Fish: Cuisiner le Poisson de Marseille a Tokyo

This recipe collection from chef Sylvain Roucayrol is organized around six port cities known for their distinctive approaches to fish cookery: Marseille, Barcelona, Lisbon, Naples, San Francisco, and Tokyo.

The author is chef at Tuba Club, a cliffside restaurant outside Marseille located in a former diving school, and recipes here often reflect the directness and simplicity that define his restaurant’s menu.

Working with photographer Delaney Inamine, Roucayrol spent two years visiting each city, eating broadly and documenting both local ingredients and the places where they’re best prepared. Each chapter includes a set of recipes—fried octopus with puttanesca in Naples, cioppino in San Francisco, bacalhau in Lisbon, roast monkfish in Marseille—alongside illustrated maps and a guide to ten notable spots. These may include a portside bar, a fish market, a fine-dining restaurant, or a knife shop. Short sections also describe seafood that is particularly characteristic of each location (Dungeness crab, bonito, sea urchin, bottarga, and more).

The recipes are unfussy but carefully composed, with plated dishes that are stylish but not showy. Photographs of the food and the cities themselves help root the cooking in place. A well-traveled book, both in content and in spirit.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout. In French.