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Cookbook Review: ‘School of Fish’ by Ben Pollinger and ‘Sweet and Southern’ by Ben Mims

Freshness matters most with seafood, which helps to explain why, a few generations ago, the culinary taste of most Americans stopped at the water’s edge. Unless you lived near a port or a well-stocked river, bay or lake, most of your seafood came out of a can. Even today—after breakthroughs in flash freezing and rapid transport—many of us who enjoy sushi, ceviche or an array of fish and shellfish entrées at a restaurant shy away from all but the simplest seafood preparations in our homes. It’s as if an atavistic reaction to the otherness of the underwater world makes us uneasy—if not downright queasy—when faced with the reproachful glance of a glassy-eyed sea bass staring up at us from the cutting board.

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