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B o o k B e a t b y L . J . D a v i sI%u2019m n ro h a h lv m i c K i n o t n m p f h i n o i m .%u00ab%u25a0 %u2022* o Oportant, but I simply can%u2019t see the point of dining in any restaurant where the food tastes just like it does at home. It affects me in much the same way as if I were to shell out a wheelbarrow-full of my hard-earned lucre for a trip to Mexico only to find that Mexico was exactly like Birmingham, Alabama. Home cooking is precisely that: It%u2019s the stuff you cook at home, day in and day out. It is all too frequently served by a kid who resembles Junior on a cough syrup high or Mom in a bad mood, and usually the decor has been selected from the Green Stamp catalogue. For this I should pay money?No doubt a book will one day appear explaining why the long-suffering American consumer enabled Ray Kroc to purchase a major league franchise, but if such a volume exists, I haven%u2019t seen it. I know the usual explanations, to wit that Americans hate surprises and dote on the sense of occasion lent by dinning in clean, well-lighted places, but I am about as American as anyone I%u2019ve ever met, and the person who implies that my dining room is a dank, ill-lighted place is going to win himself a big fat punch in the nose. I will put up with almost anything in return for a good meal%u2014including, once, sashaying down a street that would have made John Wayne forget his lines in order to sit in a decayed soda fountain where I was served the most spectacular Haitian grub I%u2019ve ever tasted%u2014but I have been known to wax rather less than enthusiastic at the good news that the food I am about to eat is fully as good as my mother%u2019s. My mother is a sterling fellow, but her idea of cooking is to take a frozen steak and put it in the oven.ACME OF ELEGANCEThe trouble with being a picky restaurant eater is that it costs even more than being a bluff, hearty steak-and-potatoes restaurant eater, and I have never been able to convince myself that a barrel and a pair of suspenders were exactly the acme of sartorial elegance. These, are inflationary times (in case you hadn%u2019t noticed), and aside from the occasional windfall journey to Lutece or Gage%u2019s, I have been forced to paraphrase Jules Verne and dine out solely in my imagination%u2014greatly helped, this season, by Calvin Trillin%u2019s Alice, Let%u2019s Eat. Trillin can%u2019t cook but he writes and eats, and he has the expense account that enables him to do both. While his enthusiasm for Arthur Bryant%u2019s barbecue palace in Kansas City strikes many of us as misguided, in the way Hannibal%u2019s enthusiasm for war elephants was misguided (my brother recently passed through Mr. Bryant%u2019s on his way East. %u201c It was real interesting,%u201d he said), his well-known fondness for Mosca%u2019s in New Orleans proves that he is otherwise entirely sound. His trip to Horse Cave, Kentucky in search of the local delicacy is alone worth the price of admission, as is his*>400 0 ( a m J %u25a0 %u2022 %u2014 %u20141 *^ i v v v \\JAA v i l t v A W l i U i l U l l V l O l l l U U U J U l l g l l O l tlaw professors.Delicious though Mr. Trillin%u2019s essays are, they can%u2019t be eaten, but fortunately this is the time of year when I order a lot of cookbooks, and I vowed that if I could no longer afford to dine out like a Grand Duke, then by gum I was going to dine in as though I was dining out like a Grand Duke%u2014if Grand Dukes did their own cooking when they dine out, that is. This oath taken, I did not hesitate, and quicker than you can say Bocuse Comes To Brooklyn, I had whipped a mess of ducklings braised in hard cider out of Cooking with Michael Field and followed it with cheddar beer cheese cake from the CheFs Dessert Cookbook. Incidentally, if you really were saying Bocuse Comes To Brooklyn, I hope you were saying it slowly, because it turns out that we Grand Dukes dine at the fashionable hour of nine. We dine well, though. Boy, do we ever. THE STAR ARRIVESI also laid in Mary Moon Hemingway and Suzanne de Lima%u2019s Food ProcessorBaking Magic (I%u2019ll do anything to play with my Cuisinart) and Michael Berland%u2019s Cooking Without a Kitchen (which, despite its title, doesn%u2019t teach you how to cook in aomission, you might think, but only it your idea of home entertainment revolves around building a lamb campfire on top of your stove and then sending out for pizza. Jacobs, I am delighted to report, plays fair. He has not only listened to the great chefs of New York (lying, I presume, through their collective teeth; in Edward Dewey only do I trust, and all others I take with the grain of salt that, somewhere, they have neglected to specify) but he has gone home and tried the stuff out for himself. I commend this simple strategy to the editors of New York Magazine the next time they take it into their heads to father a cookbook.While I am naturally appalled to discover that, with typical Manhattan narrowmindedness, Jacobs ignores the champion grub of Brooklyn, there is no denying that within its parochial confines New York a la Carteis one hell of a book. But before I share Mr. Jacobs%u2019 recipes for the best black bean soup in the world and the greatest fried onions ever, I feel obliged to add my usual caveat. If you can%u2019t cook, stick to Fanny Farmer. Whereas Michael Field walks you through every step like a little soldier, Jay Jacobs thinks you know when to use a double boiler without being told, and that%u2019s%u2018Great chefs, like politicians, are not greatbelievers in full disclosure, and they%u2019re alwaysleaving stuff out..if you follow their deceitfulinstructions, you will invariably make what CalvinTrillin calls champignons a la yuque.