johnnyd

Susan, this is eeerie! That's me you are talking about! Are you my lost twin?

I lived in Portugal as a kid and when we went to town, there was a barn by the fishing boats that reeked soooo baaaad, I was scared to death. My mom said it was where they salted cod in big barrels. I don't think there was any refrigeration involved and I didn't have the stuffing to go near the place to find out. One of those childhood memories that lives in the "nightmare" file of the brain. I bet the tupperware plan will work. Just wrap the box in a plastic supermarket bag and seal with rubberbands. Let me know how it works out, I might want to try it too.

This Blog made me remember a bit of school life... I went to an international (high)school in Valais, Switzerland for a couple years. Meal service was a 3x/day affair and would not commence until everyone was there and "announcements" were made in three languages. The boys were pretty bratty and behaviour was hardly level during meals. No one was allowed out of there seats during meals unless you had a very good reason. The kitchen was run by a hyperactive Italian fellow who would leap over the steam tables and drag a student by his ear over to the adult table for punishment when (or if) he caught anyone disrespecting his food. This was deathly embarrassing so order was reasonably well-kept. We could depend on some weekly euro-basics like schnitzel, brats & potato, and pizza. Every two Friday nights we'd have cheese fondue. The joke on any new kid was to find the "potato", which was really a clove of garlic and watch his face fall off when he found and ate it. There was always a lot of salad with a strong, salty vinaigrette. A rumour surfaced that the dressing contained salt-petre in an effort to control the raging hormones of the boys and keep them from sneaking out at night to meet-up with the girls dorm down the road. I have no idea if that's true or even possible, but after a while, no one ate the salad. The Chef was mighty pissed-off.

This makes my head spin. I, too, used to muck about in the dorm kitchen and make things for whoever was around. I cannot believe the shortsighted point of view the insurance regulations have taken to cause this?!! I'm sure your kitchen is industrial strength, so some gear can be mis-used, but if an effort was introduced to educate the sisters in proper kitchen usage, resulting in a "certificate", the insurance regs could be therefore moot, the ladies learn basic prep and cooking (which would develop an appreciation for food groups and stave off possible weight-gain from bad restaurant choices), and the sorority achieves a goal of preparing it's members for post-college reality. I say push this as a requirement, Rochelle! Make it your own personal home-economics course! It's a great way to use your budget surplus too.

Interesting question. The folks at the DMR lab have established that there are usually 3 or 4 species of shrimp per sample, sometimes as many as nine. It is the northern atlantic environment after all so before I dig into Marilyn's info to find out more, I'd speculate that they are pretty much the same. Especially since you recognized the similarity between the two. Doc, did you have any dishes while in that area that included local shrimp? If you did, were they prepared in a way that reflects Catalan/Basque cuisine?

Check out my recent visit to the Portland Fish Exchange for pictures of fresh shrimp being off-loaded, weighed and prepped for auction. The pix on that topic, "Maine Shrimp Harvesters - 2005" were taken Thursday, 2-24-05: 2/24 - 33,403lbs - 7 boats Low: $0.59 Average: 0.61 High: 0.62 After all that time at the Auction House, I actually walked out of there WITHOUT ANY SHRIMP!!!

