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I like ground chuck from grass-fed, pasture-raised beef for hamburgers because of its flavor and its ratio of fat to lean meat.

The shank is the best part of the lamb to braise. It is a meaty cut from the foreleg. A shank is a generous serving; braise them whole or ask your butcher to cut them in half lengthwise. Gremolata, a mixture of parsley, garlic, and lemon zest, adds a final bright fresh garnish to the long-cooked braise.

Lamb shoulder, because it is a cut of meat with lots of connective tissue, cooks to a very succulent, tender roast. You might have to ask your butcher for a whole, bone-in roast.

Braising short ribs on the bone makes one of the most succulent meat dishes there is.

I like to make these meatballs about the size of Ping-Pong balls and toss them with tomato sauce and spaghetti. Sometimes I make them a bit smaller, roll them while still hot in grated Parmesan cheese, and serve them as an hors d’oeuvre.

This especially satisfying one-pan dish is delicious served with soft polenta, mashed potatoes, or shell beans. Good choices for the green olives are unpitted Lucques or Picholines.

Industrial shrimp farming takes a heavy toll on coastal areas. Whenever possible, buy fresh, sustainably harvested wild shrimp. These taste the best and are the best for the environment. Shrimp is a delicate food that should be cooked soon after it is purchased. Keep it stored over ice until ready to use. Shrimp is sold by size (large, jumbo, bay, etc.), and some are labeled with numbers that express the number of shrimp to a pound (16-20 means a pound will yield 16 to 20 shrimp, for example). Either peeled or left in the shell, shrimp can be grilled, baked, steamed, boiled, or sautéed. As they cook they turn bright pink or red, depending on the variety. This change of color is the sign that they are done. In their shells, most shrimp will cook in three or four minutes; when peeled, shrimp cook in just a minute or two. Keep a close eye on shrimp while they are cooking. When cooking shrimp in the shell, season it generously; the seasoning needs to penetrate the shell to flavor the meat inside. (The shell itself also flavors the shrimp.) Leave unpeeled shrimp whole when boiling or sautéing. When grilling, baking, or broiling unpeeled shrimp, you can first butterfly (or split) them. Turn the shrimp on its back and cut lengthwise, through the underside to the back shell, leaving the two halves connected. Flatten the shrimp. For easy grilling, skewer the butterflied shrimp, season them, and brush with oil or butter. To peel shrimp, split the shell by gently prying it apart and away with your thumbs, from the underside out. The last joint of the shell and the tail can be left on for color if you want. All shrimp have a sand vein that runs the length of the tail on the dorsal side. The sand veins of large shrimp are sometimes gritty when full. When full, the vein will look dark and should be removed (it is not necessary to remove it when empty). Without cutting too deeply, run your knife down the center of the back of the shrimp, scrape the vein out of the cut, and discard it. I prefer shrimp sautéed in their shells. Peeling with your fingers at the table is a bit messy (some would say fun), but the flavor the shells impart makes it all worthwhile.

Squid, or calamari as it is sometimes called, is not only inexpensive and delicious, but also abundant in our oceans, which makes it an excellent choice for the table. Choose squid that is pristine and fresh. The skin should be shimmering and translucent, the eyes crystal clear, and the scent fresh and sweet. Squid needs to be cleaned before cooking. First trim off the tentacles, cutting as close to the eyes as possible for maximum yield. The tentacles encircle the tough, inedible mouth or beak. To remove it, gently squeeze the tentacles where they were separated from the body and the beak will pop out. Lay the squid flat and, while holding on to the tail end, run the dull side of a paring knife firmly over the body, from tail to head, pressing out the insides and the transparent quill, a feather-shaped bonelike structure that runs the length of the squid. If the quill breaks in the body, cut off the tip of the tail and push it out that way. I don’t remove the skin; I like the way it looks. Don’t rinse squid; it absorbs a great deal of water in the process. The body may be left whole for stuffing, grilling, or roasting, or cut into rings for sautéing, frying, or making into a stew. Squid has a very high protein content, and its flesh becomes elastic and tough as it cooks. To keep squid tender, cook it quickly over high heat, for no longer than 3 or 4 minutes. The squid will be cooked, but the meat will not have had time to toughen. An alternative is to stew it in liquid over low heat for at least 30 minutes. The long cooking eventually softens the protein, and the squid will be tender again. I like to serve grilled squid as an hors d’oeuvre or along with other grilled fish or as part of an array of fish and vegetables and Aïoli (page 47). The aroma of the squid cooking on the grill is irresistible.