%u2019-desk drawer; you need an electric frying pan at least) but a detailed analysis of these books will have to wait until later. A cursory reading of each suggests that the former is a lot of fun and the latter will prove a distinct boon to all you Heightsies and Villageites who are paying $350 a month to live in a closet rather than brave the terrors of Cobble Hill and Soho; reading them, however, is as far as I got, because at that point the star of the show arrived. It is Jay Jacobs%u2019 New York a laCarte: cooking with the great chefs, and it%u2019s a honey.Usually I am wary of the recipes issued by great chefs. Great chefs, like politicians, are not great believers in full disclosure, and they%u2019re always leaving stuff out. Acting on the principle that if they give the game away, you will never darken the door of their establishment again, they only pretend to give you the straight poop on champignons a la greque; if you follow their deceitful instructions, you will invariably make what Calvin Trillin calls champignons a la yuque instead. About the worst example of this I ever ran across was a recipe for saba glaba from one of the Yemeni establishments on Atlantic Avenue. The guy neglected to tell you to add three cups of chicken stock%u2014a smallnot the half of it. For the unitiated, then, I have added my own notes to the following.The Coach House Black Bean Soup3 lbs beef bones 3/4 lb beef shin 3 lbs ham shank (including bone and rind) cut up 3 cloves3/4 tsp black peppercorns Vi tsp celery seed 2 %u2018/ j cups dried black beans 1 cup chopped onion Vi cup chopped celery 1 tsp chopped garlic V* cup Sherry1 tsp salt*/: tsp pepper2 hard-boiled eggs, cgiooed finelemon slices dipped in chopped parsleyMake stock a day before use. In a large pot, place beef bones, beef shin, ham shank, 15 cups water, cloves, peppercorns, and celery seed. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer, half-covered, 8-10 hours. Strain and reserve meats for other uses. Refrigerate stock. Soak beans in 10 cups water overnight in refrigerator. Next day, remove congealed fat from top ofstock, reserving 2 tbsp. In a large pan, cook onion and celery in reserved fat until soft. Add drained beans, 2 cups water, 7 cups stock (if less stock has been yielded, add as much water as needed), and garlic. Simmer uncovered 2Vi hours, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed to cover beans. Puree mixture coarsely with strainer, food mill, or blender. Heat, adding Sherry and salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped eggs to soup, mixing lightly. Top each serving with a thin round of lemon dipped in chopped parsley. Serves 10-12.Note: If you don%u2019t have a 12-quart stockpot, forget it. Make sure to skim the foam off the top for the first hour or so of cooking, or you%u2019ll really be sorry.IPiazi [from the Nirvana Restaurant]1 cup besan (chick-pea flour)Vi cup rice flour Vi tsp baking powder 1 pinch cumin seed 1 pinch paprika 1 pinch turmeric 1 pinch sugarVi tsp crushed dried red chili Vi tsp salt 1 cup water 1 tbsp vegetable oil 8 large onions, cut in long stripsvegetable oil for deep fryingIn a bowl, combine besan, rice flour, baking powder, cumin seed, paprika, turmeric, sugar, chili, and salt. Add enough water to make a smooth paste. Add 1 tbsp oil and beat for 2 minutes. Mix onions in resultant batter. Heat oil to 375 degrees F. With tongs or fork, drop 2%u201d tangles of batter-coated onion in hot oil in batches of 4-5 pieces, taking care to keep tangles separated. Fry 5-6 minutes untii golden brown on all sides and drain on paper towels. Serve hot.Note:Besan and rice flour are available at Sahadi%u2019s. Wear rubber gloves while crushing the chili and for God%u2019s sake don%u2019t touch your eyes.Alice, Let%u2019s Eat. Calvin Trillin. Random House. 182 pp. $7.95 Cooking with Michael Field. Joan Scobey, ed. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Menus. Index. 498 pp. $14.95 The CheFs Dessert Cookbook. Domique D%u2019Ermo. Atheneum. Index. 350 pp. $5.95 (paper)Food Processor Baking Magic. Mary Moon Hemingway & Suzanne de Lima. - Hastings House. Index. 222 pp. $12.95 Cooking Without a Kitchen. Marshall Berland. A & W. Index. 229 pp. $8.95 New York a la Carte: cooking with the greatchefs. Jay Jacobs. McGraw Hill. Index. 381 pp. $14.95COMPLIMENTS OFDAMASCUS BAKERY, Inc.THE ORIGINALMIDDLE EASTERN BREAD & PASTRIESLOW ON DOUGH BUTRICH IN FLAVOREstablished 1930 . Wholesale and RetailRetail Outlet 195ATI,ANTIC AVFNTJFBrooklyn, N.Y. 11201Main Office and Plant;4 Q H - 5 n n D B C C r n c M T ctbcctBrooklyn, N?Y.' *11215%u201c '*Telephone: (212) 855-1456 TONY J- MAFOUDS u - ^ u 3 ^ e d t a u r a n t60 Henry Street - Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201East dourm pt liru w r\S o u p - Flaming Wor Wonton .A p p e tiz e r- Double DelicacySntreei %u2014 Choice of One [1]:1. KWANMING'SIMPERIAL FILET OF SOLE2. YUNNAN SPICYDUCKUNG3. MARCO POLO4. SU-SHU BEEF5. HARBIN CHICKEN4. TRIPLE HAPPINESS7. PEARLS OF CHINA7.95 perperson8. MANDARIN DUCKLINGT. SA-CHIA SHRIMP10. BUDDHA'S BRAISEDFRAGRANT PORK31. SU-SU'S LEMONCHICKENUjeaerb %u2014 Choice of One [1]:H o m A m a d o f k i n a e a D a etrv # U s n # i s r i n .---- %u2014 %u2014 _ -mmirntr %u00bb m f f %u00bb * %u2022 %u2022 A %u202200' W l y V %u00ab * ,ice Cream, Fresh Banana PuffsAMERICAN SXPRBS,CARTS BtAMCHS, MASTS CHARM, VISA AttJPWD 522-4531%u2022 Sl.flf%u2022 3 HOUR mm PARONQ PAST M UVKY SOV9CETO TAKI OUTNovember 16,1978, THE PHOENIX, Pat^e 15