A Month of Sundaes

By Michael Turback
(Red Rock Press)

This book goes by a misnomer. Its 150 recipes entitle it to be called "Five Months of Sundaes"—that is, if you limit yourself to just one a day. With choices including honey-poached garlic (a New Orleans specialty that's surprisingly good), strawberries Romanoff (Cointreau—the orange-flavored liqueur—joins the mix), Creme de Menthe with fresh mint, and bananas Foster (made with banana liqueur and rum), that might be difficult.

First-time author Michael Turback, a former restaurateur, piles the scoops high in this tasty tome. In addition to the mouthwatering, easy recipes, he serves as a loving biographer of the dish. Thomas Jefferson was not only a founding father of this country, Turback reports, but one of ice cream in the United States, too, after returning from France with better ice-cream recipes than the crude, earlier ones that had been used. Shortly afterward, the forefather to the sundae—ice cream served with some warm ingredients—debuted at one of Jefferson's dinner parties. The pursuit of the sundae is clearly the pursuit of happiness and Turback certainly makes our read a joyful one as he writes vividly of why every imaginable fact about the dish should be anything but frozen in time.

RECIPE: The Lucky Lindy Sundae

Reviewed by Lisa Messinger

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