The California Seafood Cookbook: A Cook's Guide to the Fish & Shellfish of California, the Pacific Coast & Beyond

This beautifully illustrated, comprehensive guide to seafood explores the rich variety of fish and shellfish beyond the Big Five (Salmon, Tuna, Cod, Snapper, and Bass). The 150 recipes emphasize simplicity, fresh ingredients, and ethnic and regional tastes, as well as an innovative approach to the infinite possibilities of this popular cuisine. Author Isaac Cronin also provides expert tips on kitchen equipment, cutting techniques, cooking methods, and how to pick the best fish at the fish market.The seventy-five species portraits and the illustrated techniques will prove useful to home cooks and seafood lovers alike. Fully half of the featured species are found in Gulf, Pacific, and Atlantic waters, and each recipe suggests appropriate alternative fish and shellfish from other regions.

Isaac Cronin is the author and editor of ten non-fiction books, including Confronting Fear: A Documentary History of Terrorism and The Believer, based on the film by Henry Bean that won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2001. Cronin was the marketing director for the specialty cookbook publisher Aris Books, worked as a special sales consultant for Publishers Group West and currently manages ICPR, a public relations firm in Berkeley that focuses on sustainable businesses. He co-wrote Chan Is Missing, a film directed by Wayne Wang that was inducted into the National Film Archive in the Library of Congress. He lives in Oakland, California.

Paul Johnson is the owner of Monterey Fish Company, a major Bay Area wholesaler, located on Pier 33 in San Francisco. He has become the supplier to chefs such as Thomas Keller, Alice Water, Todd English and Daniel Boulud. A former chef at restaurants such as In Season, he is the author of Forever Fish. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Jay Harlow is the author or coauthor of many cookbooks, including West Coast Seafood, The Microbrew Lover’s Cookbook, Once Upon a Bagel, Beer Cuisine, The Art of the Sandwich, Shrimp, The Grilling Book, and The California Seafood Cookbook. His articles have appeared in several food and beverage magazines and newspapers, and his column on seafood, “The Fishmonger,” ran for more than ten years as a weekly feature of the San Francisco Chronicle food section. He lives in Berkeley, California.