Fish and Seafood

[Evan]

Vermilion rockfish Sebastes miniatus

I used one single fish of about three pounds caught locally in Southern California. No presentation whatsoever but it was quite good. Used everything but the gill and guts. It is now my favorite rockfish.

[ChefCrash]

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.

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Hiroyuki

These look great. Why potato starch, how does it differ from corn starch?

Can one use rice flour as well?

Thanks

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki

These look great. Why potato starch, how does it differ from corn starch?

Can one use rice flour as well?

Thanks

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Food items coated in potato starch and then deep-fried are called tatsuta age in Japan. The items are often seasoned before being coated, but the brother-in-law suggested simply coating with potato starch (probably in order to bring out the flavor of the fish). They are quite similar to kara age, which are usually coated with flour and potato starch mixture.

Of course you can use corn starch and rice flour too, but the texture should be slightly different.

[johnnyd]

The season for Northern Atlantic shrimp has opened here in Northeastern USA.

In the northwest Atlantic, Pandalus borealis occur as far south as the Gulf of Maine and extend northward to the Davis Strait. Distribution is continuous through east Greenland and the northeast Atlantic, including the Norwegian, Barents and North Seas.

The season opened Dec 1. I picked some up Dec 4 from my usual fishmonger, which had been landed the night before. Those eggs turn pinkish when cooked.

[hathor]

Those shrimp are just plain gorgeous. I can ...almost....taste them.

[ChefCrash]

Johnnyd, great looking shrimp, what's in the boil?

[johnnyd]

Thank you Mr. Crash - more tiny shrimp love here, and here (last year). It's part of a journal-effort to expose these tasty things to the masses. When I first had a few ten or so years ago, I couldn't believe how good and how unknown they were... and then the low price.

The boil ingredients are very simple, one bayleaf and about ten or so black peppercorns. I let it boil for a while so the water develops a bit of color, then add my shrimp. 30 seconds - tops.

Since I know how fresh these were, I had a few dipped in ponzu and made a little ceviche as well

Edited December 8, 2006 by johnnyd (log)

[Evan]

California Spiny Lobster

First bite was heavenly, dipped in vinegar soy sauce and ginger.

Also made some tacos using the meat from the tail.

[shellfishfiend]

Nice looking lobster, Evan. Did you boil it or steam it?

[Evan]

Thanks shellfishfiend, props go out to a fishing buddy who gave it to me.

I steamed it.

[johnnyd]

Freshly harvested mussels from the Gulf of Maine

Mussel aquaculture raft off Clapboard island, Falmouth Foreside, Maine. This is Bernie taking a call from a buyer who has upped his order. Time to get to work.

They are delicious...

[rnsmelody]

bring back the thread =)

[Prawncrackers]

I've been drooling whilst reading over this entire thread, thanks for reviving this for me. If i'm not mistaken however there's one glaring omission, so here's a nice big Wild Sea Bass:

...and here's a fat turbot - this mother was the size of my sink!!

[Evan]

California Barracuda Sphyraena argentea

For best results, must be bled and iced asap or the flesh goes south really quick, similar to mackerel. I've grilled it, and deep fried it for tacos but the best method that I had the pleasure of tasting but not actually cooking it myself is smoking it. From what I hear, it is a 12hr process but the end product is so worth it. Unfortunately for me, living in an apartment does not allow me to smoke anything.

California Grunion Leuresthes tenuis

During spring and summer, these fish come in and lay eggs right on the beach during the new and full moon high tides. Quite a site to see a hundreds of them burrow into the sand and do their thing.

Coat in starch, season with s&p and deep fried and eaten whole.

Locally caught land locked striped bass Morone saxatilis

Many of the lakes in Southern California that get its water from the California aqueduct have striped bass. Having had both the California version and the East coast version (Fish caught off of Nantucket Sound), the California version has less fat content but still not bad at all considering you have to pay at least $5.99 for farm raised striped bass/white bass hybrids here in California. Also, there is the gratification I get of catching my own food. There is pretty much no wrong way of eating this fish but I like it grilled.

[JohnnyH]

This is the greatest thread anywhere on egullet, imho.

