Seafood Questions

[nonblonde007]

I have several questions regarding seafood, that try as I might, I can't find the answers for elsewhere. Where do I turn? Here, of course! In my humble opinion, there is no greater collection of culinary experts and knowledgable home cooks.

First question. (of many to come, I am sure) I purchased some Uni online a few months back, and unable to eat it all I froze it. (it was divine, btw) I wouldn't attempt to eat it raw now, but was wondering if it would be good for a soup or stock? Is there any edible use for it once it has been frozen and will the flavor have been destroyed by the freezing process? Then, there are the safety issues to consider as well, it was thawed at one point.

Second question. Being land-locked, I had to buy frozen snow crab legs, not the best, but will do in a pinch. I would like to be able to make a stock of the shells, but have never tried it with frozen, pre-cooked crab legs before. Is it possible to get any flavor from these, or will they do best in the garbage?

Thank you, for the moment, that is all. But being the seafood lover I am, I will be back with more!

[monavano]

I would keep the crab shells to make stock. I think perhaps they would be best combined with shrimp shell for more flavor.

Not sure about he frozen Uni. Flash frozen fish etc. is very good. In fact, it's better to have flash frozen headed shrimp than to have head on fresh which is about a day old (according to a Washington Post article )

[budrichard]

To succinctly answer your questions: Uni has a delicate structure and I have never seen it sold frozen. Your questions implies that it was previously frozen? In any event, thaw it out and smell it, look at the structure and let your senses be your guide.

Snow crab comes pre cooked, therefore in the cooking process any flavor that was in the shell has been lost through the cooking process. I also don't know anyone that makes a stock out of frozen pre cooked crab shells. If you look at the package there is also probably some sort of preservative or chemical added. Garbage.-Dick

[nonblonde007]

Thank you Mona, Dick. The Uni was fresh, not frozen when I recieved it, (overnight, packed in ice), I then froze what I could not use that night fearing it would not keep more than a day. I have heard of making soup or sauce from uni, but havn't been able to find anything. Yes, the snowcrab had preseratives, so I suppose, into the garbage with it. I am bummed, I was looking forward to some good shellfish stock, and I do have shrimp shells in the freezer also.