Oysters: A Culinary Celebration with 185 Recipes [Paperback]

Joan Reardon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

185 delectable recipes, and every elusive fact and helpful hint about oysters.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The oyster has always held a privileged place in gastronomy. No nineteenth-century banquet would have been complete without a dozen or more of the tasty bivalves for each guest. Joan Reardon has prepared a new edition of her book of oyster recipes. Purists turn up their noses at enhancing oysters beyond perhaps a squeeze of lemon, but a properly cooked oyster can also be a gustatory delight. Reardon outdoes herself with several variations of the estimable oysters Rockefeller, altering both the greens-based foundation and the rich gratin topping. Reardon's soups go beyond New England oyster stew and include several gumbos. Oyster beignets are deep-fried in a classic French cream puff pastry. Or the oysters may be served in shells of the same dough baked into savory profiteroles. Breakfast inspirations include oysters Benedict, with a pair of poached oysters replacing the customary egg. Oyster lovers will find much to exhilarate them here. Mark Knoblauch --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Not only is this cookbook filled with dozens of wonderful recipes for oysters, it is also a marvelous reference for those delectable delights...author Joan Reardon has uncovered just about every creative recipe in existence for preparing oysters, as well as offering every elusive fact and helpful hint you could think of."--Supermarket Gourmet

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592283519
• ISBN-13: 978-1592283514
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #870,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Culinary historian, cookbook author, and biographer Joan Reardon is the author of M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters; M.F.K. Fisher Among the Pots and Pans; Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of M.F.K. Fisher; and Oysters: a Culinary Celebration. Reardon, who has a Ph.D. in English literature, won an IACP Award for culinary writing, publishes and edits a quarterly newsletter for Les Dames d'Escoffier Chicago, and serves on the advisory board of Gastronomica magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Major Food Deserves Such an Outstanding Treatment, March 8, 2004

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oysters: A Culinary Celebration (Hardcover)

Every important foodstuff deserves a book like this.

The author, Joan Reardon, has both literary and culinary credentials of the first water. She has a doctorate in English literature, has graduated from a major culinary school, and was an associate of M. F. K. Fisher, and is a biographer of that writer. She is also a chronicler of Poetry by American women. Oysters deserve no less a scribe. A small reward for these academic credentials is that unlike many other writers, the author gives the correct translation of the French term `hors d'oeuvres'. I feel I am in the hands of someone whose opinion I can trust.

At the very least, this book is a classic single topic cookbook similar to recent books done on duck, salmon, potatoes and eggs, the kind I find eminently useful in one's permanent culinary library.

The chapters cover all the usual topics, these being:

Appetizers
Soups
Salads & Vegetables
Breads and Pastries
Oyster Entrees
Oysters and Entrees

The book ends with a glossary of oyster species, pests, preservatives, sources, and terminology.

The book succeeds better than many other single subject cookbooks in that many general guidelines are given to each chapter. But these introductions don't stop at simply informing you of interesting culinary tidbits. Each is an essay celebrating its topic in a way I have rarely seen outside some early writings by Elizabeth David and Paula Wolfert. The paean to bread ranges from Chaucer to the Chinese. Some of the culinary suggestions in the bread chapter I have never seen, even in books specializing in sandwiches.

Each chapter is also leavened with appropriate quotes from everyone from Julius Caesar to Shakespeare to M. F. K. Fisher. In many hands, this feature may have no more impact than some badly done drawings or photographs. But Reardon makes them work.

Most dishes are provided a pairing with an alcoholic beverage. Suggestions are not limited to wine. They include sake, tequila, beer, and other notable potables.

The central section of color photographs provides a gallery of oyster species with their geographical source.

This book is a joy to read and a delightful culinary resource. There are books at this price which offer half as many recipes and none of the literary delights. Very highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book on oysters!, January 6, 2007

By 

I. Seligman - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Oysters: A Culinary Celebration with 185 Recipes (Paperback)

This is a book written by a woman in love with oysters, and her love can be contagious, through her luscious recipes and well written interesting commentary.

Each of 185 recipes brings out yet another facet of these succulent savory delights. She starts with oysters on the half shell, with lemon and black pepper, and quickly introduces 6 sauces for raw oysters: Mignonete, Spiced Chili Sauce, Tomato and Horseradish, Dill, Remoulade, and Remoulade -New Orleans Style.

It gets better, as Oysters with a Splash are accented with citrus and vinegar, and are served with iced vodka. The naked oysters get covered as Spinach-Oyster Rolls with Mustard Sauce, or beneath a creamed mushroom sauce as Oysters Forestiere.

There are canape recipes, 20 oyster soups, 6 salads, numerous vegetables even grace the oyster's presence. They are deep fried, stir-fried, sauteed, baked, and broiled-grilled. This leads up to over 20 main courses, with such oyster preparations as Polenta Torta, Conchiglie, Hangtown Fry, Turkey Croquettes, Oies, Stuffing, and with the Noble Oyster accompanied by even Veal Rouladens, Scallops, sole and in Jambalaya.

Rarely does a "Single Ingredient" cookbook reach such excellence in simple clear instructions, and a selection of recipes that nost home cooks can readily make and enjoy.

If you have wondered of ways to serve oysters, or are just curious about this delicacy, buy this book now, and get cookin!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost 200 oyster recipes, September 18, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oysters: A Culinary Celebration with 185 Recipes (Paperback)

Don't miss Joan Reardon's OLYSTERS: A CULINARY CELEBRATION either: it may lack some of the colorful photos of competing slimmer competitors on the topic; but what is lacking in color is more than made up for in practical applications: almost 200 oyster recipes, to be specific. Reardon is a culinary historian with a doctorate in English and a culinary certificate from the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College: her guide is bursting with oyster flavor and a wide range of dishes from salads to entrees. Yes, there is a color identification section which chooses clear photos of North America's most distinctive oysters, but it's the recipes which are the meat of her cookbook, here.