Fish and Seafood

[athinaeos]

... you eat those little shrimp, shells and all? .

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Yes, and preferably without using fork or other artificial object. You chew slowly, letting the small parcels that are full of aroma "explode" in your mouth and you wash them down with a very discrete white wine, so that it does not overpower the shrimp's flavors and aromas.

[hathor]

Ohhh...that is food porn my friend. I wonder how quickly I can get to Rhodes....!

[athinaeos]

Ohhh...that is .... I wonder how quickly I can get to Rhodes....! 

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Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, a man without shrimp vices is a dull man.

Continuing on the Dodekannese seafood thread, I present below "fouskes", which are called the oysters of the Aegean. I serve them sprinkled with olive oil, on lettuce and sea weed resting on thin toasted baguette slices, after marinating with lemon juice and parsley.

The shell is so hard to open that you do not find them in the market. They are sold directly by the fishermen in little bottles with seawater. Only fishermen can get the precious stuff out of the shell!

[Kent Wang]

Some selected pics from Shenzhen from my Miscellaneous China food photos thread.

Geoduck clams.

Sea urchins.

Water beetles. Yes, they are meant to be eaten.

Baby octopus.

Live squid.

Also check out [Hong Kong] The seafood of Lamma island.

[athinaeos]

Small scorpion fish from the central market of Athens.

[Andrew Fenton]

I've been reading this thread for the first time, and thought I'd cross-post to another thread I posted in the Italy forum, about the fish markets in Venice and Syracuse.

A couple of the pictures from that thread; first, the alien Venetian life forms known as canocce:

And some beautiful Sicilian mackerel:

[jayt90]

Some selected pics from Shenzhen from my .

Water beetles. Yes, they are meant to be eaten.

.

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There is something similar in North American ponds. Whirlygigs. Should I catch a few? What would I do with them?

[jayt90]

"Rofos" (Greek name)  from the eastern coast of Rhodes, village of Afandou, Dodekannese, Greece.

The taverna owner grilled the fish on charcoal over slow fire for 45 minutes. Its flesh was white, firm and full of aromas.

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How can he cook over charcoal for 45 min. without drying it? How far from the coals?

[rlibkind]

"Rofos" (Greek name)  . . . The taverna owner grilled the fish on charcoal over slow fire for 45 minutes. Its flesh was white, firm and full of aromas.

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How can he cook over charcoal for 45 min. without drying it? How far from the coals?

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Note that it was cooked over a "slow fire". The 8-10 minute per inch Canadian technique is based on a very hot fire. On the recommendation of Vadouvan over on the Pennsylvania board I recently roasted a half pound of salmon filet in a 225F oven for 20-25 minutes, and it came out succulent and medium rare. A big thick whole fish like the Rofos can easily take 45 minutes over a slow fire, which would be about the same temperature, and turn out toothsome.

[athinaeos]

How can he cook over charcoal for 45 min. without drying it?  How far from the coals?

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Note that it was cooked over a "slow fire". ..

A big thick whole fish like the Rofos can easily take 45 minutes over a slow fire, which would be about the same temperature, and turn out toothsome.

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rlibkind answered perfectly, I would just like to add that the grill man in a seafood and fish taverna nurses the fire for many hours by adding charcoal little by little, so that it has enough strength to grill, without drying the sensitive flesh.

When the fish is initially put on the grill, the vertival distance from the fire is about 3 inches. This is done for a very short time on both sides, so that the surface becomes crispy and envelopes and protects the flesh.

After that, the distance is increased to about 6 inches and it is kept at that during the cooking period.

Another important detail is that the fish is not placed directly over the fire, but at an angle from it. This practically increases the distance from the fire.

Finally, one should keep in mind that in Greece we use the real thing, ie wood charcoal, that can produce extreme heat when the fire is at its top strength.

In my grill at home it usually takes four hours for a fire like this to die naturally.

[hathor]

In my grill at home it usually takes four hours for a fire like this to die naturally.

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What kind of wood are you using? I've been experimenting with Italian style "carbone", but I think wood is the way to go. Wood. And time. Sometimes I have the wood. Sometimes, the time. Its getting them to coincide, that's where I have the trouble!

[jayt90]

"Rofos" (Greek name)  . . .Note that it was cooked over a "slow fire". The 8-10 minute per inch Canadian technique is based on a very hot fire. On the recommendation of Vadouvan over on the Pennsylvania board I recently roasted a half pound of salmon filet in a 225F oven for 20-25 minutes, and it came out succulent and medium rare. A big thick whole fish like the Rofos can easily take 45 minutes over a slow fire, which would be about the same temperature, and turn out toothsome.

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I did not mention the "Canadian technique" but now that it is on the table, it is 10 minutes per inch, with any heat source, such as poaching, broiling, roasting, or pan frying. It was devised before microwaving or sous vide became popular, but can be adapted.

[athinaeos]

In my grill at home it usually takes four hours for a fire like this to die naturally.

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What kind of wood are you using?

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I buy the charcoal ready. The suppliers use pinewood most of the time.

[jayt90]

In my grill at home it usually takes four hours for a fire like this to die naturally.

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What kind of wood are you using?

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I buy the charcoal ready. The suppliers use pinewood most of the time.

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There is is a turpentine content to pinewood. Check your suppliers.

[athinaeos]

There is is a turpentine content to pinewood.  Check your suppliers.

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Thank you jayt90, I will.

