James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [1]
All my life I have been fond of fish, and I have been fortunate in having lived where fish were plentiful. I was brought up in the Pacific Northwest, a region that is remarkable in its range of both salt- and freshwater fish. Later, in California, New York, and Europe, I managed to eat every form of seafood I could catch or buy.
Nearly all the recipes I offer were tested at one time or another in my own kitchen. Through the years I have had much expected pleasure and many exciting surprises in cooking varieties of fish that were new to me, in trying new recipes, and in refining traditional ones. I urge you to be adventurous, as I have tried to be, in your approach to fish cookery. And I suggest only one general rule: Don’t overcook fish.
– JAMES A. BEARD
Introduction
Since I first wrote this fish book, there have been great ecological changes, and there have been great shortages of some of our favorite fish. There will continue to be, I am afraid, until many of the problems that have to do with raising, caring for, and harvesting fish are settled. Some of our shellfish are almost extinct. Some of our favorite fish are in short supply. On the other hand, there are fish being used and publicized which we never dreamed of using before that have rather distinct and varied flavors that we have not experienced. It is wise to acquaint yourself with those fish in your markets that are permanently in short supply nowadays and those that are in fairly plentiful supply, because one can then judge what will be your mainstays in fish for the future.
In New England there is still haddock, cod, scrod, lemon sole, and small sole. Around New York, we have the same fish, plus a great plenitude of striped bass, and we also get red snapper, pompano, trout, salmon, and halibut. Along the Atlantic Coast, you will find very much the same things. There are shortages of crab and of lobster, but so far no shortages of shrimp and scallops, especially bay scallops, which seem more or less at a premium.
On the West Coast, I think you will still find the dabs, the rex sole, and the petrale sole; in the Northwest, the ling cod, true cod, sablefish, to some extent the sturgeon and the sea trout, and what is known on the West Coast as red snapper, which differs from that on the East Coast. In the rivers and lakes there are no tremendous shortages, though I don’t think fish are quite as plentiful as they once were. Yet the variety seems to continue in its satisfying way. We are using many fish now that were not in common usage before, such as squid and octopus, and various other smaller fish. As the science of aquaculture develops, we can look forward to increased varieties and to new flavors from the sea that are totally alien to us now.
It is with a certain sense of excitement, and a certain sense of loss, that I look to the future in fish cookery. I hope the revisions in this book will assist you in adapting to the new tastes we will all have in the coming years.
We wish to thank the Canadian Fisheries Council for their revolutionary discovery in fish cookery. And thanks to Carl Jerome for retesting a major portion of the recipes. Also, I will grant kudos to Emily Gilder and Marilyn Mangas for their assistance with the manuscript of this book. Our thanks to Marc Parson for his suggestion that inspired the addition of a section to the book.
General Information About Fish
Buying and Preparing Fish
FRESH FISH
Like other kinds of food, most varieties of fish have their seasons – the particular times when they are in most abundant supply, at their best, and cheapest. These seasons vary greatly from coast to coast and from fish to fish. Everything considered, the best authority on when to buy fresh fish is your own fish dealer. In a number of respects, however, you must supplement his advice with your