Buying food books for cooks can be tricky because they don't always want the best sellers or trendy tomes. They often yearn for the unusual, thought-provoking and downright goofy books.

        Here's an eclectic food book list to get you started for the holiday gift season.

        • The Soup Mix Gourmet (Harvard Common Press; $18.95): For the unpretentious cook, Diane Phillips has developed and collected 375 recipes, all incorporating dry and canned soups as an ingredient. The author's bourgeois repertoire includes Chicken Tarragon (made with cream of chicken soup), Amazing Flank Steak (made with cream of spinach and herb and garlic soup mixes) and too many cream of mushroom-based recipes to count.

        • Eat Tea (Lyons Press; $18.95): If the title doesn't catch your eye, the recipes might: Caper, Shallot and Green Tea Cream Cheese, Oolong Boiled Shrimp, Green Fruits in Jasmine Tea Syrup and other unusual, tea-flavored dishes.

TRADITIONAL READS

If you're looking for more traditional cookbooks to give as gifts, peruse these titles:   • The Baker's Dozen Cookbook (Morrow; $40) edited by Rick Rodgers.   • The Foods of Israel Today (Knopf; $40) by Joan Nathan.   • Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques (Black Dog; $35) by Jacques Pepin.   • The Naked Chef Takes Off (Hyperion; $34.95) by Jamie Oliver.   • Vegetables Every Day (Harper-Collins; $30) by Jack Bishop.

        • Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified (Renaissance; $16.95): Considering the increase in the Hispanic population and growing popularity of Latin foods, this handy paperback might become required reading. For the adventurous, it's already essential. Author Linda Bladholm structures her book on the basic food categories — starches, chiles, fruits and vegetables, spices and seasonings — and by country, with helpful illustrations. She includes a short recipe chapter and mail-order sources.

        • A New Way to Cook (Artisan; $40): Some of us are tired of hearing about books that promise revolutionary techniques and low-fat results. But award-winning author Sally Schneider, who reportedly spent more than a decade researching this one while writing the monthly “Well-Being” column for Food & Wine Magazine, may have delivered. She sets forth basic principles for using moderate amounts of fat and achieving maximum flavor, and then forks over more than 600 recipes, including such formerly heavyweight classics as cassoulet and duck confit. The number and diversity of recipes, plus chapters on techniques and nutrition, make up for the dearth of illustrations and photos.

        • The Mafia Cookbook (Simon & Schuster; $18): After wearing a wire and testifying against other mobsters, Joseph “Joe Dogs” Iannuzzi entered the Witness Protection Program. Eight years ago, the former gangster wrote The Mafia Cookbook — a series of vignettes about meals he cooked for members of the Gambino family, including his recipes for Monkfish Marinelli, Baked Pork Chops Philadelphia and other mostly Italian-American dishes. Now, still in hiding, Mr. Iannuzzi has updated his book with 37 new recipes to make this the must gift for the hungry Sopranos fan. Looking at the ingredients, perhaps we should all rest easier knowing that if the Feds don't do in the Wiseguys, the butter, heavy cream and Hollandaise eventually will.

        • Food Mania (Clarkson-Potter; $35): Although it doesn't contain recipes, those serious about things culinary will find it difficult to put down this compelling visual record of food and cooking. The fat paperback features more than 400 illustrations from mostly 19th- and 18th-century European drawings, lithographs, paintings and cartoons. But because these early illustrations are unflinching in their depiction of butchers and their handiwork, this is not the coffee-table book for vegetarians or the squeamish.

        • The Elements of Taste (Little, Brown; $40): OK, much of the food sounds strange: Gratin of Sweet Peas, Tarragon and Pistachios, Corn Fennel Chowder with Mussels and Grits and Okra-Bell Pepper Ratatouille with Mung Bean Curry Crepe are just a sampling. But writer Peter Kaminsky and four-star New York chef Gray Kunz have a theory: They can build stunning dishes based on their 14 elements of taste. Some recipes, like the Brussels Sprout, Apple and Turnip Hash, look simple and appealing. Others appear complex and daunting (this is not the book for beginners). But the directions are direct and detailed, and the photos up-close and extraordinary.
        E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com.

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