This is the small spiral-bound recipe book that accompanies the large-format Time-Life book.

Mid-twentieth-century German cuisine (if you can call it cuisine) is unpalatable for many people, for good reason. It will weigh you down for days, and simply frolics in saturated fat. Don't think I'm dissing it for no reason; I grew up on its close cousin, Austrian food.

I haven't cooked anything out of this book, and I'm not sure I want to; I got it while searching for a recipe it doesn't have. I don't know whether my husband and children would stand for this food, either, since they dislike sour cream, mustard, horseradish, and sweet-and-sour tastes. And then there's the fat issue. One recipe is even called "Halibut Under a Mountain of Cream". (Plus bacon, butter, and Parmesan.)

I haven't examined the dessert recipes since I don't bake much, but I remember a couple of them from childhood. They were good. And heavy. (I come from a family of fat people.)

Some of the recipes could be lightened up by minimizing or eliminating certain offending ingredients, but in many cases it would be like making a BLT without the mayo and the bacon.

I would look for a modernized German cookbook before choosing this one unless you like strong flavors or want to bring your dining partner to an early grave in a vat of saturated fattiness, a strategy that worked for my grandmother. ( )

Part of a series of Foods of the World cook books issued by Time life in the 80's. Recipes that we have tried seem to all be good.