The scallops we usually see in markets are the meaty round white adductor muscles that open and close scallop shells, propelling them through the water. Their roe, known as the coral, is also delicious, although it is rarely sold in this country; ask your fishmonger. Fresh scallops should smell sweet and should not be floating in liquid; if they are, they are definitely not fresh. Scallops can be cooked in many ways—fried, sautéed, poached, steamed, grilled, or baked—or eaten raw, in a ceviche or as scallop tartare. They are mild in flavor and best in simple preparations. (All scallops are sweet, but tiny bay scallops are especially so.) Before cooking scallops, remove the small vertical band of muscle attached to the side of the scallop. (This is sometimes called the foot.) Because scallops can absorb a great deal of liquid, don’t rinse them unless absolutely necessary. They cook very quickly: bay scallops take only a minute or two and larger scallops take only four to six. Large scallops to be sautéed or gratinéed can be cut horizontally into two or three disks before cooking. For a salad, cut them after they have been cooked.

When selecting live crabs from tanks at the market, choose lively ones that feel heavy. Keep them refrigerated and cook them as soon as possible; it’s important to cook them while they are still alive. Once out of water, they start to decline. The easiest way to cook crab is to boil it. Bring an abundant quantity of water to a boil, enough so that the crabs will be easily submerged. (You may only have a pot roomy enough for one or two large crabs, such as Dungeness; if you have more crabs, boil them one or two at a time.) Throw in a lot of salt; the water should taste salty. When it has reached a rolling boil, pick up the live crab between its back legs (to stay clear of its pinching front claws) and drop it in. Start timing the cooking from the moment the crab enters the boiling water. Keep the heat turned up all the way, but don’t worry if it never comes back to a boil. The amount of time the crab will take to cook will be anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes for a Dungeness crab, to just a few minutes for a small blue crab. Ask your fishmongers for their advice, or look online; there are many Web sites with information about cooking and cleaning the many different varieties. The cooked crabs can be cleaned and eaten right away, or cooled briefly in cold water and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Serve cracked crab with melted butter or homemade mayonnaise (see page 47), with a squeeze of lemon for a little zing. I like to serve a garlic mayonnaise (see page 47) flavored with the orange crab butter (or tomalley) that is found under the shell. Be sure to taste the crab butter first and use it only if it is not bitter. To clean a crab, turn it onto its back and pry up the triangular apron. Pull and twist it off the body. Turn the crab over and grasp it by the corner of the top shell or carapace. Pull it off with a twisting motion. Remove the lungs, the feathery fingers that run along the sides, and the mouth. Scoop out and save the tomalley or crab butter if you like, discarding the white intestine. Rinse the crab clean under cold running water. Split the crab in two (or not) and crack the claws with a mallet or crab cracker. Large crab can be reheated after they have been cooked, cleaned, and cracked; the meat can be picked out or the crab can be reheated later. (The delicate pointed tip at the end of a crab leg is the perfect tool for picking the crabmeat from the shells.) To reheat the crab, brush with melted butter or oil (flavored with herbs and spices if you want) and heat for 5 to 7 minutes in a 400°F or hotter oven, just long enough to heat the crab through. Much of the foregoing advice for cooking crab applies to lobster. Choose lively, heavy lobsters and cook them as soon as you can. Cook lobsters in abundant salted boiling water for 7 minutes. Put the lobster in head first and start timing from the moment it enters the water. Turn the heat down to a simmer if a boil is reached before the time is up (a rolling boil toughens the meat). Cooking lobsters too long also makes the meat tough, so keep an eye on the clock. If you are going to reheat the lobster or add it to a sauté or other dish, cook the lobster for only 5 minutes. Drain the cooked lobster and either serve it right away or cool it down under cold running water or in an ice bath for a few minutes. Lobster can be left whole or split down the middle, or it can be broken down into claws, knuckles, and tails. To do this, twist the tail away from the head and twist off the claws. Crack the claws with a mallet or crab cracker and remove the meat. With a pair of kitchen shears, make a cut down the soft , nearly transparent shell on the underside of the tail. Using a towel to protect your hands, grasp both sides of the tail and bend them back, splitting open the shell along the cut. Pull out the lobster meat. You can also cut the tail in two lengthwise to remove the meat. Some recipes call for cooking a raw lobster cut in pieces. To k...

