Those looking for something more sophisticated than chicken may turn to
Fred Thompson's Crazy for Crab.
Thompson offers a complete guide to cooking, serving, and eating all manner of crab dishes. He includes both East and West Coast specimens. After an exhaustive treatise on the kinds of crabs available, their seasons, and how they are likely to show up in markets, the author presents appetizer dips, soups and chowders, salads, and variations on the ever-popular crab cakes. Main dishes include multicourse crab boils, deviled crab, and similarly rich dishes. To go with these,
Thompson suggests slaws, vegetable dishes, and a few desserts, including the ubiquitous key lime pie. An appendix lists crab festivals nationwide.
Mark KnoblauchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
In what can only be considered a "love note" to all things crab, Fred Thompson has created an absolutely definitive guide for crab lovers everywhere. Beginning with what he calls "The Crab Basics", a discussion of the types of crab available as well as the various methods for selecting and storing crab products, and ending with a list of crab festivals around the country, "Crazy for Crab" offers something for even the most casual of crab fans. With twelve recipes for crab cakes alone (ranging from the basic to the very fancy - tarragon aioli anyone?), Thompson has more than covered the territory. Included are soup and appetizer recipes, as well as many for salads and casseroles. The level of involvement and difficulty for the recipes ranges from the very simple to the relatively complex and for every recipe the likes of Crab Imperial (that is, well known and fairly easy to track down) he includes another for a dish altogether more exotic and modern tasting - Thai crab cakes with chili-garlic sauce, for example From the everyday to the sublime, Thompson has covered it all. Augmented with discussions and recipes for bay seasoning and homemade tartar sauce, this comprehensive work is recommended for anyone who enjoys these sweet gifts from the sea.
