Shellfish Books

Anything you could possibly want to know about fish, how to buy them, when to buy them, where to buy them, and the best possible way to cook them is ALL in this book. The recipes are all fairly simple - any home cook with a moderate amount of experience should be able to execute them easily. There are also a number of helpful resources like sauces, how to filet (and when not to), and different cooking techniques to achieve different flavors and results.

If you're serious about eating more fish or getting more adventurous with the way you cook it - this is a must have.

If you have ever had a question about any type of sauce this is the book to own! The basic for every sauce begins with good stock and that is not overlooked in this book!! It is a must have!!

I got this for a gift for a friend from NJ. He was always complaining about there never being recipes for obtuse fish, shellfish and bi-valves. When he opened this book, he didn't put it down for 2 days. He is STILL raving about it! Kudos!

No more searching through a string of specialty cookbooks for that fresh idea for tonight's dinner. Look no farther.

Again, Mr. Peterson sets the standards. This is not just a cookbook. It's an appliance in the kitchen as essential as the refrigerator and the electric or gas stove. Never ruin fish again under this authority's watch.

As someone who never considered herself great at making fish, I found this book so engaging that I couldn¹t wait to use it and try new things. It¹s a book that uses great but accessible ingredients and enourages trying new types of fish, sauces, and recipes. Revsin¹s wonderful writing style makes her book delightful to browse through in search of a dish to make and many of the marinades can be refrigerated and used later which is a great help to working cooks. Because the focus is on fillets, these are easy dishes to make and eat and include more affordable fish as well as ³splurges.² This book has gotten me to cook and our family to eat more fish happily which is great for our health. I recommend it highly!

I can't begin to remember all the nice pieces of fish that my wife and I had collectively sent to the Badly Cooked Place in the Sky. Talk about being clueless! We're trying to eat healthier but when it came to seafood, forget it. Something had to be done. After scanning the seafood cookbooks on Amazon I quickly narrowed it down to Leslie Revsin's book, GREAT FISH, QUICK. Written with easy to follow directions, utilizing readily available ingredients, this is THE book for fast and incredibly delicious meals using fillets and shellfish. Your personal fears about cooking such entrees will disappear as the words of praise pour in. Most main courses take under 40 minutes to prepare and since many of the recipes can be made by interchanging different types of fish there is a great diversity of possible dishes. What's also nice is that you don't need exotic cookware or mysterious ingredients. Leslie offers sound advice in choosing the healthiest pieces of seafood and avoiding frozen and chemically processed junk. Also included are sensible cooking and preparation techniques, sauces, garnishes, marinades, serving advice, party and grill specialties, etc. Her writing style is pleasant and highly readable and so far, according to my wife, I'm batting 100 on successful dishes. What more could you possibly ask?

I have more than 2,000 cookbooks (I'm a cookbook editor), and only three of them stay in the kitchen; this is one (and the only one I didn't work on). I've had this book for about three years. It's stained and splotched, there's breading in the binding--ample evidence that every recipe I've tried (probably two-thirds of the book) not only tastes great but WORKS. The sauces and toppings are all richly flavored yet easy. The techniques are simple and thoroughly explained. Best of all, though, is the author's tone. Fish can be tricky, and Leslie Revsin gives enough detail so you know, for example, that it's okay if the fillets curl when you turn them over. I love this book (and so does my husband).

I buy a lot of cookbooks, and I subscribe to every cooking magazine imaginable. I use them all, although I sometimes wish I had more time. Recently I was yet again reaching for great fish quick, when I realized that it is my favorite of favorites. I have fish scales stuck to the pages, and all the pages are warped from wet hands and rinsed ingredients. I have almost worn this book out, having made every recipe at least once. What more can I say? A lot. Every recipe is, in fact, quick, but also delicious. I hate cookbooks that have you searching for impossible ingredients, every item in every recipe of this book is found at your local food store. This is a book I highly recommend. I wish she would write more.

My husband and I would eat fish 7 nights a week if we could but we live in the midwest so it's not very cost efficient--we settle on 3-4 nights a week. I have over 20 cookbooks on seafood alone. This book is the BEST book I have found. It not only tells you about the fish (briefly, not too detailed), it gives you other fish options to substitute for each recipe (which is nice if you are limited to what's available at the fish store), breaks the index down by type of fish AND type of sauce and other ingredients so if you feel like something with avocado or black beans or tomatoes you can search the index by ingredient and not have to search the entire book for specific recipes. And, unlike other "quick meal" cookbooks, this one truly is quick. Finally, each recipe frequently calls for one or all of my four favorite ingredients: fresh garlic, fresh flat leaf parsley, extra virgin olive oil or butter and wine.

