‘Epicure’ Will Guide You Online

Food Internet sites seem to be springing up faster than ants at a picnic. But now a new book aims to help keep track of them.

“The Online Epicure” by Neil J. Salkind (John Wiley & Sons Inc., $24.95) is a resource guide to putting your computer to work for you in the kitchen - short of getting it to cook.

The beginning roundup introduces you to the online culinary world of home pages, 6,000 newsgroups (places where information is posted) and thousands - if not millions - of recipes. With 10 steps for using the Internet along with a guide to online etiquette, the book appeals to beginners.

A big chunk of the book is devoted to helping you find recipes by category. Some examples:

Kosher Express (www.marketnet.com/kosher/recipes.html) features Jewish food.

CheeseNet (www.wgx.com/cheesenet/) is a good start for cheese info.

Coffeetopia (www.webventure.com/coffeetopia/index.cgi) has stuff about java.

The Chocolate Lovers Page (bc.emanon.net/chocolate/) is just that.

A handy index at the back of the book lists all the sites, which are ever-changing. That can sometimes be a problem; when Web sites are put into print form such as a book, which takes months to publish, you may end up typing in Internet addresses that are defunct.

You can also go to the Web site for the book, www.onlineepicure.com