Product Description

This cookbook contains more than 250 innovative and exciting recipes plus an enormous amount of seafood information. There are thorough instructions for checking on freshness, cleaning, skinning and filleting, shucking shellfish, and other fundamentals. Photos and illustrations throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324206 in Books
• Published on: 1988-01-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
Loomis scoured the country, interviewing fishermen, chefs, fishmongers, and others who share her enthusiasm for seafood. The result is a wide-ranging collection of enticing and diverse recipes backed up by excellent notes on choosing and preparing fish and shellfish of all sorts. The author's appealing writing style will make seafood lovers want to try her original dishes. Strongly recommended. JS
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
Susan Loomis is one of those rare cooks who likes the people she meets and the research she does as much as the food she makes, making her a delight to read from and cook from. -BARBARA KAFKA

An enthusiastic cook teaches the art and science of seafood cookery. All the necessary preparatory steps are here-from how to choose the best at market to how to scale and clean, steak or fillet, shuck or shell. Advice on storage and home-freezing tells how to keep fish and shellfish sparkling fresh.

Detailed, easy-to-use techniques take the intimidation out of seafood cooking and prevent once and for all its two common problems: undercooking and overcooking.

Learn how to broil and grill superbly; saute and fry to greaseless perfection; poach, steam, braise, and bake with flair. Put a soul-satisfying chowder on top of the stove or bring a delicious and healthful seafood salad to a picnic.

And if nothing but Tuna with 40 Cloves of Garlic will do-and the fishmonger just sold his last tuna steak-an encyclopedic lexicon offers just the right substitute.

Selected Recipes From THE GREAT AMERICAN SEAFOOD COOKBOOK

Mussels in Balsamic Vinaigrette

Purslane and Smoked Trout Salad

Monkfish and Corn Chowder

Curried Scallops

Alvin Folse's Crawfish Boil

Alaska Spot Prawns with Lime Juice and Ginger

Rosemary Grilled Swordfish Kebobs

Salmon Piroghi from Alaska

Grilled Aweo-Weo with Garlic

Sotterly Oyster Pie

Orange Cake with Marmalade Fool

"A delicious book for true ichthyophiles; Susan Loomis has caught the essence of seafood cookery." -A.J. McClane, The Encyclopedia of Fish

About the Author
Susan Herrmann Loomis is a European-based food writer whose work appears regularly in The New York Times; she also writes a weekly column for Conde Nast's epicurious.com. Her other books include Italian Farmhouse Cookbook, French Farmhouse Cookbook, Farmhouse Cookbook, and Clam Bakes & Fish Fries.

Customer Reviews

Best recipes for Fish and Seafood
I love to cook! I always thought that fish prepared simply was best. This Loomis book really turned around my experience. She takes you on tour through areas where fish is caught and cooked. We get the recipes of fisherman (they know how to do this right) and also some incredible sauce recipes. I love Sauce Piquant with Redfish. Try it and see if you don't agree. I turn to this book so often for advice and recipes. It's a must have if you want to do Seafood right.

GROSS!!!
If you live in a part of the country where your only options as far as seafood are concerned are nasty old and stinky or frozen for three years then by all means cook some of the travesties presented in this book. If you have access to decent fresh fish then do yourself a favor, respect the creatures that gave their lives so you can eat, and don't smother them with cheese and heavy cream. With a few exceptions (butter and shellfish) heavy dairy products have no place on fresh seafood and this book asks you to to mask and violate the flavors and textures of quality fish with piles and piles of cheese (cheese and fish? GROSS!!) Like I said, if all you have is stinky, old, nasty fish then this book will provide you with great ways of disguising their flavors. If you have access to, and enjoy the flavors of quality fresh seafood please don't ruin it with these disgusting recipes. If this is "Great American" then this nation is in a sorry state.

a bit disappointing
A meandering journey through the world of seafood and the American way. It's a decent book, and an addition to my kitchen bookshelf, but here's why the two-stars: the author has virtually nothing to say about sustainability and a fair number of the hard-working American fishermen she references use destructive methods like bottom-trawling, or things like seine nets that frequently trap marine turtles. The sections on preparing seafood seem rushed through and the author uses terms, utensils and techniques that are never defined - a real pain-in-the-arse for the novice seafood cook. As if this weren't enough, most of the recipes are portioned for serving 6-10 people, making it one of the last books on my list to whip out on a Tuesday evening for a quick dinner idea for the spouse-unit and myself.