This was a great find and addition to my cookbook collection. The recipes are easy to follow, the prep and purchasing information is no-nonsense and easy to follow. If you love seafood or need to but a bride gift, this is a great purchase and reference tool. I have learned much and enjoy the recipes.

this is hands down the best book for fish lovers

it is a valuable resource in my kitchen

A plethora of information about hundreds of species of fish- How they are classed and where they inhabit, historical and cultural importance of many fishes, identification of fish, quality of meat and how to cook them. Incredibly interesting and useful!

Easy to use, accurate basic knowledge on the origin, taste, texture, and even good suggestions for prepareing almost any fish under the water!

This book is organized alphabetically; to give a sense of its scope it begins:aalmutter, abalone, akule, Alaska pollock, alga, anchovy, Artic char, ark shell, aspic (not a fish but useful for fish recipes), Atka mackerel, barnacle, barracuda ... in short, you'll be hard pressed to find in your fish market something not covered here.

For each fish, the book gives information regarding their looks (there are ample photos), where they grow, their culinary uses ... and for many of the fish, recipes. To take a simple example, for black sea bass it gives recipes for steamed sea bass, sea bass Lisbon style, and sea bass chowder.

The recipes are reliable - easy to follow and well proportioned. This is everything you'll ever need or want in a fish cooking resource.

As a mother of four-year old twins, both of whom have severe food allergies, I commend and admire Ms. Rogers on her book. It is wonderful! To date, I think it is the best book in print re: food allergies and the host of issues that go along with them. Recommended reading for ANY family with ANY type of food allergy. Also excellent reading for any person who comes in contact with your child. It's straight-forward, easy to understand content provides a clear picture for those folks who are not familiar with the host of emotional, psychological and physical aspects that people close to food allergies experience on a daily basis. Congratulations to Ms. Rogers on a job very well done!

This book is a must have for families with an allergenic child. While the book focuses mainly on seafood allergies, and how to help your child cope with them, the tale is suitable for children with any allergies. Both innovative and original, No Lobster, Please! is a jewel among childrens' literature.

There aren't many books out there for children about allergies. The author definitley has a way with kids, and this is a great book!

This book is skillfully written for those children who may not fully understand the complexities of seafood allergy, and for those of their young friends who don't understand what the allergic pal has to cope with. Written with insight and illustrated by youngsters, this book makes a difficult issue very accessible to those kids who need it. Not often is a non-fiction book entertaining while at the same time instructional.
"No Lobster, Please!" fulfills both roles handsomely. A copy should be in every pediatrician's and every allergist's waiting room.

No Lobster, Please! is the nonfiction story of James Rogers who is in first grade at the H. Olive Day School in Norfolk, Massachusetts. James's Mother, Ms. Robyn Rogers, wrote the story for him, and the book is illustrated by James (see the self-portrait on page five) and his classmates in Ms. Fazio's class. Ms. Fazio also designed the cover. This is a book that is clearly written, illustrated and bound in love for James.

As the book opens, James is the narrator. He's sad because his family and friends are going to a lobster party. He cannot go because he's so allergic to lobster that even the air from the cooking of lobsters can cause a reaction.

James then tells us how he found out about the allergy. One day he helped his Mother crack open her lobster. From touching the lobster, he got the red bumps of hives, his lips swelled, his mouth felt tingly, his tummy hurt, and he felt like he was going to be sick. Breathing started to be hard. A call to 911 brought an ambulance and a shot of epinephrine from the paramedics. At the hospital, the doctors gave Ms. Rogers another shot to carry around for James. He didn't like the shot, but he knew it made him feel better.

As a follow-up James was tested for allergies and found out that he's allergic to all shellfish and many other types of seafood. His allergic reaction could get worse with repeated exposure, so he has to be careful.

He cannot eat at seafood restaurants, places that have seafood in their buffets, and sits as a "tuna-free" table at school. When the cafeteria has fish sticks for lunch, he eats with the school nurse.

Returning to the present, James's Dad leaves with his brother and sisters for the lobster party. James's Mom stays home, even though lobster used to be her favorite food.

