Issue Date: November 10, 2002

Other recipes this week: Ethnic Thanksgiving: Mexican Mole Sanchez Chinese Sweet Potato-Coconut Purée Greek Bread: Hortopita Jamaican Mango Chutney Ivory Coast Fried Plantains Indian Green Cabbage Thoran Cuban soup: Guiso de Maìze Vietnamese Grapefruit Salad

PLUS: Cookies: All-Purpose Butter Cookies Cookie variations Classic Thanksgiving Dressing Ginger-Cabbage Salad No-sweat entertaining

Can-do cooking

Open it up, dump it out and pat yourself on the back.

A recent survey found that 85% of Americans eat home-cooked meals three or more times a week, up from 74% a year ago. But to enjoy home cooking, it helps to know how to cook -- quickly. One solution: a slew of new cookbooks for people who lack culinary skills but can handle a can opener.

The cookbooks debunk the notion that canned food is less nutritious and loaded with preservatives, says Laura Karr, 39, who wrote the new "Can Opener Gourmet: More Than 200 Quick and Delicious Recipes Using Ingredients Already in Your Pantry" (Hyperion, $16.95). In fact, she says, canned food is nearly always additive-free. The heating process in canning sterilizes food; the vacuum process preserves it indefinitely, without preservatives.

But all that is beside the main point: Canned food is a time saver. "This is really more like assembling than cooking," Karr says.

It also has guy appeal, says David Joachim, who, with help from "Men's Health" magazine, put together summer's "A Man, A Can, A Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make!" (Rodale, $15.95). "The can is a quintessential guy object," says Joachim, 35. "It's almost like a tool: It's durable. It's easy to use. Guys like those things." (The cookbook is shaped like a can and has plastic-coated pages; recipes call for "dumping" ingredients in rather than "adding" them.)

"The whole idea was to combine canned foods with a few fresh ingredients to make something quick and tasty and healthy," Joachim says.

What cans should every cook have? Tomatoes and tuna, Joachim says. Karr's picks: vegetables (green beans are her "hands-down favorite"), evaporated milk, a condensed cream soup for sauces, and chicken and beef. "I was surprised," she says. "The canned roast beef [is] really good."

Joachim says his cookbook's greatest endorsement comes from guys' guests: "It's sort of a status symbol now. Guys who can cook -- they're a great catch!"

Contributing: Michele Hatty, Elizabeth Kaye McCall