Got a recipe worth price of the book?

Byline: Jim Boyd The Register-Guard

Have you ever bought a cookbook and found a recipe in it that was so tasty or useful that you felt it alone was worth the price of the cookbook? If so, we would like you to mail that recipe in so we can share it with our readers.

On the kitchen bookshelf at my home, pages 36 and 37 of the paperback edition of Pierre Franey's "60-Minute Gourmet" are badly smudged from years of use by sometimes greasy fingers. Those are the pages with Franey's recipe for deviled chicken legs, a standard supper entree every now and again for my wife and myself.

Please nominate your favorite "Worth The Price" recipe so The Register-Guard can publish a representative selection for our readers to use.

Just photocopy or type up a copy of the recipe and send it to "Worth The Price," The Register-Guard, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440. Include the name of the cookbook in which the recipe appeared, the author of the book, a brief statement about why you found the recipe useful, and your name and a telephone number where you can be reached during the day.

You can fax your letter to 338-2813, but we discourage the use of e-mail because the fractions and punctuation marks in a recipe often get garbled. If you do send an e-mail, please do not use the fraction keys on your computer; instead, write fractions with a slash, such as 2/3. The e-mail address is jboyd@guardnet .com.

The following is a favorite recipe of Register-Guard food writer Jim Boyd. If you have a recipe that you feel is so good that just one recipe is worth the price of the cookbook, let us know about it. For details, see Page E1.

Cuisses de Volaille a la Diable 

(Deviled Chicken Legs)

From Pierre Franey's "60-Minute Gourmet."

4 chicken legs with thighs attached, about 3 pounds

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons imported mustard such as Dijon or Dusseldorf

5 tablespoons dry white wine

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 tablespoons fine fresh bread crumbs

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Preheat the broiler to high.

Partly cut the chicken thighs and legs at the joint. Cut about halfway through, but do not sever the legs and thighs. This will speed up the cooking process. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a baking dish large enough to hold the legs. Heat the dish and add the chicken pieces, turning once to coat with butter.

Arrange the pieces skin side up. Place the dish under the broiler and broil about four inches from the source of heat. Cook about 7 minutes and turn. Cook another 7 minutes.

Baste the chicken with butter (at this point it would be skin side down).

Blend the mustard, 1 tablespoon wine, and cayenne. Brush the chicken with the mustard mixture and sprinkle each leg and thigh with 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs.

Reduce the oven heat to 450 degrees.

Place the chicken pieces in the oven and bake 10 minutes.

Turn the chicken pieces. Brush with the remaining mustard mixture and sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes longer.

Transfer the chicken pieces to a warm platter. Add the remaining wine to the baking dish and stir to dissolve the brown particles that cling to the bottom and sides of the pan. Add the parsley and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Yield: 4 servings.

Note: Panko, the Japanese-style bread crumbs sold in packages in Asian markets, makes a convenient substitute for fresh bread crumbs and vermouth can be used if you don't plan to open a bottle of dry white wine.