He's in for a surprise, though, because she has a fun day planned just for him! He had so much fun he forgets where everyone else had gone. While ordering a dessert, he tells a little joke, "Wait, one more thing, no lobster, please!"

When I was six, beautiful banana splits beckoned. But I'd never had one. I begged my Mother for one. She finally relented (for they were very expensive). The waitress asked me what I wanted on it. I didn't know what came with a banana split. So she asked me if I wanted vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream. That sounded fine. Then she asked if I would like chocolate syrup, strawberry sauce and pineapple. I didn't know what pineapple was . . . but, well, why not? The enormous delight arrived and I dug in. It was great! Except . . . I started to itch. Then I started to swell. Then I had trouble breathing. Yup, pretty soon I was at the doctor's office. I remember it like it was yesterday . . . and don't recommend the experience. Reading this book brought all of that back. I never did quite understand what had happened until years later when I read up on allergies. I had had a temporary allergy to pineapple which I have since outgrown. But I didn't try pineapple again for many years.

Two of my children are very lactose intolerant. They can become violently ill on two slices of pizza (without taking the necessary tablets to help reduce the problem). And they crave eating dairy foods, all of which cause their insides to expand rapidly with gas. Naturally, their friends' parents always serve pizza, milk and ice cream whenever the kids get together. It's tough. Their experiences are a little like James's, but not so serious or frightening . . . just physically and emotionally painful.

For neither my children nor myself have I ever seen a children's book to help put food allergies and food digestion issues into context. I wish this book had come along a lot earlier!

Although this book focuses on lobster, I think you could use it for children with other allergies and food and environmental intolerances. In fact, having most such problems would seem like a relief compared to what James has to go through.

The best part to me is that the book shows how to take a child's "special" problem and turn it into an opportunity to make a child feel special. When our children were little, we ordered many versions of the computer-generated books that customize the book about the child. It never occurred to me (even though I'm a writer) to create my own children's book for each child. My hat's off to Ms. Rogers for going to the nth degree to create a special good feeling for her son. Nice going!

After you finish this book, I suggest that you make a book with and about a child in your life (whether a daughter or son, a nephew or niece, or grandchild . . . or just a child down the block). You'll feel special, too.

Just before his untimely death, this year, Alan Davidson received the highly prestigious Erasmus Prize for European culture, for his publications on food. This book, along with his Companion and other publications, is a classic. It is crammed full of useful and necessary information. The fish section describes a species, its latin name, and the names in various other languages in the region. The recipe section deals in an intelligent way with regional knowns and unknowns, such as a sencible discussion on bouillabaisse. Any serious library of cookbooks has to have Davidson's books, including this one.

`Mediterranean Seafood' and `North Atlantic Seafood', both by noted culinary writer Alan Davidson, the author of `The Oxford Companion to Food' are reference books which a serious cook must have in their library where time is spent deciding on what to eat rather than time spend actually cooking. These books belong to a rare breed of books in English such as Elizabeth Schneider's `Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini' or `Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients' which thoroughly cover a broad single subject or the `Larousse Gastronomique' which gives an overview of virtually every culinary subject, at least from the point of view of French cuisine.

Both books are organized in the same way that gives primacy to information on the aquatic species and secondary coverage of recipes.

Biological family, genus, and species organize the first part on the catalog of species in order that the biological similarity of the fishes is clearly shown. Each article gives the most common English name, the two part Latin scientific name, the scientist who assigned this name (most commonly the great inventor of biological Taxonomy, Linnaeus), the biological family name, and the common name of the fish in virtually every language of the major fishing nationality bordering the relevant body of water. The North Atlantic species, for example, are named in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and others such as Gaelic (Irish). The Mediterranean species' names are given in French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Tunisian, Turkish, and others such as Bulgarian, Romanian, and Russian if, for example, the species is most commonly found in the Black Sea, which is included in the coverage of the Mediterranean. These names in themselves are entertaining to the linguistically inclined, as it is interesting to see the similarities and differences from country to country. For example, even though the Turks came to Asia Minor from central Asia, most of their names for fishes are very similar to the Greek name, making a lot of sense, as a traveling people is likely to name things new to them based on the names given by the indigenous population. The articles on every species also have a highly detailed black and white drawing of each animal. The great value to these is that it makes comparing the appearance of different fishes very easy, as every species is depicted in a similar style. It is too bad they could not be depicted to scale, but this would have had the sturgeon filling two pages while the anchovies would be the size of a period. Instead, the remarks on each fish give the average market length and a description of the typical color and markings.

