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Ormers


liuzhou

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The UK seafood that could send you to jail

 

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Unique to the Channel Islands but most famously harvested on Guernsey, ormers can only be gathered around 20 days of the year – and are wrapped in a host of rules.

 

The article is non-commital regarding the taste, so I looked up some more of the earliest references in English which are more positive.

 

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1672 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 81 Ye ormers were thought most excellent meate.    

 

1694 Falle Jersey ii. 74 We have also the Ormer, which is a Fish scarce known out of these Islands. Ormer‥is a Contraction of Oreille de Mer.‥ It has no Under-shell like the Oyster, but the Fish clingeth to the Rock with the Back, and the Shell covers the Belly.   

 

1837 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. II. 169 The ormer, a shell-fish, has been compared to veal-cutlet.    

 

1856 Woodward Mollusca iii. 425 Ormers‥may be removed from the rocks to which they adhere by throwing a little warm water over them.    

 

1873 M. Collins Squire Silchester II. xvi. 201 The ormer is the most delicious of univalves.

 

Anyone sampled them?

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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15 hours ago, liuzhou said:

The UK seafood that could send you to jail

 

 

The article is non-commital regarding the taste, so I looked up some more of the earliest references in English which are more positive.

 

 

Anyone sampled them?

Sounds intriguing. More like a snail than a bivalve. With a mythology that's made them cling to the edge of extinction.

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18 minutes ago, weinoo said:

The ortolans of the sea?

That was absolutely my first thought! I have never sampled them and in all honesty this is the first time I have ever heard of them. 

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I can buy regular abalone here - fresh and frozen, but I'm intrigued as to what the difference might be. Might have to wait till I can get to the Channel Islands.

 

Abalone.thumb.jpg.8e745f8269fc0f02b457c9272a49bcd3.jpg

Fresh Abalone

 

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I can buy regular abalone here - fresh and frozen, but I'm intrigued as to what the difference might be. Might have to wait till I can get to the Channel Islands.

 

Abalone.thumb.jpg.8e745f8269fc0f02b457c9272a49bcd3.jpg

Fresh Abalone

 


That was my assessment as well, based on the look and the description on cooking them (just browsed through). I have to admit I never really “got” Abalones ...

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22 minutes ago, Duvel said:


That was my assessment as well, based on the look and the description on cooking them (just browsed through). I have to admit I never really “got” Abalones ...

 

From the right water, lightly pounded and grilled butter & lemon = essence of sea sweet. I like the slight chew.  But the noted risk reminds me of the gooseneck barnacle harvested on the treacherously rocky coast of Asturia and Galica..

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