391 replies to this topic

[johnnyd]

No,

That type of scallop is not native here. They are plentuful south of Cape Cod on the US Eastern Seaboard. I did find a personal web page about diving for scallops in Florida and they look a lot like those in your picture. Scallops here are much bigger. The meat alone is the size of those shells. Gulf of Maine scallops can get to 10 inches in diameter.

Divers are required to land scallops in accordance to the same law as draggers. When I went diving for scallops, we went out to a spot where a power cable lies between two islands. The nautical chart depicts a 50 yard area that is prohibited to draggers. Great spot to dive for scallops! Upon surfacing, we shuck (open and clean) each scallop and make sure there is nothing else but the allowed meats on board. If we have a particularly huge shell ("platter"), we'll keep it as a souvenir at no consequence.

[Adam Balic]

The are two species of scallop harvested commercially in Scotland, the Great Scallop (Pecten maximus and the Queen Scallop (Chlamys opercularis). The former is the one in the photograph. These have shells that are mostly 10 -16 cm wide (but bigger specimens can be found), the muscle meat is typically 1-1.5 inchs across. Queenies are much smaller.

Interesting difference between USA an UK/Australia. We are told that if you are serious about getting quality scallops, always buy them in the shell, the issue being that shucked scallops absorb water and this is a bad thing. In Melbourne, the markets will advertise scallops as being 'un-soaked/wetted', and these have cream coloured flesh, rather then the white flesh of the soaked scallops. Do you think it makes any difference?

[Arey]

The various food columnists and TV food show personalities have been advising the consumer to buy "dry pack" scallops. Wet--packed scallops are ones that have not been treated with "sodium triopolyphospate" to ensure moisure retention after schucking.
Dry-packed scallops are left untreated and packed on ice.

I live a few blocks from the ocean, and go to a fish store a couple of miles from the ocean, but all the fish at the store come from Philadelphia. The days when when you could go to the docks along the inlet in Atlantic City and buy fish that had just been unloaded from the boats out back of the store are long gone.

Its been years since I was able to buy fresh bay scallops. When I asked the guy at the fish store about them he said "They cost too much". When I moved here they were cheaper than regular scallops since they don't travel well, and frozen ones are impossible to cook, unless you also like sauteed pencil erasers.


edited for a typo

Edited by Arey, 05 July 2005 - 06:27 AM.

[Adam Balic]

Tiny shrimp.

I have seen these sold all over Europe in various forms. At the Rialto market in Venice, I have seen them hopping like fleas as they are packed into paper cones, but here are two examples from the last few months of eating.


Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimp. Potting was once a great art in the UK. This method of preservation was used for beef, fish (especially char from the Lake district) and these shrimp. The shrimp cooked in butter and spices before being potted.


shrimp fritters from Sanlucar (Andalucia). These shrimp are mixed with chickpea and wheat flour then fried in olive oil

[PopsicleToze]

I've seen a cooler of those live tiny shrimp at the Vietnamese outdoor market here. I have no idea what their name is, so I've never been able to search for a recipe. Any idea?

[savvysearch]

Poached and served with a Normandy sauce (cider, creme fraiche etc)

Can you post this recipe?

[Adam Balic]

I've seen a cooler of those live tiny shrimp at the Vietnamese outdoor market here.  I have no idea what their name is, so I've never been able to search for a recipe.  Any idea?

Sorry - I have no idea of the Vietnamese name for these as I am not lucky enough to have shops that sell them. The best thing to do would be to ask the people in the shop to write down the name or even suggest a recipe.

[Adam Balic]

Poached and served with a Normandy sauce (cider, creme fraiche etc)

Can you post this recipe?

Bit of a bastard of a classic. I did by eye, so I can't be too exact.

One cup of fish stock (made from giant halibut bits) was reduced with 1 1/2 cups of Normandy cider and a finely chopped shallot to about 3/4 of a cup (until is was thickened and looked a little glossy). One cup of creme fraiche was added to this and further reduced until there was a cup of sauce. This was strained. It should be a pale blonde sauce, but the cider changed colour during the reduction, so it turned out a little brown. Sauted mushrooms are added later (and traditionally, mussels, of which the juices can be used to enrich the sauce).

Fish is cooked in whatever way you see fit. I find that for me the best way is to loosely wrap in in foil with butter, aromatics and wine/cider and steam it in the fish kettle. In the oven also works well. Wrapped in wet newspaper and cooked on a BBQ is also excellent. Anyway, I used the former method as I wanted moist flesh and the skin intact. Any juices can be added to the sauce, which is corrected for salt and used at this point.

That's it, takes less then an hour.

[Adam Balic]

This Grayling (Thymallus thymallus) was caught on the river Teviot (Scottish borders). Related to salmon and trout, they are noted for their faint smell thyme when fresh. They are also quite pretty, especially the high dorsal fin.


Bit of a rushed job, simply fried in butter (not even clarified, horror). The flesh of these fish is quite pale and tastes similar to trout (brown).

[Kevin72]

I am really, really hating my fish market right now.

[Adam Balic]

I am really, really hating my fish market right now.

Market!!?? Caught by my own fair hand with an orange Czech nymph I will have you know!

[Adam Balic]

A French Alpine recipe. Trout with Hazelnuts.

[Adam Balic]

Lobsters from a recent holiday. This is the western Atlantic species Homarus gammarus, which is very similar to the Eastern Atlantic/North American species Homarus americanus. Although, there is some colour variation, the latter tends to have much more red colouration on the underside of the claws and the fine legs, while the former has more blue highlights. Even in Scotland it is the North American species that I see most often for sale (alive), imported from Canada.

