BOOKSHELF

BOOKSHELF BEINHORN'S MESQUITE COOKERY, by Courtenay Beinhorn. Texas Monthly Press, P.O. Box 1569, Austin, TX 78767. 1986. 137 pages. $14.95, hardcover, plus $2.00 postage.

Several years ago, those distant neighbors who live between the Mississippi River and Ellis Island discovered chili. For some two centuries, they had resisted the suggestion there might be a flavor for food other than chicken broth. California wines are now also favored east of the one hundredth meridian. And, at last, Courtenay Beinhorn, a lovely Texas lady who now lives in New York, has brought the joys of mesquite cooking to the xenophobic East. There are still those hopeless romantics who cling to the con-cept that a foreman, night herder, or bronc buster is the basic ranch hero. Nonsense. The soul of any society is the cook, and the kitchen is the birthplace of joy or sorrow. Ms. Beinhorn grew up cooking with mesquite wood on the San Ysidro Ranch in Texas, then expanded her talents in the restaurants and cooking schools of New York and San Francisco. She, in turn, brought to those culinary centers the flavorful fuel of mesquite, now regarded by some of the nation's most celebrated chefs as essential to their versions of American haute cuisine. On June 23, 1982, Courtenay Beinhorn-who writes for The New York Times, Savvy, and other journals - published a piece about mesquite in the Times. She mentioned that many leading restaurants were reluctant to disclose their fuel sources. Human nature and fierce competition being what they are, numerous chefs cap tured the information and placed orders. Thus began the mesquite boom. There is no low spot in Mesquite Cookery where the reader feels obligated to wade through a printed swamp. There are, however, a number of high spots, and certainly one of the most fascinating is the chapter on "The Lore of Mesquite." Generally, Southwestern ranchers have regarded mesquite as a scourge. They have fought its growth and proliferation as if they were in a religious war. Yet they have used the wood for heating and cooking, building

MESQUITE COOKERY

(OPPOSITE PAGE) "The Theory of the Bear," by Roberto Marquez; oil on canvas, 6 by 5 feet. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1960, Marquez now lives in Tempe, Arizona. Educated in architecture, the artist was early attracted to illustration and, later, oil painting.

Inspiration for his symbolic composi tions is derived from painters of the Renaissance and the early works of Picasso and Balthus, among others. This painting, prompted by a poem written by a friend in Mexico, is filled with classic symbolism from Mexican mythology. Reality, the spirit world, life, and death are represented in a dream setting. COURTESY YARES GALLERY, SCOTTSDALE (BACK COVER) Fossil Creek, in north central Arizona, is a wild, remote Shangri-la for nature lovers. See page 14. JERRY SIEVE