Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay

Though best known for the crab, this regional collection from farmer Snodgrass proves that Maryland has a wide variety to offer diners. Profiles of farmers, vendors and producers, many of whom offer their personal recipes, are interspersed among 150 recipes for mains, soups, salads, and desserts that showcase seasonal ingredients and Maryland favorites. As expected, there is plenty of seafood, including elegant Clams Mornay in Puff Pastry as well as roll-up-your-sleeves steamed crabs and the state's signature crab cakes (both baked and fried). There are surprises as well, however, among them a sweet-and-savory Maple-Bison Meat Loaf from Savage River Lodge and a plum tart with baked custard and hazelnuts. Though dominated by simple, flavor-packed dishes like Spring Greens Nests with Fontina Cheese, cooks in search of a challenge will find it in Café des Artistes' Crab Imperial (a baked dish of fresh oysters topped with a rich cheese and crab mixture) and the daunting Iberico-Red Wattle Pork with Mixed Bean Ragout (a 40-ingredient, multi-step masterpiece from Frederick, Maryland's Volt restaurant). Though few readers will be able to share in the New England bounty of fresh spring rockfish (aka striped bass), seafood fans and Yankees-at-heart should appreciate this fresh, seasonal collection.