Works by
John Shields
(Chef, Writer)

Chesapeake Bay Cookbook: Rediscovering the Pleasures of a Great Regional Cuisine (1990) with Jed Kirschbaum (Photographer)

Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields (1998)
Loosen your belts and get ready to chow down on a pile of steamed blue crabs, dine on a Maryland plantation-style feast, or graze through the stalls of Baltimore's Cross Street Market with television host and "Culinary Ambassador of the Bay," John Shields. In this companion cookbook to the 26-part public television series, take a delicious tour with Shields along the Chesapeake's 4,600 miles of pristine coastline and through the bountiful farmlands of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

In Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields, you will learn how to prepare 190 recipes from this mid-Atlantic region's culinary fare, including rockfish and gumbos, duck and Maryland fried chicken, beaten biscuits and the famous Lady Baltimore cake. Best of all, you'll learn everything you need to know about the undisputed star of Chesapeake cuisine--crabs. Shields's book includes plenty of helpful crabformation--how to buy, cook, hammer, and eat blue crabs, why you never eat the "devil," and how to tell the difference between "jimmies" (male crabs) and "sooks" (female crabs).

With John Shields as your guide, drop in on the locals, who, for generations, have made this region one of the most popular destinations on the East Coast. Visit Crisfield, home to the Miss Crustacean beauty pageant, where you can sample the crispy, sweet, fried soft-shell crabs. Don't miss the rambunctious two-day chicken festival on the Delmarva Peninsula, where "there's a whole lot of frying chicken going on." And, since Shields always loves a party, you'll join the Biddlecomb family for a real Virginia-style Fourth of July, where the menu includes Miss Lorraine's Barbecued Chicken, Lady Liberty Seafood Salad, and Pickled Watermelon Rind. And you can't leave Baltimore without visiting Little Italy to share a meal of Rockfish Braised in Gravy with home cook Carmella Sartori.

Here are satisfying foods, easy-to-prepare recipes, and the people who've kept Chesapeake cuisine cooking for centuries--all brought home to you by the region's favorite son, John Shields.

Coastal Cooking with John Shields (2004)
In the rich melting pot that is American cuisine, coastal regional cooking has long played an important role. The first immigrants to this country landed on its shores with a few cooking implements, some Old World staples, and a willingness to explore new tastes as well as new territories. Later waves of immigration brought new foods and new techniques to add to the earlier mix, creating culinary adventure zones as well as havens of tradition, new and old.

This is the landscape that is explored in Coastal Cooking with John Shields. Like his earlier books, this one is a fond, lively, and personal look at foods both familiar and fancy and at the people who grow them, raise them, and cook them. The book examines the abundantly diverse and vibrant communities of America's coasts through the eyes and stories of the people who live there. Natives and immigrants, great chefs or home cooks, young or old, rich or not, it is through these folks that this fascinating part of America's many-layered culture comes alive. The more than 125 recipes range from quite simple, such as Basically Delicious Steamed Clams or Mussels to beautifully elaborate, such as Pan-Seared Halibut with Herbed Fennel Butter and Sweet Peas. Some recipes are traditional, such as Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie and some are up to the minute, such as Steamed Moonfish with Sesame-Chili sauce and Garlic Spinach.