How to Make Love to a Lobster: An Eclectic Guide to the Buying, Cooking, Eating and Folklore of Shellfish

Susan Cleyle is associate university librarian, QE II Library, Memorial
University of Newfoundland.

The authors, self-professed shellfish lovers, have succeeded in their
aim to provide a one-stop guide to shellfish.

The book is divided into sections based on a different shellfish. The
critters covered include lobsters, crab, shrimp, prawns/scampi, abalone,
conch, oysters, mussels, scallops, clams, and squid/octopus. Each
section provides an introduction to the shellfish, with information on
how to buy and prepare the fish and how to catch them in the wild. The
recipes are “favorites” from restaurants in the United States and
Canada, with credit assigned to many (but not all) recipes.

The book is well organized and easy to follow. Each section follows the
same format, with an introduction followed by several recipes. The
recipes themselves are well presented, with lots of white space for easy
in-kitchen reading. Only imperial measurements are provided. The guide
includes a list of “Good Places to Eat Shellfish” in North America
that is based on the authors’ experiences and those of their friends
and colleagues.

There is one significant omission that detracts from the guide’s
appeal: there are no pictures whatsoever, with the exception of the
cover (a picture of a lobster) watermarked at the beginning of each
section. That criticism aside, Make Love to a Lobster is clearly a
labour of love. Its recipes are elegant and easy to prepare, and they
bring out the best of the shellfish featured.