Check it out

Few things reveal more about a region than its food, and you can find out

much about American diversity with library cookbooks focusing on regional

cuisine.

You might start your culinary tour with “California Home Cooking,”

featuring 400 recipes that expose a multicultural fusion, interspersed

with lore about the Golden State. From East Asian stir fries to pastas

introduced by Italian immigrants, this is a melting pot of California

cuisine culled from visits to kitchens in small towns, Chinatowns,

barrios and ‘burbs.

Continue your gastronomic trek with “The Border Cookbook,” a celebration

of home cooking of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. A host of

distinct local styles are featured in more than 300 recipes that reflect

the intricate record of contact among Native Americans, Spaniards and

Mexicans.

You can find out about food that brought fame to hometown diners, cafes

and upscale restaurants along America’s “Mother Road” in “The Route 66

Cookbook.” In addition to recipes for the best dishes travelers could

find, enjoy thumbnail histories that will satisfy a taste for a bygone

era in this tribute to eateries along a historic thoroughfare.

Heading south, check out “Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Fork in the Road” for a

different direction in cooking from one of America’s most renowned chefs.

Geared toward producing great-tasting Louisiana favorites with minimal

fat, this collection of recipes and techniques include nutritional data

and serving suggestions for healthful breads, soups, salads, main dishes

and desserts.

Other Southern standbys are featured in “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country

Cookbook,” a short course in replicating dishes from a popular Savannah

eatery. Find easy recipes for such comfort foods as shrimp bisque and

sausage-rice casserole in this collection of down-home Southern family

favorites.

You can learn how to prepare such old-time favorites as spoon bread and

chicken and dumplings in “Roots and Recipes: Six Generations of Heartland

Cookery.” In addition, share treasured family memories in this homage to

pioneer housewives who journeyed from Kentucky to settle in Indiana,

Illinois and Iowa.

A roundup of American cuisine wouldn’t be complete without a look at the

eating habits of our country’s forefathers, featured in “Old Sturbridge

Village Cookbook.” In addition to recipes that will help you re-create

the tastes of yesterday, this American History Collection volume includes

lessons for preserving apples, drying herbs and seasoning cast-iron

cooking utensils.

Consider winding up your cross-country culinary tour with “Welcome to

Junior’s,” a nostalgic look at Brooklyn from the 1930s to the 1990s, with

recipes from a legendary restaurant. Along with instructions for

preparing the popular eatery’s rich cheesecakes, there’s a

decade-by-decade history of Brooklyn’s heyday in this new volume about

the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Coney Island and one of the country’s

most famous bridges.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Sarah Rosenblum.