Shields offers many vegan- and vegetarian-friendly options, as well as innovative new takes on Chesapeake classics. You’ll find recipes for dozens of delicious dishes, from Aunt Bessie’s Crab Pudding and Hutzler’s Cheese Bread to “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Crab” Cakes, Blue Cat Seafood Hash, and an array of savory soups, braised meats, luscious desserts, and green breakfast smoothies—even recipes for a locavore cocktail party!

Fresh and simple recipes that celebrate the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay region—and protect its environment—from a renowned Maryland chef. Captain John Smith, upon entering the Chesapeake, wrote in his diaries that the fish were so plentiful “we attempted to catch them with a frying pan.” That method sums up classic Chesapeake cooking?fresh and simple. In The New Chesapeake Kitchen, celebrated chef John Shields takes the best of what grows, swims, or grazes in the Bay’s watershed and prepares it simply, letting the pure flavors shine through. Honoring the farmers, watermen, butchers, cheese makers, and foragers who make the food movement around the Chesapeake Bay watershed possible, along with the environmental and food organizations working to restore the Bay, the land, and food security, Shields promotes a healthy locavore diet and a holistic view of community foodways. This scrumptious book, with beautiful full-color images by former Baltimore Sun Magazine photographer David W. Harp, urges readers to choose local, seasonal ingredients. Presenting what he dubs “Bay- and body-friendly food,” Shields advocates for a plant-forward and sustainable diet. He presents creative and healthy choices, including one-pot recipes like Fishing Creek Seafood Chili, Old Line Veggie Creole Oyster Stew, and Spring Pea Soup with Tarragon-Truffle Oil. Also included are directions for canning, preserving, and fermenting. Shields offers many vegan- and vegetarian-friendly options, as well as innovative takes on Chesapeake classics. You’ll find dozens of delicious dishes, from Aunt Bessie’s Crab Pudding and Hutzler’s Cheese Bread to “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Crab” Cakes, Blue Cat Seafood Hash, and an array of savory soups, braised meats, luscious desserts, and green breakfast smoothies?even recipes for a locavore cocktail party!

This twenty-fifth anniversary edition of John Shields’s classic cookbook includes additional recipes and a new chapter on Chesapeake libations. Twenty-five years ago, Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields introduced the world to the regional cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic. Nominated for a James Beard Award, the book was praised for its inspiring heritage recipes and its then-revolutionary emphasis on cooking with local and seasonal ingredients. Part history lesson, part travelogue, the book captured the unique character of the Chesapeake region and its people. In this anniversary edition, John Shields combines popular classic dishes with a host of unpublished recipes from his personal archives. Readers will learn how to prepare over 200 recipes from the Mid-Atlantic region, including panfried rockfish, roast mallard, beaten biscuits, oyster fritters, and Lady Baltimore cake. Best of all, they’ll learn everything they need to know about crabs—the undisputed star of Chesapeake cuisine—featured here in mouthwatering recipes for seven different kinds of crab cakes. Extensively updated, this edition includes a new chapter on Chesapeake libations, which features Shields’s closely held recipe for his notorious Dirty Gertie, an authentic Chesapeake-style Bloody Mary.

Discover the cuisine and the character of the Chesapeake Bay with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of this collection of over 200 regional, seasonal recipes. Twenty-five years ago, Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields introduced the world to the regional cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic. Nominated for a James Beard Award, the book was praised for its inspiring heritage recipes and its then-revolutionary emphasis on cooking with local and seasonal ingredients. Part history lesson, part travelogue, the book captured the unique character of the Chesapeake region and its people. In this anniversary edition, John Shields combines popular classic dishes with a host of unpublished recipes from his personal archives. Readers will learn how to prepare over 200 recipes from the Mid-Atlantic region, including panfried rockfish, roast mallard, beaten biscuits, oyster fritters, and Lady Baltimore cake. Best of all, they’ll learn everything they need to know about crabs?the undisputed star of Chesapeake cuisine?featured here in mouthwatering recipes for seven different kinds of crab cakes. Extensively updated, this edition includes a new chapter on Chesapeake libations, which features Shields’s closely held recipe for his notorious Dirty Gertie, an authentic Chesapeake-style Bloody Mary. “Long before it was trendy to serve sustainable, local, and organic food, Maryland native Shields was doing it at Gertrude’s, a modest modern restaurant tucked inside the Baltimore Museum of Art. This fall he reissued his prescient chronicle of the waterman’s way of life and traditional cooking on the mid-Atlantic coast. It includes how to “pick” steamed crabs (seasoned with Old Bay, natch), prepare country sides like Green Beans With Country Ham and Sautéed Peanuts, and make the quirky relish known as chow-chow.” —April Fulton, National Geographic’sfood blog, The Plate “John knows and loves the Chesapeake as only a native can. One of the best regional American cookbooks you’ll ever find.” —Gourmet “For those who are not familiar with the “good old down home” taste of cooking by a native of the Chesapeake Bay region, John Shields brings you an experience you'll never forget. For those of us who are fortunate enough to be a part of this region, Mr. Shields reminds us of the experience we’ll always remember.” —The Honorable William Donald Schaefer, former governor of Maryland

What could be more enticing on a hot summer’s day than to sit down to a table covered with newspapers, fresh steamed crabs, Old Bay seasoning, cole slaw, and a cold beer. Or is it something more elegant that you’re looking for – Beef Chez Conduit (beef tenderloin with Bearnaise sauce), fresh asparagus, new red potatoes, and pumpkin cheesecake. Getting hungry? Take a peek inside and you’ll discover a region rich in culinary delights and history. The Chesapeake Bay region offers an abundance of food from the Bay, fields and woods. Recipes come from the earliest Native Americans to the influx of international flavors. The recipes are elegant and easy, designed for many different occasions. Menus make for easy planning with all the recipes contained in the cookbook. The history chapter region captures the true traditions of the Bay, and an insight into the background of many of the dishes. The pictures capture the Chesapeake at its best – skipjacks, oystering, the marshes, and Mount Clare Mansion, built by Charles Carroll who married Margaret Tilghman, uniting two of the wealthiest and most prominent families in Maryland.

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.

The four hundred years since colonization have brought European, African and Asian techniques, ingredients and tastes to the Chesapeake Bay. European colonists and Africans both enslaved and free were influenced by indigenous ingredients and Native American cooking and created uniquely New World foods. The nineteenth century saw the development of industries based on the bounty of the Bay and the rising popularity of oysters, blue crab and turtle soup throughout the greater Mid-Atlantic. Waves of immigrants brought their own cuisines to the mix, and colcannon, brisket, sauerkraut and fish peppers are now found on Chesapeake tables. Local author, scientist and blogger Tangie Holifield weaves together the unique food traditions of the Bay, telling the stories of each culture that has contributed to its bounty.