In a state whose life’s blood is seafood, coauthors Jerald and Glenda Horst take the guesswork out of where your dinner comes from. The third volume in the
Louisiana Seafood Bible Series, this guide gives an insider’s view of crabbers, the lifecycle of crabs, and all the secrets to making distinctive Southern seafood dishes.
Jerald Horst spends a day with a family of crabbers out on their boat and learns about the process of harvesting soft-shell crabs before factories took away the need to battle with mosquitoes and inclement weather. He explains the cult of the blue crab, which developed around crab cakes and steamed crabs, and crab language, including twenty-seven terms used to categorize them.
Instructions and advice on buying crabs, as well as peeling them, cleaning them, and boiling them with claws intact, have been contributed after a lifetime of fisheries experience. This know-how combined with the proper ingredients and just the right touch can produce such singular results as Louisiana Blue Crab Cakes, Regal Crabmeat Salad, Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms, and Seafood Mirliton Casserole. The authors have personally tested each dish to present the most delicious and original meals the state has to offer.
About the Authors
Jerald Horst worked as a professor of fisheries science at Louisiana State University for more than thirty years. He is a member of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. He is also the coauthor of
Angler’s Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, The Louisiana Seafood Bible: Shrimp, and
The Louisiana Seafood Bible: Crawfish, all published by Pelican.
Glenda Horst was born and raised in Bayou Sorrell, Louisiana, a small commercial fishing community on the edge of the Atchafalaya Basin. The daughter of a commercial fisherman, she learned the basics of Cajun cooking from her mother and enjoys passing them on. The Horsts live in Franklinton, Louisiana.