Elizabeth Berry's Great Bean Book

This opulently colorful title celebrates a culinary basic, bringing the sometimes humble bean to center stage, with magical results. Filled with lush photographs, The Great Bean Book offers profiles of 30 different heirloom beans, from Aztecs to Zunis, Christmas Limas to Painted Ponies. Each bean is pictured, and accompanied by delicious recipes from America's top chefs, including Reed Hearon, Larry Forgione, and Daniel Boulud, and edited by Fabricant, food writer for the New York Times. Sophisticated versions of classic bean recipes like Cassoulet and New England Baked Beans mix with innovative fare such as Bean Bruschetta. Additional chapters give historic and nutritional information, and the preface by Mark Miller puts beans in their culinary perspective.