The catalog entry also gives a paragraph or two on cuisine, which is a discussion of the culinary desirability of the species and typical ways in which the animal is prepared. For most fish, this includes methods by which the fish is butchered. The catalog entries also include a list of recipes and page numbers for these recipes in the second major section of the book.

The second major section divides recipes by country. The Mediterranean volume has chapters of recipes from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Black Sea, and Northern Africa. The North Atlantic volume has recipes from Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, the United States, Scotland, England, Ireland, and Wales. France merits two sections, covering the southwest and the northwest. The US merits four sections, covering New England, the Middle Atlantic States, the Chesapeake, and the Carolinas and Georgia.

Other books, such as `Fish' by Shirley King seems to have copied this scheme, but seems to be much less successful in that not enough valuable information is packed into the catalogue to make it interesting enough reading to outweigh the annoyance of doing a two step search for a recipe on haddock, for example. The other side of the coin is that if you live in Maryland, you are much more likely to be interested in recipes from the Chesapeake than in recipes from Maine.

One is tempted to expect these recipes to be very generic and not as interesting as those you may find in books of `haute cuisine' from a fish specialist such as Eric Rippert. This is partially true. Davidson is less the great cook than he is a great writer on food. This means that while his recipes may come from common sources, he gives us much more information on the background of the recipes than the chef may do. Two perfect examples of this case are the recipes for bouillabaisse (French fish stew) and Maryland crab cakes. Davidson confesses to giving us something simpler than the `de luxe version', yet this simple treatment is entirely appropriate to the simple origins of the dish, before the gourmets got their hands on it. Similarly, the crab cake recipe has very few ingredients, mostly just crabmeat, seasonings, breadcrumbs, and enough egg to hold it all together.

The supplementary information tells much about the fish cuisine of both regions. The most interesting information is on the fact that while the Mediterranean is very shallow, it has relatively little continental shelf while the North Sea is practically all shelf, suitable to the spawning of young fish in shallow water. This does much to explain the popularity of the North Atlantic cod in peninsular Italy, virtually surrounded by water.

The bibliography shows that the author has based most of his material on local sources in native languages such as Polish, Turkish, and Portuguese. This may only help the multilingual scholar, but then it is the rare English culinary work that does this. One of the greatest things about these volumes is that all of this great material is available in trade paperbacks, which list for no more than $25.

These are must have books for devoted foodies!

All the commonly-eaten fish and shellfish of the Mediterranean are covered in this wonderful reference and cookbook. As in his Atlantic Seafood, each animal's entry includes an old engraving (better than a photo for identification -- except for color), its scientific and common names in various languages, a description of the animals habit's and culinary qualities, and a reference to recipes.

Recipes are organized by country, and are well chosen and edited. The only criticism I might offer is that it is hard to find recipes by type. That is, it's very easy to find recipes for mackerel or recipes from Italy, but it's hard to find all the baked-fish recipes suitable for a dark-fleshed fish.

A great book like this should never be out of print! It's one of my favorite gifts for friends in Greece and Italy....

One of the better cookbooks for seafood I've seen in awhile. Both pictures and receipes were great.

I've tried three of these seafood recipes (the Cajun Catfish, Lemon-Dill Fish, and Sauteed Scallops on Lemon Fettucine) and every one turned out great. They were tasty and filling, not your typical bland low-fat food. I'm looking forward to preparing others, especially the "Quick & Easy Main Dishes" and the "Outdoor Specialties" (seafood you can grill). The photos are scrumptious. The spiral binding makes the book VERY easy to flip through and it also lies flat when you're cooking. This is an excellent cookbook for any seafood lover's shelf.

Having lived in California for over 50 years, I have loved the offerings of the sea. Though I have an extensive collection of recipies, Don Hubbards are fresh and exciting. It seems, having read other reviews of this delightful book, that my favorites have been appreciated by others as well. Mussel sauce with linguini, spinach and sour cream, Baked potato stuffed with avacado and shrimp are at the top of my list. Don has many new ideas for the preparation of these exotic gifts. The pizza recipies are fun. The artwork is beautiful. I have had the pleasure of seeing Don's art work in local shows. I particularly appreciated the complete and enjoyable instructions as well as the stories. All in all, this is a fabulous book. I tend to reach for it every time I want to treat myself to a wonderful meal. A must in any kitchen!

