Crazy for Crab: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Fabulous Crab at Home [Hardcover]

Fred Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2004

Comprehensive recipe and technique book for cooking and enjoying crab at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Those looking for something more sophisticated than chicken may turn to Fred Thompson's Crazy for Crab. Thompson offers a complete guide to cooking, serving, and eating all manner of crab dishes. He includes both East and West Coast specimens. After an exhaustive treatise on the kinds of crabs available, their seasons, and how they are likely to show up in markets, the author presents appetizer dips, soups and chowders, salads, and variations on the ever-popular crab cakes. Main dishes include multicourse crab boils, deviled crab, and similarly rich dishes. To go with these, Thompson suggests slaws, vegetable dishes, and a few desserts, including the ubiquitous key lime pie. An appendix lists crab festivals nationwide. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"To elevate the delicate flavors of crab meat used to be a challengs for many . . . not anymore! Fred Thompson is sharing with us more than 100 great crab recipes inspired by regional and traditional home cooking." --Eric Ripert, chef at Le Bernardin and author of A Return to Cooking

"This is the best book on crab that I have ever read. It is chock full of practical information, as well as great stories of wonderful crabby places and people. Best of all, Fred Thompson demonstrates the versatility of this delicious creature through his marvelous collection of interesting and tasty recipes." --Jasper White, author of Lobster at Home and proprietor of the Summer Shack restaurants

"Fred Thompson has what every American needs--the lowdown on how to easily prepare crab in ways both healthy and delicious. In Crazy for Crab, Fred shares the secrets of his Chesapeake Bay upbringing in selecting and cooking one of the tastiest seafoods." --John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press (February 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558322655
• ISBN-13: 978-1558322653
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,015,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous and Drool Inducing!, June 26, 2004

By 

Marsha Wood Wirtel (Philly's Western 'Burbs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crazy for Crab: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Fabulous Crab at Home (Hardcover)

In what can only be considered a "love note" to all things crab, Fred Thompson has created an absolutely definitive guide for crab lovers everywhere. Beginning with what he calls "The Crab Basics", a discussion of the types of crab available as well as the various methods for selecting and storing crab products, and ending with a list of crab festivals around the country, "Crazy for Crab" offers something for even the most casual of crab fans.

With twelve recipes for crab cakes alone (ranging from the basic to the very fancy - tarragon aioli anyone?), Thompson has more than covered the territory. Included are soup and appetizer recipes, as well as many for salads and casseroles. The level of involvement and difficulty for the recipes ranges from the very simple to the relatively complex and for every recipe the likes of Crab Imperial (that is, well known and fairly easy to track down) he includes another for a dish altogether more exotic and modern tasting - Thai crab cakes with chili-garlic sauce, for example

From the everyday to the sublime, Thompson has covered it all. Augmented with discussions and recipes for bay seasoning and homemade tartar sauce, this comprehensive work is recommended for anyone who enjoys these sweet gifts from the sea.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The School of Crab Cooking, March 22, 2005

By 

Biscuit Gal (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crazy for Crab: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Fabulous Crab at Home (Non) (Paperback)

This book takes all of the fear out of cooking with crab. Fred explains step by step everything I needed to know to select crab, cook it, and use it in recipes.

I hosted a Crazy for Crab Dinner with every course a recipe from this book. The Crab Bisque is creamy heaven, the Crab Salad on spring greens is easy and delicious, and most of all the Pretty Darn Close to Perfect Crab Cakes is easier than I expected to make and everyone says they are the best they have ever tasted. The book even has a great Key Lime Pie for the grand finale. I will make all these recipes again and again.

You will be happy to have this book and will want to try all of the recipes!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crab Lovers UNITE !, May 20, 2004

By 

Edward Saunders Jr. "hunnybeared" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crazy for Crab: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Fabulous Crab at Home (Non) (Paperback)

This is an excellent cookbook on cooking crabs and things to go with them! If you ever traveled to Baltimore, MD... One of the things that usually got you was you could not find a DEFINITIVE cookbook on crabs... This book seems to be the ONE! Now if I could only just get a way to have more crabs coming to Nashville.... A wonderful cookbook! If you love crabs-why are you still reading this? Buy the Book, already!