Made in Marseille by Daniel Young

By Daniel Young

Marseille has been enjoying some renewed street cred the past few years, having become a southern capital of culture. Daniel Young, author of The Paris Café Cookbook and a former New York Daily News restaurant critic, spent a total of two years in the port town. It shows in the way he brings the reader up to date on the Mediterranean town-historically, sociologically and, of course, culinarily. No cookbook on Marseille would be complete without bouillabaisse, and Young devotes an entire chapter to the fish soup. Take your pick of seven different versions, including a spinach-rich vegetarian rendition. The recipes are personal, with Young talking honestly about failures then offering tips to avoid them yourself. The dishes, a mix of traditional and contemporary, reflect the city's diverse population, revealing influences from Armenians, Italians, Sephardic Jews, Moroccans, Vietnamese. While the recipes are not A-B-C simple, they are concise and easy to follow, and will allow you to prepare a hearty, full-flavored Mediterranean feast-perhaps some boreg au fromage (Armenian-style cheese turnovers), chicken liver terrine with onion jam, Napoleon of sea bass and alouettes sans têtes (Provençal beef rolls). Available for $24.50.

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