This is more than a soup; it is a generous meal fit for a gathering, and it has everything I love about food and flavor. I learned to make it from my French “mother,” Lulu. It’s one of the longest recipes in the book, but taken in parts it is not hard to make. I think of it as several steps: first make a fish stock, then prepare the fish and shellfish; make the rouille (garlic mayonnaise flavored with pepper purée); make the soup base with vegetables and the fish stock; toast garlic croutons; and finally put it all together, cooking the fish and shellfish in the deeply flavored soup base, and serve it with rouille and croutons to pass at the table.

Bourride is another Provençal fish soup, this one thickened with garlic mayonnaise. The broth is smooth, luxurious, and redolent of garlic.

Many fish can be served raw as tartare: tuna, albacore, halibut, and salmon, for example. It is exceptionally important to use impeccably fresh fish; be sure to tell your fishmonger that you intend to eat the fish raw. At home, keep the fish chilled over ice at all times. Cut the fish on a clean board with a sharp knife, and put the cut-up fish in a bowl nestled in a larger bowl filled with ice. For an ample appetizer, figure on 1/2 pound of fish for 4 people; you will need more if serving the tartare as a main dish. To cut the fish, first slice it very thin across the grain, removing any fibrous connective tissue. Cut the slices into a thin julienne, and then cut the julienne crosswise into fine dice. The fish can be cut ahead and covered tightly with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Stir in the other ingredients just before serving. Serve fish tartare on little croutons or endive leaves, or on a bed of simply dressed greens.

If beautifully fresh sardines are not available, substitute mackerel, fresh anchovies, or thinly sliced tuna.

Pan-frying is best for thinner fillets and steaks, or for whole fish that are no more than 1 inch thick. Season the fish with salt and pepper and other seasonings such as chopped fresh herbs or crushed spices as desired. For skinless fillets, heat a heavy sauté or frying pan until quite hot; add just enough oil, clarified butter, or a mix of oil and whole butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Carefully add the fish and cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes (4 to 5 minutes for whole fish) and then turn. Cook for another 3 minutes and test for doneness. Remove the fish from the pan when it is just slightly underdone, as it will continue cooking in the residual heat. When cooking fish with skin, add more fat to the pan, about 1/8 inch deep. Put the fish into the pan skin side down. The skin will shrink while it cooks, pulling the fish up from the bottom of the pan. To keep the skin next to the hot pan (which is necessary to crisp it), weigh the fillets down with a foil-wrapped skillet that is slightly smaller than the one used for the cooking. This will hold the fillets fl at and ensure even crisping of the skin. Cook the fillets on their skin for the majority of the time, about 5 to 7 minutes, depending on their thickness, then turn them and cook on the flesh side for just another minute or two, or until done. Remember that the pan must be quite hot before the fish is added; this will keep it from sticking. Also, don’t crowd the fish or it will sweat and give off liquid, ruining any chances of browning and crisping. Lastly, don’t overcook the fish. A quick pan sauce can be made aft er you have removed the fish and poured off the cooking fat. Add tomato sauce to the hot pan and stir in all the brown bits left on the pan for added flavor, or deglaze the hot pan with wine or lemon juice and finish with a swirl of butter or extra-virgin olive oil and a handful of herbs. Add a handful of toasted nuts for flavor and texture. The striped bass fishery, once endangered, has fully recovered and is now flourishing. This fish is especially delicious with its skin left on and sautéed until brown and crispy.