Visit to Portland Fish Exchange 2-24-05 @ 21:30 - Part Two - Here are totes of shrimp lined up for inspection by buyers a half hour before auction time. There are still a couple boats that need to off-load their catch... ... and a freeloading sky-rat looking for a snack... When the pier guys are backed up, they go even faster! To offer a closer look at these animals, I took a couple of pictures without flash and with flash and the resulting color contrast was remarkable: ...a little closer (but a bit out of focus, sorry)... ...but these, almost the same view as above, look like they're on fire! Look at those eyes! Just so you know, there were more than a few jumping around in these boxes. I got ya fresh shrimp heyah, right heyah! Note also a collection of grayish eggs around the abdomen area. These are quite tasty. Marilyn at DMR sent me an eMail last night with a bit more about shrimp analysis at their lab... She also sent me an interesting paper on the life cycle of Northern Shrimp, Here is the actual Auction room at the Exchange where buyers raise numbered paddles when lots of fresh shrimp come up for bid. Not very interesting really, until you think about how much seafood is bought and sold here in this room, then you realize the chances are pretty good you yourself have eaten at least one fish invoiced on these tables. That's it for the auction house. Marilyn at DMR has sent me lots of info on Maine's Best Kept Secret which will require sifting through before posting. Next up: a look at area retail fish markets who sell fresh Maine Shrimp. These will be posted on the Fresh Maine Shrimp; where d'you get yours? thread as it is most relevant there. Anyone who sees and can snap a photo of Maine Shrimp for sale in their area should join in and post their pics there too! Questions? Comments? See the Where d'you get yours? thread also for what I and other eGullet members have been cooking up with Maine Shrimp!

Members trying to find fresh Maine shrimp have been sharing their knowledge and frustrations here. Beyond the simple fact that I find Fresh Maine Shrimp delicious and fishing for anything as pretty damned cool, the purpose of the tour of the exchange and of Gulf of Maine Shrimp harvesting is to broaden the knowledge of consumers to the fact that there are some excellent shrimp available on the doorstep of New England. A few weeks ago, we had a spirited discussion about foreign/domestic shrimp prices and availability on the Food Media and News board. The prospect of buying a frozen, farmed shrimp vs fresh shrimp was argued to the conclusion that fresh product has too short a shelf life (and too little a harvest) to satisfy the huge domestic demand so foreign product is a necessary element in the market. The marketplace has established the 21-25 peices per pound sized shrimp as the de-facto restaurant choice for dishes served to customers so the little Maine critters take a back seat in the pecking order... so far. I introduce the argument that when you have fresh local anything, you create a plate that embraces it as it is, taking into account form and flavor. It is in the hands of a (hopefully) creative chef. The rub is taking on existing conventions at the risk of consumer rejection. The State of Maine is taking a pro-active stance in monitoring and fostering a healthy, sustainable shrimp fishery. The little beasts have been praised by many but are available to few. It is possible that they can join the other high quality seafood that consumers can expect from the Gulf of Maine for years to come... if we just bring them to the attention of the market.

You should hear the old seal jokes among us urchin divers! Fou: Things were pretty easy-going at the exchange until 9/11. I called last week and asked if I could come take pix and they said I had to sign in, get a pass and an escort. When I arrived, I recognized someone who knew a mutual friend in the Sea Urchin biz I used to be in, so I was let loose.