If you are looking for new and exotic seafood recipes, then this is the book for you! With easy-to-understand directions a cook can learn how to clean and prepare the finest delicacies of the sea and enjoy the culinary delights of Don Hubbard's vast experience.

The book is beautifully illustrated with pictures that could well be framed for their quality. I particularly enjoyed the personal stories of the sea and learned a great deal about the sea creatures that often please my palate.

I would recommend this cookbook highly to anyone who loves exotic seafood.

I cook a lot. My husband and daughter don't eat beef or chicken, so I am always looking for fish recipes. Food & Wine's Quick From Scratch Fish is full of EASY and DELICIOUS recipes. I use these recipes for dinner parties and they've all been successful. Everyone thinks that I've spent hours in the kitchen preparing the meal, but with these recipes it is so quick. I've bought this book as a gift for my sister-in-law and she loves it too. The pictures are great and the recipes are so quick. I highly recommend this cookbook.

This is the best cookbook I have ever owned - the recipes are simple to follow, take a minimal amount of time and taste fantastic. I have tried many of them and have never been disappointed. I have experimented on my family and friends and all have loved it! This is one book everyone should have.

Sandy Macfarlane's book is a great read that gives insight into the unique features of life on the lower end of Cape Cod. The microcosm of the Pleasant Bay area has many lessons for other environmentally sensistive places as well. See her book on Tiggie as well.

This book was a pleasure to read! It presented a lot of information
and knowledge, but was never tedious or overbearing. Done almost in
the style of having the author speaking to you, I was amazed at how
much I learned and how much I enjoyed it. Would recommend to anyone
who cares about the sea, the beach, shell fish or Cape Cod.

I bought one of the original hardback copies of this book almost 20 years ago. Unfortunately I lent it to someone who had grown up in Burma, and she was fascinated to see recipes for dishes she remembered eating as a child. I never saw the book again, and serve me right! I assumed it was long out of print until I spotted it on amazon.com this evening while ordering another Davidson title, North Atlantic Seafood, as a Christmas gift for a godchild in Houston, Texas.

Sadly, Alan Davidson died in December 2003, and his career was widely reviewed in the British press. He had just won the prestigious Erasmus Prize for his pioneering contributions to the academic study of food and gastronomy. The award was made by the Queen of the Netherlands in person.

His first-ever writings on seafood were published while he was serving as a diplomat in Tunisia, a small work to help diplomatic wives identify local species, and sold to raise funds for the Red Cross. This was later expanded to become Meditterranean Seafood, widely recognized as the authoritive guide to the subject. I live in a small fishing port on the Costa Brava in Spain and use the book at least once a week. It has been invaluable in identifying the often unfamiliar species on sale in the local markets, as in all his works he gives the local names and variants, and provides accurate drawings of each, as well as authentic recipes. These are always those used by traditional cooks of the regions he writes about. No fusion cooking for him!

Seafood of South East Asia, first published in 1976, makes interesting reading even for non-cooks. Davidson had gone on to be British Ambassador in Laos, a country he came to love deeply. He usually wore string wristbands, tokens of a Laotian religious ceremony called basi. These were regularly given to him by the Lao community in the UK, who considered him their patron. The clothes he wore after retiring from the Foreign Office were often inspired by the colourful and stylish garments of south-east Asia. Seafood of South-East Asia reflects his understanding and appreciation of regions whose culinarary traditions are still not widely known.

After retirement from the diplomatic service Davidson travelled widely throughout China and south-east Asia, researching the names and methods used for cooking the entire range of local seafood, including the pa beuk, a giant catfish of the Mekong, thought to be extinct, but now thriving, partly because of his writings about it.

Davidson's recipes are not always easy to follow, as he spurns phrases like 'or use x if y is not available'. He was a culinary perfectionist, although in no way a foodie, admitting as he did to a liking for such unfashionable food items as tomato ketchup, spam and ice cream soda.

His death brings to an end a great trilogy of seafood books that started with the Mediterranean and went on to cover the North Atlantic and South-East Asia. All these books and his other writings on fish are imbued with deep scholarship (he was a top classical scholar at Oxford University) and, surprisingly perhaps, a great sense of humour.