[SwatiC]

I was actually thinking of what the name would be in Greek as there is a similar dish in Italy (Liguria) Sepia in zimino, which is very good.

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Adam, the name in greek is "soupies me spanaki".

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Athinaeos, I wonder if you've ever had a variation of this dish, which I believe is called "soupies me xorta". I had this dish at a tsipouradiko in Volos, and it was possibly the most sublime Greek dish I've ever had.

I can make it with spinach like you did, and your dish looks fantastic, but I do wish I knew what xorta they used, so I could take a stab at recreating it.

[athinaeos]

Athinaeos, I wonder if you've ever had a variation of this dish, which I believe is called "soupies me xorta". I had this dish at a tsipouradiko in Volos, and it was possibly the most sublime Greek dish I've ever had. 

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The rule in Greece when it comes to eating greens (horta) is that you eat anything that grows in your garden or thereabout. I assume therefore that the cook of the shop in Volos cooked the greens that his wife or mother picked earlier that morning.

I have tasted many variations of this dish in Crete, with local greens, and they are also sublime, with different greens in each place.

Two fo the variations I thnk are worth mentioning, although I do not know the name of the greens in english.

One is with "zohos", a green that is relatively bitter and the other is with "stamnagathi", which is a fleshy green.

[Hiroyuki]

Yesterday, there was a small, local festival nearby. Before the festival began at 6:30 p.m., there was a special event for small children at 4:00 p.m.: Hand catching of fish.

Rainbow trouts in the pond:

My son (10) and daughter (6) took part in this event, and caught 8 and 1 trouts, respectively. After we returned home, I let my kids degut the trouts.

Results:

We simply sprinkled some salt on them, left them for some time, and grilled them. Yum!

[Hiroyuki]

We got a lot of halfbeaks (sayori in Japanese) and some small horse mackerel (aji in Japanses) from a brother-in-law.

While degutting, I found one parasite (shown in the middle of the photo).

I just dusted them with potato starch (no seasonings) and deep-fried them.

Quite tasty. Went well with sake. My children (10 and 7) liked them too.

[docsconz]

Very nice Hiroyuki. Do you have any idea what the parasite was? Which fish was it from, the horse mackeral or the sayori?

[Hiroyuki]

Very nice Hiroyuki. Do you have any idea what the parasite was? Which fish was it from,  the horse mackeral or the sayori?

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It was from a sayori and it must be a sayori yadorimushi (irona melanosticta).

http://www.cty-net.ne.jp/~noro-m/page053.html

6th photo from the top. It's harmless to humans, like most other parasites.

[Hiroyuki]

A large supermarket opened the other day, and they had a maguro kaitai (tuna dissection) show as an opening event today. My two kids and I went to see it.

Such shows are quite popular in Japan, and attract many customers.

Before the show began, customers were invited to answer a quiz.

The first question was: What is the species of this tuna?

The second one was: How much does it weigh?

The correct answers were minami maguro and 37 kg.

Can you guess who got the first prize (chu toro tuna)? My daughter! I later learned by looking at other packs of chu toro tuna sold that the prize was worth around 1,200 to 1,300 yen.

The show began:

First, two kama (collars). 1,000 yen each.

Second, the head. 1,000 yen.

You can see two eyeballs.

Third, nakaochi (flesh on the backbone, usually scooped with a large spoon). Four packs from one side and five from the other. They didn't tell customers how much it was. I wanted one pack, but lost at rock-paper-scissors .

They gave customers free sushi samples.

I had five or six of them. Really tasty.

I bought one pack of akami (lean tuna).

Akami was 580 yen per 100 g,

Cho toro was 780 yen per 100 g, and

O toro was 980 yen per 100 g.

Quite expensive, but you can't complain considering the quality.

I usually buy much cheaper bincho and kihada maguro, which are tasty enough, but this minami maguro tasted much better.

Chu toro and akami on a plate. We (four of us) ate it with vinegard rice.

Edit: Corrected 3.7 kg to 37 kg.

Edited October 10, 2006 by Hiroyuki (log)

[hathor]

Gorgeous Hiroyuki!!

I love the rapt expressions on the little ones faces. Its good to teach them young.

[Evan]

Here are some of the locally caught fish in Southern California that I had a pleasure of catching and eating

California Scorpionfish (Scorpaena guttata), more commonly called sculpin, locally.

I had it as sashimi with ponzu, soup, and steamed.

California Halibut (Paralichthys californicus), different species than the pacific halibut but just as nice.

eaten in a similar manner as sculpin and also grilled.

Albacore ( Thunnus alalunga, fish with the long pectoral fins), bonito (Sarda chiliensis, two fish at the top left with lateral stripes) and yellowtail(Seriola lalandi, fish with the #4 tag attatched).

I only caught the albacore which was eaten as sashimi and also grilled.

Yellowfin Croaker (Umbrina roncador) on the left and Barred Surfperch (Amphistichus argenteus) on the right.

Both were floured and fried in oil.

Edited October 19, 2006 by Evan (log)

[Evan]

Can't leave out this tastey morsel from the local sea...

Pacific Sand Dab (Citharichthys sordidus) aka potato chips because you cannot just eat one.

Take the head off and gut. Lightly dust them in flour and salt and pan fry til golden brown. You can eat the fins and all that will be left is the backbone. One of my favorite eats but you most likely will have to catch them yourself because they rarely sell this at any fish markets. Sorry no picture of the final fried product, I was too anxious and eaten it all before I even though about taking a picture.