rocco DiSpirito's mother's Potato and Green Pepper Frittata; and Jamie Oliver's mother's Rhubarb Daisy Cake."My mother cooked instinctively," writes Nigella Lawson, "and those instincts were always right." Lawson's assertion mirrors many of the others', though there are, amusingly, "dissenting" notes. ("My mother ... was a very good cook," opines food writer Arthur Schwartz, "but she didn’t like cooking."). In the end, though, the recipes and their stories convince us of cooking's power to mold and sustain identity. It's a lesson that gains strength the more one reads, and enjoys, this deceptively straightforward book. --Arthur Boehm