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{12556143977260}Best Lost Suppers
{12556143977261}{12556143977262}(America's Test Kitchen, $29.95)
{12556143977263}{12556143977264}

Cook's Country, a division of America's Test Kitchen, has just published a cookbook called

Best Lost Suppers

as a follow up to the popular

America's Best Lost Recipes

. The recipes were gleaned from a nationwide contest and more than a year of testing.

These recipes tell a story and, appropriately, each starts with a charming and interesting tale about the origin of the dish.

Best Lost Suppers concentrates on old-fashioned comfort food, the kind prepared to celebrate a birth or mourn a loss. There is even a recipe called Funeral Potatoes. These are the dishes that have been showing up at family get-togethers for generations: food that feeds your soul and doesn't make you think too much.

There is Preacher's Delight, originally served to help raise the preacher's salary, a sort of lasagna casserole, made with egg noodles, ground beef, and tomatoes. My husband said it reminded him of his bachelor days when he cooked his famous stovetop one-pot lasagna. This is not necessarily a good thing, but my family seemed to enjoy it, even asked for seconds.

The Dr Pepper Ham, glazed with said soda, was deemed too sweet by my son, who happens to enjoy marshmallows with Nutella spread on top. Enough said.

Ham minus the glaze turned up in the delicious Funeral Potatoes With Ham, which were pure comfort food. Cooked grated potato laced with ham, cheese, mushrooms, and onion, then topped with a butter and cornflake crumb, made for a soul-satisfying dish - though I do wish they were called something else.

Bubie Alte's Lukshen Kugel is a sweet and creamy egg-noodle pudding that was billed as either a side dish or a dessert. I thought the cinnamon, sugar, and cream cheese mixture with its plump raisins was just right, not too sweet, and a lovely addition to our meal one evening.

On a perfectly miserable rainy evening, the Hunter's Chicken was just what everyone needed. Browned in bacon fat and then finished in the oven with tomatoes and rice, the chicken is out-of-this-world good.

In the "Notes From the Test Kitchen," included with each recipe, I was pleased to see one of my favorite tricks. The testers recommend cooking the bacon and then using it for a crispy garnish instead of leaving it in the dish to become chewy and gummy. I could eat this chicken every day.

I have the fondest memories of my father making me tiny tea sandwiches on brown bread with either peanut butter or cream cheese. While I can no longer find the canned bread of my childhood, the book's Baked Boston Brown Bread is an earthy, perfectly textured substitute that I will happily make into tea sandwiches for my children.

I think I liked the idea of this book more than the actual recipes. It made me more aware of and thankful for the recipes my family holds dear, and I think that's what it really is about.

So get your grandmas and aunties to write down their signature recipes before they, too, are lost.

Hunter's Chicken

Makes 4 servings

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4 slices bacon, chopped

4 (12-ounce) bone-in split chicken breasts, trimmed

5 shallots, halved and sliced thin

Salt and pepper

20 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

3 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 tablespoons sweet paprika

2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

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1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cook the bacon in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-low heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.

3. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat the bacon fat in the skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes, turning halfway through. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

4. Add the shallots, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is tender but not browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the rice, tomatoes, and paprika and cook until the pan is dry, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the broth, lemon juice, and bay leaves, scraping up any browned bits.

5. Nestle the chicken, skin side up, into the rice mixture and bring to a simmer. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the rice is tender and the thickest part of the breasts registers 160 to 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 40 to 45 minutes.

6. Using a potholder (the skillet handle will be hot), remove the skillet from the oven and rest for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with the reserved bacon and the basil, and serve.

Per serving: 676 calories, 53 grams protein, 32 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams sugar, 37 grams fat, 153 milligrams cholesterol, 654 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber EndText