`Seafood of South-East Asia' by noted culinary writer Alan Davidson, the author of `The Oxford Companion to Food' is a reference book which a serious cook must have in their library where time is spent deciding on what to eat rather than time spend actually cooking. This book belongs to a rare breed of books in English such as Elizabeth Schneider's `Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini' or `Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients' which thoroughly cover a broad single subject. This volume is cut from exactly the same cloth and sewn with an almost identical pattern to the author's two other classics, `Mediterranean Seafood' and `North Atlantic Seafood'.

All three books are organized in the same way that gives primacy to information on the aquatic species and secondary coverage of recipes.

Biological family, genus, and species organize the first part on the catalog of species in order that the biological similarity of the fishes is clearly shown. Each article gives the most common English name, the two part Latin scientific name, the scientist who assigned this name (most commonly the great inventor of biological Taxonomy, Linnaeus), the biological family name, and the common name of the fish in virtually every language of the major fishing nationality bordering the relevant body of water. This Southeast Asian volume includes names found in the languages of United Arab Emirates, Bengal, Tamil, Singhalese, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Japan. I have not seen any differentiation between the different languages of, for example, China and the Philippines. I would guess that Chinese names are in Cantonese and the Philippine names are in Tagalog. These names in themselves are entertaining to the linguistically inclined, as it is interesting to see the similarities and differences from country to country.

The articles on every species also have a highly detailed black and white drawing of each animal. The great value to these is that it makes comparing the appearance of different fishes very easy, as every species is depicted in a similar style. It is too bad they could not be depicted to scale, but this would have had the sturgeon filling two pages while the anchovies would be the size of a period. Instead, the remarks on each fish give the average market length and a description of the typical color and markings.

The catalog entry also gives a paragraph or two on cuisine, which is a discussion of the culinary desirability of the species and typical ways in which the animal is prepared. For most fish, this includes methods by which the fish is butchered. The catalog entries also include a list of recipes and page numbers for these recipes in the second major section of the book.

The second major section divides recipes by country. This volume gives us eight chapters on recipes from Burma; Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; China and Hong Kong; The Philippines; Indonesia; and Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.

One is tempted to expect these recipes to be very generic and not as interesting as those you may find in books of `haute cuisine' from a fish specialist such as Eric Rippert. This is partially true. Davidson is less the great cook than he is a great fish and food scholar. This means that while his recipes may come from common sources, he gives us much more information on the background of the recipes than the chef may do. A good example of this is in his coverage of Filipino dishes. I compared his `Fish Sinigang' recipe to the `Sinigang Na Bangus' recipe in `Filipino Cuisine' by Gerry Gelle and found that Davidson's recipe was as good or better than the one given by the Filipino chef. True to Davidson's scholarly approach, he describes what type of fish works well in this recipe, even though both he and Gelle specify milkfish (bangos). One odd fact is that Gelle's name for the fish is one Davidson attributes to Malaysia. May be due to linguistic duality between northern and southern Philippines. As with all cuisines, Davidson gives expert advice on cookbooks of the Filipino cuisines, especially as he says cookbook writing is a well-developed discipline in the islands. Icing on the cake is Davidson's overview of Filipino fish cures. One method even looks suspiciously like the famous Caribbean technique that developed into barbecue.

One great delight was the fact that the book includes information on Gasteropods (Snails, limpets, conches, etc), sea turtles, and seaweed. You may not be cooking turtle soup any time soon, but you will know your stuff the next time you watch `Babette's Feast'! My point here is that this book is simply great fun to read and to use as a source of ideas for unusual new recipes.

Unlike the books on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the bibliography shows that the author has based most of his material on sources written in English or French. While Davidson was a diplomat with serious language skills, either these skills did not extend to oriental languages OR most of the good stuff is written in English and French anyway. One of the greatest things about all these volumes is that all of this great material is available in trade paperbacks, which list for no more than $25. For you devotees of second hand bookstores, please note the author's warning that the first edition of this volume apparently had more than a usual number of errors and all known errors were corrected in the second edition.

These are must have books for devoted foodies! A quick look at the list of species in the table of contents shows that almost all of the common named fishes show up on the ice or in the tanks of your favorite local megamart or fishmonger. I am certain that your Maine lobster will not mind being dressed in a recipe tailored to an Asian spiny lobster, although Alton Brown has quipped that the Maine flesh is slightly sweeter.

Highly recommended.