Rick Stein's Complete Seafood: A Step-by-Step Reference

The encyclopedic Rick Stein's Complete Seafood is particularly welcome. Not only does the British chef's book offer 150 attractive recipes and step-by-step instructional color photographs--it classifies the world's seafood in a thorough, approachable, and up-to-date way. This is no small accomplishment. Fish classification is notoriously vexed; local usage can result in multiple names for the same fish--one person's dolphinfish is, for example, another's mahi mahi--or dozens of different fish with the same name. Grouping seafood by anatomical distinctions, such as billfish (which includes swordfish and marlin), as well as by family, helps create a clearer picture; and color illustrations, plus a valuable chart that delineates common, Latin, and family names, as well as home-region, further elucidates what's what and where.

In addition, the oversize book's technical illustration, which delves far beyond the usual guide to filleting, skinning, and the like, is an informative trove. Preparing flatfish for broiling and for deep frying are two examples of this thoroughness that also covers baking whole fish in foil; butterflying raw shrimp for broiling; and preparing raw, smoked, and, cured fish, among other key methods. The central section of the book is devoted to Stein's recipes, which range from the simple and direct, like Baked Sea Bass with Roasted Red Pepper, Tomatoes and Anchovies, and Sautéed Soft-Shell Crabs with Garlic Butter, to the more dressy, such as Fillet of Bass with Vanilla Butter Vinaigrette and Mussels en Croustade with Leeks and White Wine. Offered with suggestions for using alternative fish types, the formulas also help readers make sense of seafood’s bounty--and to find recipes based on market availability. This book, designed for all cooks with more than a passing interest in seafood, is among today's best kitchen resources. --Arthur Boehm