Some of the world's most delicious and exotic fish - black grouper, rainbow runner, tripletail, red drum, Atlantic moonfish, king mackerel, blue marlin, southern stingray, largetooth sawfish, and blacktip shark, to name a few - inhabit the waters from Texas to Florida along America's Gulf Coast. Exotic as these fish seem, they are accessible in grocery stores and fish markets throughout the country. Noted chef and cookbook author Roy F. Guste, Jr., offers here recipes for cooking the 73 different varieties of Gulf Coast fish, drawing on the cuisines unique to the area, from Tex-Mex to Creole. Guste gives advice on every step of fish preparatlon, from determining if a fish is fresh (even if it's frozen) to scaling, drawing, filleting, and even storing. The recipes also provide a list of other Gulf Coast fish to try as well as suggestions for creating recipes of your own. Each fish is illustrated with a gorgeous watercolor accompanied by a chart listing its common names, Latin name, maximum size, common cuts, meat characteristics such as texture and oil content, and the best cooking methods for that fish. A sauce guide and a thorough cross reference of other recipes to try for each fish are also given. America's Gulf of Mexico coastline provides boatloads of seafood to the nation despite fears of pollution and overfishing. The popularity of Louisiana's Cajun cooking and its famed blackened redfish have only increased demand. New Orleans chef Guste offers a methodical approach to cooking the wealth of fish spilling from the Gulf. He describes each species in detail, categorizing its characteristics and preferred cooking methods. Recipes take advantage of each fish's natural virtues. Nevertheless, fish adapt themselves to many treatments, so Guste cross-references other recipes in the book that also work successfully with the fish in hand. Most recipes follow Creole and Cajun traditions, but a few Mexican treatments appear as well. Regional cookbook collections will profit most from Guste's work, since many of the fish he catalogs don't frequently travel from their Gulf Coast origins. Mark Knoblauch