GULF COAST KITCHENS: Bright Flavors from Key West to the Yucatan

Snow, a New Orleans–based journalist, serves up spicy, fun fare in this lively tour of strong immigrant communities and deep-fried Southern roots. While there are sections for meats and vegetables, this is largely a seafood feast, with 11 different crab recipes from Artichoke and Crabmeat Balls to Little Crabcakes with Papaya Salsa to Vietnamese-Style Stuffed Crabs. Shrimp cocktails and salads also abound, as do seafood stews (Cajun Shrimp Stew), fries and paellas. More unusual dishes, like African-Style Smoked Turkey and Okra Gumbo, Florida Spiny Lobster with Cuban Garlic Sauce, and the Mexican-influenced Beef Tenderloin with Cocoa-Chile Rub, join standard Southern dishes such as Pecan-Encrusted Grouper and Fried Okra Salad. Recipes are flexible; for example, grits can be either cornmeal or stone ground grits, and the book, in generous Gulf Coast style, offers such favorites as Huevos Rancheros, Yuca Pancakes and Mayan Dude Ranch Margarita Pie. Recipes come with helpful explanations (how to slice a yuca) as well as history and local flavor, with sections on tupelo honey, a soft-shell crab farming venture in Louisiana and the use of pumpkins. While a bit uneven—there are fewer Caribbean recipes than Mexican and Cajun, and styles zigzag from traditional to fusion to overwrought (Gulf Seafood Lasagna)—this cookbook is a crowd pleaser with something for everyone. (Mar.)