Comments: We love pecans and should disqualify ourselves from reviewing anything to do with them. Needless to say, that is not going to happen….

This book is an update of 1984's version of Pecans from Soup to Nuts, by the late Keith Courrégé, with new recipes by Marcelle Bienvenu and photographs by Sara Essex.

The book is a testimony to the versatility of the pecan, equally at home in sweet and savory dishes. Of course there are recipes for Pecan Pie, pralines, and Sugared Pecans. But there are also savory dishes, ranging from Deviled Eggs with Pecans to Cream of Potato and Pecan Soup, Pecan-Crusted Salmon to Pecan-Bread Dressing, and Pecan-Ginger Chicken with Pecan-Rice Pilaf to Stuffed Pork Chops with Asparagus and Pecan Butter. For their part, some of the sweet dishes go way beyond the commonplace, too – Fig Preserve Cake with Pecan Icing, Banana Bourbon Cake, Chocolate Orange Pecan Torte, etc. There is also a Pecan Martini for those who doubted its existence. Recipes includes appetizers, main courses, side dishes, and desserts.

There is also information in the book on growing and harvesting pecans, storing pecans, and nutritional information (get it? nut-ritional information? Oh, never mind.) There is the teensiest little mention that you can order pecans from the Cane River Pecan Company, whose owners are descendants of Keith Courrégé, but we would not classify this as a corporate or promotional cookbook, beyond the simple promotion of pecans generically. Which we support. Wholeheartedly.