Southern States Cooking, Mid-Atlantic States Cooking

Chesapeake Bay Cooking

Name: Chesapeake Bay Cooking
Author: John Shields
ISBN: 9780767900287

by John Shields

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Overview

Loosen your belts and get ready to chow down on a pile of steamed blue crabs, dine on a Maryland plantation-style feast, or graze through the stalls of Baltimore's Cross Street Market with television host and "Culinary Ambassador of the Bay," John Shields. In this companion cookbook to the 26-part public television series, take a delicious tour with Shields along the Chesapeake's 4,600 miles of pristine coastline and through the bountiful farmlands of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

In Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields, you will learn how to prepare 190 recipes from this mid-Atlantic region's culinary fare, including rockfish and gumbos, duck and Maryland fried chicken, beaten biscuits and the famous Lady Baltimore cake. Best of all, you'll learn everything you need to know about the undisputed star of Chesapeake cuisine--crabs. Shields's book includes plenty of helpful crabformation--how to buy, cook, hammer, and eat blue crabs, why you never eat the "devil," and how to tell the difference between "jimmies" (male crabs) and "sooks" (female crabs).

With John Shields as your guide, drop in on the locals, who, for generations, have made this region one of the most popular destinations on the East Coast. Visit Crisfield, home to the Miss Crustacean beauty pageant, where you can sample the crispy, sweet, fried soft-shell crabs. Don't miss the rambunctious two-day chicken festival on the Delmarva Peninsula, where "there's a whole lot of frying chicken going on." And, since Shields always loves a party, you'll join the Biddlecomb family for a real Virginia-style Fourth of July, where the menu includes Miss Lorraine's Barbecued Chicken, Lady Liberty Seafood Salad, and Pickled Watermelon Rind. And you can't leave Baltimore without visiting Little Italy to share a meal of Rockfish Braised in Gravy with home cook Carmella Sartori.

Here are satisfying foods, easy-to-prepare recipes, and the people who've kept Chesapeake cuisine cooking for centuries--all brought home to you by the region's favorite son, John Shields.

About the Author, John Shields

John Shields, author of The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook and The Chesapeake Bay Crab Cookbook, lives in Baltimore, Maryland. He can also be found on the World Wide Web at www.charm.net/~mrcrabby. A portion of his royalties from this book will be donated to the conservation/environmental organization, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This PBS-TV series companion gives a spirited look at the down-home food favored by folks living along the coastline and on nearby farmlands of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Expectedly, seafood grabs the spotlight. The blue crab is a local icon, and Shields provides seven recipes for crab cakes, from Senator Barb's Spicy Bay Crab Cakes (courtesy of Maryland's Sen. Mikulski), using soft white bread for binding instead of cracker crumbs, to Faidley's World Famous Crab Cakes served up in Baltimore's Lexington Market. Eight recipes for soft-shelled crabs range from Soft-Shell Crab Moutarde to the savory Pecan-Coated Soft-Shells with Whiskey-Lemon Butter. Eight oyster recipes are capped by the celebratory Oysters Poached in Champagne. Moving off the water, a full complement of other dishes includes Maryland Panfried Chicken, coated with a buttermilk-based marinade and dipped in Chesapeake seasonings, an ultra rich Smoked Country Ham and Roquefort Pie, and appealingly simple Succotash, beans and corn kernels sparked with butter and lemon juice. Salads, vegetables, sturdy breakfasts and desserts, the last ranging from Lady Baltimore Cake to Sweet Potato Pie, round out the banquet. Shields, who grew up in Baltimore, provides stories and anecdotes in homey sidebars, along with guidelines for cleaning soft-shelled crabs and cooking a muskrat. He's an infectiously enthusiastic guide to this appealing fare. Pictures not seen by PW. $25,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Apr.)