Jane Brody's Good Seafood Book

This is the most marvelous SIMPLE seafood cookbook I ever had. The recipes are easy, interchangeable and delicious. If you do not have the fish that is described and you read on you will find a variety of fish that you can use for most of her recipes. This is my seafood bible!

Last year I mentioned to my mother that I really wanted to learn to cook better, and shortly thereafter this book arrived in the mail. She had found it in a second hand store and figured it couldn't hurt. That, as it turned out, was putting it lightly! I -love- this book. Many of the recipes are fast and easy, as well as being flavorful and healthy. There's a great variety of options, from soups to salads, broiled, baked and grilled fish and shellfish. My personal favorites are the Tilapia with Herbs and the steamed mussels. My roommate last year swore that he couldn't stand fish, so I cooked only for myself when making these recipes. One night I made a double portion of the tilapia, intending to save one to take for lunch the next day. When I took them out of the oven, my roommate sheepishly shuffled over and asked if he could have some. I asked him what happened to the whole not liking fish part, and he said it just looked and smelled so good... He devoured it, and from then on I always made sure to have extra! I'm not sure why people in other reviews have been so disparaging of this book. I love it, and use it constantly. My only complaint is that there are no pictures, as I like pictures in my cookbooks, but that is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for good fish recipes!

Like Wayne Scott, I don't at all agree with the other reviewer, who found Jane Brody's seafood book mechanical, or uninspired, or in any way disparaging the culinary pleasures of seafood. Brody is not writing for that seafood afficianado. Instead, she's touting the pleasures of seafood to the uninitiated--a role she also held before researching this book. She came to fish for health reasons, as so many of us have. And she gives us every reason to be glad we did! The recipes are delicious, well written, and simple. I'm thoroughly sold on it. And now I'm ready to try her other cookbooks.

This book is an excellent source of information for someone who loves fish and seafood and wants to prepare it someway other than deep fried or bathed in butter. Brody is somewhat of a cultist, but she likes food and she likes fish. Despite another review I read here, I did not find that she was cold and not interested in cooking or even better eating fish. I enjoyed reading the book and I have liked the several I have tried.