Welcome to my visit to the Portland, Maine Fish Exchange, America's first all-display fresh fish and seafood auction. The Portland Fish Exchange is non-profit and owned/managed by the city of Portland, Maine. It is recognized throughout the seafood industry as a leader in innovation, quality and integrity. Last night, I had my second visit to the Exchange to see the shrimp boats unload their catch (my first was drastically shortened by battery failure in my new camera... I learn more about this thing every day ) and as luck would have it, who should be visiting that night but the lovely Marilyn Lash from Maine's Department of Marine Resources(DMR). Jackpot! She was a wealth of knowledge and knew all the vessel captains on a first name basis, "Jeez, I haven't seen you in good, long while Hank! Howya been?" Marilyn was there to take notes on where in the Gulf of Maine the boats had trawled, how long their "sets" lasted, and at what depth they set their nets. This data is used to determine CPUE (catch-per-unit-of-effort) for the specific fishing grounds worked. She also took about a two-pound sample from each boats' haul for analysis at the lab back at DMR. Typically, they will find three or four species (sometimes as many as 9) of shrimp in a sample, but the bulk of the research is performed on the target species, Pandalus borealis, or Northern Shrimp. "Sooooo, you and the lab guys throw a little bayleaf and peppercorn in a pot of boiling water, right? Very scientific!" I said. She laughed but assured me that much complex analysis occurs (ie: size, egg-count/location) before the remains are fed to various marine life they are holding in tanks for on-going studies at the lab. The gigantic spool shown here holds the shrimp net on the transom (stern, or back-end of the boat... for you lubbers out there). I don't know how long these are but I have a feeling they're huge. The guys are raising a stack of fish "totes" full of shrimp (note the almost neon red color) to the right of the picture. Here, the electric pulley has just about hoisted them to where the pier guys can haul them in for weighing. These fish "totes" are tough, polyurethene buckets with interlocking corners that hold a hundred or so pounds of seafood. They take a lot of abuse and are indispensable. You might have noticed the boat is fifteen feet or more below the pier's edge. The tides in the Gulf of Maine are almost the most active in the world (Bay of Fundy is an eight hour drive away), plus the full moon was a day before, adding another several inches to the low and hightide marks. Are these guys fast or what? Just inside the receiving dock, the weigher adjusts the quantity per tote to reflect a constant, say 100 or 80lbs, so it is easier to count during transport and invoicing. Anything leftover is put into a tote and called a "partial". All totes are then tagged with the name of the fishing vessel, date, (and probably something else, but he was too busy to ask). Digital Scale Station. Everyone is bundled-up, it's about 16.F degrees here! These guys are moving a lot so it doesn't bother them, their core temperature is right up there. Marilyn and I on the other hand are freezing, but I think she can take the cold better than I, she's a born and bred Mainer from Friendship, a fishing town on Muscongus Bay, about an hour and a half east of Portland... Stay tuned for part two! Comments? Questions?

In the old days, cod was packed, flat in pine boxes of salt. If you do it yourself, prepare for a powerful smell!

The Revenge hath struck again! Slightly OT but I found this little article about new developments regarding the treatment of Motezuma's Revenge, while on the road (or apparently, downtown...)

So I went to the Auction house tonight and got my visitor's pass. Linda, the very kind front-line person showed me which door to use so I don't get mowed down by loading trucks. There were already stacks of totes (tough, poly fish boxes with interlocking corners) FULL of shrimp that were ACTUALLY JUMPING! So I took a quick picture on my way out to the 40-footer that was unloading more shrimp. Unfortunately, my new Canon shit the bed right at the pier's edge. No juice! I made arrangements to pop in tomorrow, but I hear the weather will deteriorate... should be fun!

[cue old-time, acadian sea shanty] Aaargh, maties! Maine shrimp are seeing robust activity at the auction this week although the volume is not as huge as last week: 2/21 - 18,869lbs - 8 boats Low price: $0.75 Average: 0.75 High: 0.76 2/22 - 11,320lbs - 4 boats Low price: $0.65 Average: 0.66 High: 0.82 Lifted the following graph from the Portland Fish Auction website (thanks, guys!) I can't claim to see any grand trend except when one introduces the terrible Nor'easters we have been getting nearly every week, then I recognize the cause for spikes. Made a massive pad thai yesterday. I was peeling some shrimp and dropping them into a bird chili, lime juice and fish sauce marinade. I realized there was no point in stopping as I would probably pick up more shrimp in a couple of days. There was probably fifty of the little buggers! I swear their incorporation make the best pad thai but the credit goes to Pim and Mamster's Pad Thai recipe (see up-thread). Opened the times today and saw Mark Bittman's "Shrimp Without Distraction" recipe? which I will just have to try. The hardcopy mentions blanching scallions, then pureeing with garlic to add to shrimp saute; finish w/fresh scallion and cilantro. Hmmm... might have to spritz at service with lime or meyer lemon, dude. .. Aaargh! [/cue old-time, acadian sea shanty]

That's a great article, thanks LindaK! I never knew this... ...which, besides the obvious ramifications of character , explains why every shrimp in the bag have roe: they are coming in-shore to release eggs. When I was a diver for sea urchins, we would sometimes hunt along the shallows in-shore and find patches of eelgrass. When disturbed as we floated through, thousands of small creatures would scurry out of the patch in a cloud. Once when I took the time to really look, I realized that they were tiny shrimp, I mean really tiny like a flea. After that I never had a problem with the numbers, there are millions of shrimp out there... which is what we said about the sea urchin population ten years ago...

