What's new this year? Comfort food, retro food, and, above all, food that's even simpler than ever to prepare. This collection includes jealously guarded recipes from famous chefs (a surprisingly easy pasta from Alain Ducasse) and celebrities (Lady Bird Johnson's Barbecue Sauce), as well as finds from little-known but fabulous home cooks (blueberry cobbler).

Series editors Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens deliver the cream of the crop (People), selecting their choices from literally thousands of choices after extensive home testing. They go well beyond the usual suspects of cookbooks, newspapers, and magazines to search out gems in such weird and wonderfully unexpected places as the label of a lemon squeezer and the Web site of a small-town radio station. From elegant appetizers (Smoked Salmon Rolls with Arugula) to down-home dinners (Convent-Style Chicken), from side dishes (Giant Popover with Wild Mushrooms) to desserts (Chocolate Dump-It Cake), it's all in The Best American Recipes, plus the last word on what's trendy and what's not