Customer Reviews

The New Fish Cooking Encyclopedia

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`The New Fish Cooking Encyclopedia' by Kate Whiteman is a combination of two earlier volumes, `Great Fish and Shellfish' and `The World Encyclopedia of Fish and Shellfish'. Since all three are titles published in the UK, it is unlikely that an American book buyer would have one or both of the earlier titles.
There are many excellent general books on fish cookery, the best being `Fish' by Mark Bittman and `Fish and Shellfish' by James Peterson', and both of these books are a bit better for the typical American home cook than the volume currently under consideration; however, Whiteman's book still has a lot to recommend it to the professional cook and the serious foodie. I will mention its primary weaknesses first, so if you are adverse to these facts, you can stop now and go on with something more useful.
First, the print in the book is quite small. Even with my reasonably good corrected eyesight, I would find the fine print annoying in the kitchen, and even in an easy chair. Second, true to its `Encyclopedic' moniker, it is intent on covering just about every fish preparation method there is, even those which require a lot of work and special equipment, such as steaming a whole Fluke or making terrines. This makes the book a great source for the professional, but less interesting to the '30 Minute Meal' crowd. Third, while the recipes all include both Imperial (standard in American cookbooks) and metric measurements, the dual presentation is just a bit noisome, especially coupled with the tiny print. For example, an American may have to do a little head scratching to figure out what is meant by `strong white bread flour'.
On the other hand, there is much to recommend this book. Foremost is its thorough coverage, with excellent photographs, of many standard techniques in the professional kitchen. It also has full coverage of many species of fish not covered in less `encyclopedic' works, such as cuttlefish, crayfish, barracuda, carp, garfish, eels, and `prairie clams'. A second dimension of the book's comprehensive approach is that it covers virtually every fish preparation technique and recipe one can think of. While this may be of little value to the quick cook, it is essential to the professional. Even better is the fact that both general techniques and many individual recipes are illuminated by excellent photographs, although, like the fine print, the pics are sometimes just a bit small to fully reveal the details to the squinter among us with aging eyes.
I especially like the organization of recipes into the eight chapters covering:
Soups
Appetizers
Mousses, Pates and Terrines
Salads
Everyday Main Courses
Pasta and Rice Dishes
Light and Healthy Dishes
Elegant Dishes for Entertaining
If you have room for only one or a few books dedicated to fish cookery, this is certainly an excellent choice, especially if you can get it at a good price.