B, I'm still working through Sam's amazing menu. Cauliflower soup w/curry oil went over well the other day... I worked hard weaning my SO off bottled salad dressings, using less and less sugar in whatever I whisked up until the sharp character of the vinegar was no longer a problem. One night, not long after dinner, she went for a bowl of cereal which collided with my balsamic head-on. Up came the whole thing and she wouldn't even sniff any kind of vinegar for months, no way. Only lately have I tricked her with a sauce or two and I think I'm making some headway!

Wow! Two days of auctions yielded over 71,000 lbs of fresh shrimp! Prices averaged about 60 cents per pound so thats $42k for some hard working fishermen, or "a good day's pay" as the saying goes. 2/14 - 38,456lbs - 9 boats Low price: $0.56 Average: 0.59 High: 0.63 2/16 - 32,307lbs - 10 boats Low price: $0.57 Average: 0.59 High: 0.64 Created something yesterday that was inspired by Chufi's Amsterdam Foodblog last week. Made a melange of chorizo, onion, garlic, thyme, tomato and chickpeas, then added some shrimp I had poached in EVOO, garlic and paprika. Tasty! Still trying to get the hang of my new Canon A85 so I can hit the docks and document the Gulf of Maine Shrimp story. Stay tuned!

My choices of "terrine" is also limited. I want to go small-batch until I get the hang of it then use my pyrex "loaf" dish when called on for a party. So far, I'll I've done for the project was buy a bit of gelatin!

9to5, Would you mind writing a quick play-by-play of your terrine adventure at some point? I have been intrigued by these and have finally decided to try one. Your marinade sounds grand. JohnnyD

Saw the Walnut Inn show. The food was infinitely better here than the other episodes. I agree w/previous posts that it has a better chance of surviving than the others. A brilliant move to invite the previous owners for the 40th Bday affair, and possibly stave off ruin. Gordon really took it to heart that these two were about to go down the toilet and made that kitchen feel that their heads will be on a stake in the town square if they don't get it together. The long wait for the family dinner had me in fits. More.More.More!

Had sushi for Valentine's day and ordered one of my faves: Ika with shiso leaf!

Man, what a show! I couldn't keep up, it was a whirlwind! The show was really well executed. I realized quickly that the comedy of the original japanese version was removed and in it's place was a true, down-to-the-wire contest rivaling any one-on-one sporting event like tennis. Sure I missed the nutty translations but this version raised the standard for me. I really was blown away by the action! I was going in thinking Michael was a shoo-in, but Marios creations slowly built into some pretty interesting dishes. I kept waiting for a mole to materialize, but no! Then take into account the failure of the sheet setting, enforcing the "anything can happen" atmosphere, and you have one hell of a close call. Much praise for both contestants, the producers and I hope to see more of these.

Owing to the large volume harvested recently the price of cleaned headless fresh shrimp dropped to $2.99 from $3.99 over the weekend. I noticed the count is lower per pound because shrimp are indeed larger now. I get fewer "crumbly" ones if you have the water at a rolling boil, then flash some cold water in the collander when draining. Also the fewer you cook up, the better chance of firm shrimp in the shell. The whole, head-on shrimp tend to yield a mushier meat, probably because the head area holds more fluid, affecting the texture. Made a bow-tie pasta, shrimp, peas and proshoot dish with an instant bernaise from a McCormicks envelope last night. Pinot Grigio and baguette rounded it out. Delish!

An oldie but goodie: Hors d'euvres: "Horses Dovers"! d'oh!

Yes, that is how I have always pronounced it. See how easy this is?? ← But in the UK, isn't it "KonCH"? and how about "Pho"? Pronounced "fuh" someone said someone in the Pho thread... I hear "Prosciutto" get hammered at a supermarket deli line all the time. this is going to be good!