FISH FOR ALL OCCASIONS

The recipes run from fish soups, stuffings, pancakes and party dishes to small hot dishes, very easy ones, cold fish, fish in the oven. A nice variety and spectrum of difficulty. But the book is chiefly valuable for its exhaustive information about shopping, preparation--and fish themselves, their habitats, appearance and suitable destinies in the kitchen. Sometimes the author (background: French cookery for Vogue) gets carried away with her erudition (what to do if poisoned by eel's blood while skinning them alive). However she writes well and her cooking tips en passant (about saucemaking, e.g.) sound as useful as her piscine survey.