James Mcnair's Fish Cookbook [Paperback]

James McNair (Author, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1991

In the bestselling tradition of James McNair's Salmon Cookbook, this new book includes a host of delicious recipes and a wide range of cooking methods for both fresh and salt-water fish, including grilling, smoking, broiling, roasting, baking, sauteing, and poaching. Here are delicious updated classics as well as several imaginative new dishes. The mouthwatering recipes include Sauteed Fish with Pepper Vinaigrette, Chinese Dragon Fish, Caribbean Poached Fish in Lime Cream, and Grilled Leaf-Wrapped and Herb-Stuffed Fish. Rather than specify a particular type of fish for these dishes, the author has devised each recipe to accommodate whatever species of fish is locally fresh or readily available. As always, the basics are well-covered with plenty of tips on cleaning, cuffing, boning cooking, and storing the catch of the day. Lavishly illustrated in full color, James McNair's Fish Cookbook is a stunning addition to this perennially popular series.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James McNair -- one of America's most innovative cookbook authors -- is also the photographic designer, prop and food stylist, and book designer for his bestselling single-subject series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877018219
• ISBN-13: 978-0877018216
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,099,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD BOOK FOR LIMITED OCCASIONS...I like this book but there are better fish cookbooks out there., December 21, 2010

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: James Mcnair's Fish Cookbook (Paperback)

James McNair wrote a whole group of cookbooks back in the early 1990s covering quite a number of categories of food. Some of these books were quite good; some not so good (An example of this would be the wretched mess he published on Stews and Casseroles...Bleh); others turned out quite nice. Whether or not you consider the book being reviewed here as "good" or "bad" depends upon what you are looking for.

This work of course covers fish; both freshwater and saltwater varieties and the first thing the potential buyer and user of this book must know is that it is not a book filled with recipes such as "deep fried fish."

Now I happen to like fish and to be truthful, have never met a fish I did not like...if prepared properly; placed into proper context. As an example, one of my favorite meals to prepare, when it comes to fish, is cleaning, chopping into large chunks, a nice freshly caught catfish from the river. I like to bread them, throw them in to a pot of boiling lard (yes, I said lard) and cook the heck out of them. I like this served with fried potatoes (again, using lard), hushpuppies and a mess of slaw...all washed down with sun ice tea. I have no workable arteries left in my body. But that being said, I have never turned up my nose at any dish when it is prepared well; we have eaten fish, prepared fish and served fish for many years and in most of our States and a number of countries.

This book is not a guide as to how to prepare easy fish meals. In fact, most of the recipes here require a tremendous amount of prep time, some rather exotic herbs and spices and garnishes. (Good luck in finding flying fish roe, crushed Sichuan pepper or fresh lemongrass at your local Wally World Super Center if you live in the sticks like we do). The author is kind enough to give us several pages on how to prepare frozen fish, but to be truthful, frozen fish just don't cut the mustard when it comes to the dishes featured here.

The recipes here are extremely exact and the directions for preparation and presentation are quite exact. We have tried quite a number of them and they are excellent! The problem we ran into, generally speaking, is portion size. Most of these dishes could be eaten in about 3 minutes flat and have the eater of them going out to the local Long John Silvers in order to fill themselves up.

That is okay though. There is a time and place for everything and this work fulfills a specialized need. I can promise you that if you FRESH (Note that I emphasis FRESH) ingredients, most certainly the fish itself, you will most certainly impress your guests...they may leave a bit hungry, but they will be impressed!

As to presentation: This is a work from the early 1990s and the presentation of each dish in the photographs (and description) are a bit dated; but that being said, they are beautiful, especially if you are looking for a retro look. I will admit that some of the presentations go to the edge, such as the one used for the "Pacific Rim Steamed Fish." Most people would take a look at this, scream "gross" and opt for a Big Mac. Those few photographs are the exception though and most look not only elegant, but down right yummy! I learned a lot about seafood presentation from this work.

This is an excellent book, if of course, this is the sort of thing you need in your cooking life. I am glad I have it in our collection.

NOTE: Some of the sauces found in this work make the price of the book well worth the money spent...they are some of the best.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Ideas for Fish, September 24, 2011

By 

A Write Word (Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: James Mcnair's Fish Cookbook (Hardcover)

I have a collection of James McNair's favorite recipes and it is my favorite cookbook. Everything I've ever made from that book has been spectacular. Thinking about that, I decided to branch out and get some more McNair cook books. One of the first ones that I chose was the "James McNair's Fish Cookbook". This is a slim hardback volume, but like most of McNair's books, it is filled with beautiful photography in addition to his artful recipes. Some of these recipes are a little more complicated than i want to get with a fillet of fish, and some contain ingredients that I am not sure I will be able to acquire where I live, but on the whole, there are many recipes that I plan to try, and all of them are adaptable and give me some inspiration for what to do with whatever fish may be on sale at the grocery store.