THE GREAT EAST COAST SEAFOOD BOOK

Though Tarr's East Coast sampling may slight New England and Chesapeake Bay for the catch available from East Hampton, one can find in this extensive compendium traditional recipes from up and down the coast and from Europe and the Far East as well. Sushi, whole black sea bass with fermented black bean sauce, and Mon-Ling's Southampton seafood soup with miso mix comfortably with cod cakes, crab cakes, scrod frittata, firman haddie poached in milk, weakfish Nicoise, Coquille St. Jacques, English fish and chips, Basque fisherman's stew, a number of simple pan-fries, and bluefish with cornmeal and sunflower seeds cooked more-or-less as the Indians prepared it. A random sampling might also turn up fresh anchovy salad, oyster-stuffed snappers, fresh eel soup, whole poached salmon with asparagus, grilled tuna and eggplant, raw scallops ""au naturel,"" and ""Lobster Pernod gourmet."" There's also a special section on stocks, sauces, and butters. As useful as the recipes is Tarr's introductory advice on catching, buying, cleaning, and filleting fish; on basic cooking methods; and on salting, pickling, smoking, and freezing procedures. Then, throughout the book, there is more on the taste, habitat, and season--and general cooking methods--for each of the dozens of fish and seafood categories she takes up. For the nutrition-minded, an appendix reproduces the fish section from the standard food composition tables (Agriculture Handbook No. 8). For anyone, from the novice panicked by all those mysterious offerings at the fish store to the serious angler-chef: a standout.