[Corinna Dunne]

Adam. is there a discernible difference in taste between the two species? I've never tasted them side by side.

[johnnyd]

The blue highlights are startling. Once in a blue moon (sorry!) a lobsterman here in maine catches a pure blue lobster in their traps. Apparently the odds are one in 2million of getting a blue one. They build an aquarium for it when they find one. Here is a picture of one.

[Adam Balic]

Adam. is there a discernible difference in taste between the two species?  I've never tasted them side by side.

Difficult to compare the two side by side meaningfully as good flavour in lobster varies from individual to individual. All of the North American lobsters I have had have been imported for instance. But, there basic flavour is similar I would say. Different to spiny rock lobsters ('crayfish') which I an use to in Australia for instance.

[Adam Balic]

The blue highlights are startling.  Once in a blue moon (sorry!) a lobsterman here in maine catches a pure blue lobster in their traps.  Apparently the odds are one in 2million of getting a blue one.  They build an aquarium for it when they find one.  Here is a picture of one.

I think that there are two main pigment groups in lobsters, reddish and blues. The blue is heat sensative, hence they 'turn' red with cooking. I would guess that blue lobsters lack normal amounts of red pigment. They are most likely quite pale when cooked?

[Adam Balic]

More scottish seafood. Langoustines ("Prawns"), monkfish cheeks, scallops and haddock from the Fish buyer in Lochinver.

[Soup]

Adam this thread is great. Please keep the pictures coming. I am now unbelievably hungry for seafood. I think its grilled mackeral tonight.

[johnnyd]

Actually, they say blue lobsters turn the usual red when cooked.

I see some scallop coral (roe) attached to your scallops. Someone was looking for a picture of that when I did the Scallop Divers thread a while back. This part of the animal is illegal in the USA owing to it's high perishability.

Edited by johnnyd, 29 August 2005 - 12:23 PM.

[athinaeos]

hello everyone,
great thread!

i contribute a photo from "La Vucciria" market in Palermo, Sicilia





the man is a man and the tuna is a tuna

[Adam Balic]

Actually, they say blue lobsters turn the usual red when cooked. 

I see some scallop coral (roe) attached to your scallops.  Someone was looking for a picture of that when I did the Scallop Divers thread a while back.  This part of the animal is illegal in the USA owing to it's high perishability.

Fresh it is the best bit.

I have no guesses left about the lobster then. Photoshop?

[Adam Balic]

hello everyone,
great thread!

i contribute a photo from "La Vucciria" market in Palermo, Sicilia





the man is a man and the tuna is a tuna

Excellent photograph of the Blue fin tuna. I have seen similar stalls in Palermo (even near the bus station), that also had hugh swordfish on display.

[Adam Balic]

A little more information on the Langoustine. These are caught in large numbers of the Scottish coast, but are fairly widely distributed, hence the large amount of names for the same species:

Scientific name: Nephrops norvegicus

English: Norway lobster, Dublin Bay Prawn, prawn (scotland), scampi, langoustine.

-"Scampi" is the plural of the Italian scampo and refers to the breaded deep fried tails found as a common pub meal, "Langoustine" is french and is reserved for the whole shellfish or less pedestrian presentations of the flesh. British class rules apply even to shellfish.

Italian:Scampo is singular, scampi is plural.

- Although they are the same species, the specimens I have seen in the Adriatic tend to be smaller and have a brighter colouration (red spots on the claw joints) then the North Atlantic ones.

- I imagine that an Italian preparation of this shellfish is were the American "Scampi sauce" is derived from, even though it doesn't contain any actuall scampi.

French:Langoustine

Spanish: Maganto, cigala

There are also many other name variations, attesting to the popularity of the beast.

[rlibkind]

At left, fishmonger and fish at G. Armstrong in Edinburgh's Stockbridge neighborhood poses with a large specimen before applying his skills. The date: May 20, 2004. That evening, the shop burned down. Armstrong's window display in photo at right.

[Adam Balic]

How very curious. This is the same shop display (rebuilt) as of a few weeks ago from my foodblog.


The large fish in your photograph is a wolf-fish, also know in Scotland as "seacat". It is a giant blenny, and has a nice flavour, no bones and a medium texture. Confined to the Northern Atlantic, more of a scottish fish then an english fish, so it has a low profile here. Heads are cute/ugly, but make excellent fish head curry.

[johnnyd]

Wolf fish are plentiful here in maine. A friend used to broker masses of them to england destined for fish and chips shops.

When I was diving, rumour was that if you are bitten by one the jaws lock and you can never get it off without surfacing and having someone cut the bloody thing off you.

...well, it was a rumour!

[rlibkind]

How very curious. This is the same shop display (rebuilt) as of a few weeks ago from my foodblog.

Glad to see they are back in business at that location. Armstrong was among the purveyors you had recommended in response to a May 2004 inquiry I had posted seeking recommendations for Edinburgh purveyors. The fact that the shop burned to the ground the evening after I visited had NOTHING to do with the fact that I asked for a kipper, but when I unwrapped it the next day it was a fresh herring.

[Adam Balic]

All that photography must have turned their heads.

[bleudauvergne]

Oh Loic and I love Fish! We have found out that our regular poissoniere is actually moving his operation from the Quai St. Antoine to the Halle on the square I live on! We are very excited about that because it means much more Frehs fish during the week. I'll pitch in with a photo of a dish I made for the Montignac thread in the France forum:

Octopus, 'Pulpe' in French.





Some tips on preparing this dish are here.