“I need pictures.” So said my 17-year-old son as he prepared to steam sea bass on a recent Saturday night. Like most teenage boys, he was extremely hungry and wanting to get on with it. Steamed fish was a stretch far beyond his usual—eggs, ramen, and the occasional grilled steak. I could see him itching to consult Google Images, but this was a strictly analog situation; mothers can be cruel that way. Our only search engine was a copy of Eric Ripert’s new cookbook, Seafood Simple.
My plan was to determine if the author’s seventh cookbook, a “companion” to his previous one, Vegetable Simple, was worthy of its title when put into the hands of a true amateur. That my amateur was entirely unaware of Ripert’s existence, not to mention Le Bernardin’s—his plush, three-Michelin-starred temple to seafood in Midtown Manhattan, named this year’s best restaurant in the world by La Liste—only made him a better control subject.
