seafoodmania

[ppine]

I went trailer camping this last weekend in the wine country of California. The last night I was having a few adult beverages with a close friend around the fire. We got on the subject of seafood. It was a lively discussion about such delicacies as halibut cheeks, stone crab claws, abalone, Dungeness crab salad, lobster rolls, oyster shooters, cold smoked salmon, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, butter clams, mussels in garlic, smoked bonita, opal eye, and grouper. I grew up on Chesapeake Bay eating the spicy blue crabs and oyster. Then I moved to Seattle and worked at Fisherman's Terminal with the Norwegians. In Denver we had a seafood company that flew in fresh stuff from Cape Cod once a week to the finest restaurants.

It was during this discussion that I realized that I would rather eat the stuff above than anything else. The trick is to get it fresh. Some seafood specialty stores have great stuff if you know when to be there. If the crab shipment comes on Friday afternoon, buy it then. Some things like a bushel of oysters can be shipped overnight from Bodega Bay. the Coast is about 5 hours from here and it is possible to dig clams and oysters and catch crabs from the beach. Abalone is now hard to find, but possible with a wet suit and a snorkel.

We know about Cappy and his eating adventures. What is your favorite seafood? How do you acquire it? What do you tell people that say things like " I don't eat fish?" What do you do when it is not the right season for your favorites?

 

[dinosaur]

I've often said that I will eat anything that comes out of the water. Although I think the last time I said it was to my girlfriend just after she stepped out of the shower (Hope that's not too racy for ya.).

Where do I get it? I have two ponds shortly to become three. These are stocked with fish. The turtles and frogs occur naturally. Crayfish, although in existence, will be heavily stocked this year. And, if I can get enough of the correct medium, I'm going to seed one of my ponds with muscles.

 

[Simplify]

Coming from Massachusetts 'Clam Chowda' was always a favorite. I caught several bluefish on fishing outings from Plum Island although to me they tasted somewhat oily. I liked Cod.

 

[Cappy]

A famous out door humorist had a line: "Never sniff a gift fish" Taht may be good advice for a gift fish but ya gotta use you nose when you buy seafood. If I walk into a shrimp shed or seafood stand the first thing I do is sniff. If it smells bad I usually dont even go in. If your fish monger will not let ya sniff the fish dont buy it. If you do sniff the fish and smell anything other than a fresh briny smell of the water do not buy it. Folks who do not like fish have never had good fish.

 

[ppine]

Cappy is right. I remember bringing samples to chefs in really good restaurants in Denver trying to build our business. They wanted to smell everything. Hand them a piece of Dover sole and they would put their nose within a 1/2 inch of the filet and inhale deeply. They liked what we were selling because there was no smell. The grocery store is often the worst place to buy seafood, especially in a place like Nevada that is 280 miles from the Coast.