Roy Yamaguchi: Roy's Fish & Seafood

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Photography, like Painting, can help us smell and taste and touch a dish by the sheer beauty of colors and composition. Take for example the stunning photograph by John De Mello of mahimahi on page 32 of Roy Yamaguchi's latest cookbook Roy's Fish and Seafood (Ten Speed Press 2005). A fish with slate grey eyes appears to swim in a school of antique paint, the colors of old Cape Cod fish boats or clouds reflected on the surface of a deep blue ocean. No wonder Roy has so much respect for ingredients, for this book, written with John Harrisson, which is as much a guide to the fish of Hawaii as a guide of his pan-Asian influences. John De Mello's photos of fish are simply stunning, starting with the cover a red snapper tail, and help focus on ingredients, dishes, and landscape rather than their highly photogenic chef. In fact, the sole picture of Roy is on the back flap. The photos accompanying the dishes are by food photographer Scott Peterson. There is a fad of "eat-in-the-dark" restaurants in France and America. The idea is to emphasize taste and smell over the merely visual that dominates our lives. Though the idea is intriguing, I would miss the color of food, just as I miss great photography in a cookbook. Roy's introduction details his love of fish and fishing. He describes the tradition of prohibitions used by Hawaiian nobles to protect species: "The ali'i used kapu -– prohibitions–- to restrict fishing in certain areas and seasons, especially during spawning. When open-ocean fishing was restricted, inshore, and reef fishing was permitted, and vice versa" (p. 2) -- wise policies to follow in our era of over-fishing and exploitation. Roy, who grew up in Japan and Hawaii, roams the Pacific for flavors, borrowing from Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and China, and combining Asian ingredients with French technique. The mahimahi chapter starts off, as all the chapters do, with a general description of the fish, its uses, flavor and cooking qualities, and substitutions. In the mahimahi's case, Roy suggests "other firm fleshed white fish, such as grouper, sea bass, snapper, swordfish, halibut, tilefish and ono. Since those fish are available on the East Coast and it isn't easy to find mahimahi, I couldn't tell exactly how dishes would taste to Roy – but then of course, no ingredient is ever the same, from salt (sea, table, kosher) to lemon (Meyer, Yuzu). A recipe is merely a guide, and this book's recipes are full of signposts. The first recipe in the mahimahi chapter is for Garlic-and-Peppercorn-Crusted Mahimahi with Sherry-Blue Cheese Cream Sauce (p. 35) a dish Roy admits coming up with when the kitchen ran out of all the standard ingredient for preparing mahimahi. I passed over that recipe for the even more bracing, Macadamia Nut-Crusted Mahimahi with Thai-Style Coconut-Basil Sauce (p. 36), typical of Roy, who loves creating a crust on just about any fish, even if its awfully difficult to get the crust to stick just right. The flavors of ginger, coconut milk, basil and fish sauce are spot-on and relatively to prepare. Roy continues his trip around the Asia with a Chinese-inspired Steamed Mahimahi with Chinese-Style Black Bean Sauce (p. 37), an Indian-inspired Grilled Mahimahi with Bamboo, Edaname, and Turmeric Rice in a Tamarind Curry Sauce (p. 38-9) and on to Okinawa with Pan-Seared Mahimahi with Eggplant Misoyaki (p. 41). Together, the recipes treat the fish in several different ways, twice sauteed with a crust, twice grilled, and once steamed. One fish I wish I could see with my own eyes is the brilliant opah, or moonfish. "Opah is an extraordinary-looking ocean fish, with an almost perfectly round shape, a comparatively thin, flat profile, a silvery skin and bright crimson fins." (p. 77). Somehow substituting swordfish or tuna just isn't as prosaic. Roy offers a recipe for Grilled Opah Steaks with a Green Papaya and Hearts of Palm Salad (p. 81-2). The sliced tomatoes in the photograph accompanying the recipe mimic the fish's crimson fins while specs of cilantro and slivers of bell pepper copy the opah's speckled skin. The effect springs off (or swims off) the page. Some of the seafood is available on the East Coast, such as scallops, shrimp, and lobster. Roy treats them lavishly, as in Spicy Lemongrass-Crusted Scallops on Celery Root Mash with Uni Butter (p. 195), which combines some of Roy's (and my) favorite ingredients -- uni (sea urchin), a mash of celery root, and a sauce flavored with yuzu and truffle oil. He also shines in a beautifully presented Seared Day-Boat Scallops with Edamame Mash and Lobster-Truffle Kabayaki (p. 99) that pairs the fresh-spring green flavor of edamame with a rich lobster truffle sauce. Not all the photos are food. Many by De Mello are of fishermen throwing their nets, or balanced on a cliff with their rods lined up, or fishing boats moored in a foggy bay ringed by Hawaiian mountains. Some cookbooks make you want to cook each and every dish: this book is a artful, poetic lure to Roy's adopted homeland, a tantalizing invitation to visit Roy's Hawaii. 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