Oysters A Culinary Celebration

Rarely has a cookbook so thoroughly addressed its subject in such charming detail. Joan Reardon has uncovered not only every creative recipe for preparing oysters, but every elusive fact and helpful hint. In addition, the pages of this book are sprinkled with quotations from famous oyster lovers throughout the ages, from Shakespeare to Julia Child. With erudition and elegance, Reardon provides over 185 recipes, old and new, featuring traditional American cuisine as well as adventurous side trips to the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Such tidbits make Oysters much more than a cookbook; it is a true cooking companion.

With its color identification section, displaying photographs of North America's most distinctive oysters, and its glossary defining dozens of varieties, this book allows anyone to order with confidence and authority in any restaurant or oyster bar. Reardon's recipes span the spectrum for every course of a meal. From soups to salads to entrées, the variety of flavor and style will enable any cook to celebrate these delectable gems of the sea. Oysters is an essential and deeply pleasurable volume for every person who appreciates this most tender and delicate seafood.

In this charming volume dedicated to the most tender and delicate of seafood, elusive facts and helpful hints about choosing, preparing, and eating oysters accompany 185 creative recipes plus quotations from famous oyster lovers ranging from Shakespeare to Julia Child. Color insert.

185 delectable recipes, and every elusive fact and helpful hint about oysters.

Joan Reardon, culinary historian, cookbook author, and biographer, has a doctorate in English Literature and an accredited culinary certificate from the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, Evanston, Illinois, where she is now a member of the board of trustees. Her previous book, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Alice Waters: Celebrating the Pleasures of the Table was nominated for a Julia Child Award.