[Evan]

Leopard Shark Triakis semifasciata

Here in California, it must be larger than 36" if you plan on keeping one. I've been tinkering with the idea of keeping one for a while as people have been telling me that the shark is quite tasty. But I had been hesitant on keeping one by myself since it is too much meat for just myself, as a four foot shark is about 20lbs. Honestly they are magnificent creatures in our local waters but recently, curiosity got the better of me and kept one to share with one of my friends so we could split the meat. They are present along the coast all year around but locally these fish come in really close to shore around August to September. After the catch, it was immediately bled, gutted, and filleted. My friend also decided to keep the fins to prepare them for eating.

I pan seared the fillet and poured on top, a basic mushroom and shallot sauce with capers and italian parsley. I was initially afraid of having an ammonia smell since it was my first time keeping a shark and wasn't quite sure if I had prepped the fish properly. Well, the rumors were true and the shark was very good. A firm and meaty texture and quite flavorful.

[Evan]

More local Southern California fish...

Spring early summer means White Sea Bass time (Atractoscion nobilis ). Although it is dubbed 'bass', it is actually a croaker. They get up to 60lbs+ but this one is less than 10lbs specimen.

These fish have very firm white flaky flesh. It is good anyway you prepare it, raw, grilled, steamed, fried, etc., there is no bad way of cooking this fish.

Finescale triggerfish ( Balistes polylepis)

The flesh of the triggerfish are very firm and meaty. They have a distinct smell to them but very good for cerviche.

California Sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher, bottom) and Treefish (Sebastes serriceps, top)

Sheephead is good cerviche as well. It has very delicate white flesh when cooked but firm when raw. Treefish also has very nice flaky white flesh, it is good steamed, fried, and in tacos.

[Adam Balic]

Evan I really like the diversity if fish that you show here, especially the various rock fish. The trigger fish is interesting, the local versions (Southern Australia) don't have scales like this, more sandpaper like micro scales and a very tough skin with peels off (hence the local name of "Leather Jacket"). The local fish (multiple species) is delicious and very cheap.

All these rock fish make me thing of a fish stew/soup?

[RAHiggins1]

We caught these 2 miles off Mexico Beach, Florida.

A King Mackeral and a very large specimen of it's cousin the Spanish Mackeral, we broiled these with lemon butter, salt, pepper, garlic and paprika.

[Adam Balic]

In Australia the Spanish Mackerel is Scomberomorus commerson and looks like the top fish. Good eating.

[Peter the eater]

This topic seems like good place to share my new appreciation for Arctic surf clams:

These guys were harvested by Clearwater Seafood way up north past Newfoundland hundreds of kilometers offshore. The vendors pitch them as sweet and delicate and I have to agree. I've had hokkigai before but until now haven't brought them home as an ingredient to be messed around with.

I had no sticky rice and no nori so they got chopped and warmed up in couscous served with fiddleheads. It seems they get chewy as they are cooked so I'll go totally raw next time.

[Domestic Goddess]

So that's what those are called. Sometimes I see them in the street market here. In the land of rice and nori, I will definitely try them some time in the future.

[Hiroyuki]

I was amused by the fact that the label indicates the Japanese name, hokkigai, as well as the English name.

[Peter the eater]

I was amused by the fact that the label indicates the Japanese name, hokkigai, as well as the English name.

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Hiroyuki, what do you make of these clams - do they look the same as the hokkigai you have? I have never seen a Japanese word on the labels at my fish market - obviously the seller is assuming the buyers know the word. Do your surf clams come from the Sea of Japan or the Pacific, or both?

[Hiroyuki]

I was amused by the fact that the label indicates the Japanese name, hokkigai, as well as the English name.

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Hiroyuki, what do you make of these clams - do they look the same as the hokkigai you have? I have never seen a Japanese word on the labels at my fish market - obviously the seller is assuming the buyers know the word. Do your surf clams come from the Sea of Japan or the Pacific, or both?

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I'm no expert on clams. I did some google search and found that the Canadian variety is more reddish than the one in Japan.

http://www.zukan-bouz.com/nimaigai/heterod...gai/ubagai.html

(Japanese only. You can at least look at the photos.)

I'm not sure if hokkigai can be gathered from the Sea of Japan. Hokkaido is famous for its hokkigai.

As you can easily imagine, domestic, high-quality ones go to sushi shops while cheap imported ones go to conveyor sushi restaurants.

Besides being used as sushi toppings, they are fried with butter (butter-yaki); cooked with rice (takikomi gohan); and put in curry.