Fish and Seafood

[athinaeos]

hello everyone,

great thread!

i contribute a photo from "La Vucciria" market in Palermo, Sicilia

the man is a man and the tuna is a tuna

[Adam Balic]

Actually, they say blue lobsters turn the usual red when cooked. 

I see some scallop coral (roe) attached to your scallops.  Someone was looking for a picture of that when I did the Scallop Divers thread a while back.  This part of the animal is illegal in the USA owing to it's high perishability.

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Fresh it is the best bit.

I have no guesses left about the lobster then. Photoshop?

[Adam Balic]

hello everyone,

great thread!

i contribute a photo from "La Vucciria" market in Palermo, Sicilia

the man is a man and the tuna is a tuna

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Excellent photograph of the Blue fin tuna. I have seen similar stalls in Palermo (even near the bus station), that also had hugh swordfish on display.

[Adam Balic]

A little more information on the Langoustine. These are caught in large numbers of the Scottish coast, but are fairly widely distributed, hence the large amount of names for the same species:

Scientific name: Nephrops norvegicus

English: Norway lobster, Dublin Bay Prawn, prawn (scotland), scampi, langoustine.

-"Scampi" is the plural of the Italian scampo and refers to the breaded deep fried tails found as a common pub meal, "Langoustine" is french and is reserved for the whole shellfish or less pedestrian presentations of the flesh. British class rules apply even to shellfish.

Italian:Scampo is singular, scampi is plural.

- Although they are the same species, the specimens I have seen in the Adriatic tend to be smaller and have a brighter colouration (red spots on the claw joints) then the North Atlantic ones.

- I imagine that an Italian preparation of this shellfish is were the American "Scampi sauce" is derived from, even though it doesn't contain any actuall scampi.

French:Langoustine

Spanish: Maganto, cigala

There are also many other name variations, attesting to the popularity of the beast.

[rlibkind]

At left, fishmonger and fish at G. Armstrong in Edinburgh's Stockbridge neighborhood poses with a large specimen before applying his skills. The date: May 20, 2004. That evening, the shop burned down. Armstrong's window display in photo at right.

[Adam Balic]

How very curious. This is the same shop display (rebuilt) as of a few weeks ago from my foodblog.

The large fish in your photograph is a wolf-fish, also know in Scotland as "seacat". It is a giant blenny, and has a nice flavour, no bones and a medium texture. Confined to the Northern Atlantic, more of a scottish fish then an english fish, so it has a low profile here. Heads are cute/ugly, but make excellent fish head curry.

[johnnyd]

Wolf fish are plentiful here in maine. A friend used to broker masses of them to england destined for fish and chips shops.

When I was diving, rumour was that if you are bitten by one the jaws lock and you can never get it off without surfacing and having someone cut the bloody thing off you.

...well, it was a rumour!

[rlibkind]

How very curious. This is the same shop display (rebuilt) as of a few weeks ago from my foodblog.

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Glad to see they are back in business at that location. Armstrong was among the purveyors you had recommended in response to a May 2004 inquiry I had posted seeking recommendations for Edinburgh purveyors. The fact that the shop burned to the ground the evening after I visited had NOTHING to do with the fact that I asked for a kipper, but when I unwrapped it the next day it was a fresh herring.

[Adam Balic]

All that photography must have turned their heads.

[bleudauvergne]

Oh Loic and I love Fish! We have found out that our regular poissoniere is actually moving his operation from the Quai St. Antoine to the Halle on the square I live on! We are very excited about that because it means much more Frehs fish during the week. I'll pitch in with a photo of a dish I made for the Montignac thread in the France forum:

Octopus, 'Pulpe' in French.

Some tips on preparing this dish are here.

[Carrot Top]

What a gorgeous octopus that is, Lucy! It is beaming with freshness.

As you mentioned in the link, when you can find it, it can be much cheaper than squid. Actually, I prefer the texture of octopus to squid in a salad. . .a bit more toothy. . .but less toothy than say, whelk. (Which definitely does need pounding at the dock! )

Octopus is one of those things like. . .okra, say. Or. . .pigs feet maybe.

You either love it or you don't.

[Adam Balic]

Different types of squid seem to have different textures, the is no comparison between arrow squid and calamari for instance. I like octopus (excellent photgraph), "baby" (actually the adults of a SE-Asian species) were absolutely everwhere in mid 90's Melbourne.

But of this group, I would choose cuttlefish very time (with the rare exception of some octopus dishes). Next time I get one of these I will take a photograph.

Edited August 31, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[bleudauvergne]

When I lived in China, my favorite snack was dried cuttlefish. It is delicious.

[Chris Amirault]

Octopus is one of those things like. . .okra, say. Or. . .pigs feet maybe.

You either love it or you don't.

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Actually, I think that a lot of people who don't like octopus haven't had it prepared in a particularly good manner. Like squid, it's pretty easy to make inedible.

When I lived in China, my favorite snack was dried cuttlefish.  It is delicious.

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I submit that dried cuttlefish is the best beer food in the world.

[jeniac42]

What a thread. I am now craving some good seafood, which is something that's hard to get in Pittsburgh.

I am curious about the scallop rules in the US. Why is it illegal to bring anything but the... I forget, adductor muscle? back in? I may have missed that explanation.

[primowino]

On the cuttlefish issue, I have eaten quite a lot on the Algarve. I love the baby cuttlefish (trans:chocs) about an inch to two inches long that are fried in olive oil with garlic and wine and not much else. Eat the whole thing and spit out the cuttlebone.

However, a couple of times I had a "grown up" the size of a large dinner plate. These were either boiled or steamed and I did find it hard going to eat my way through the various body parts with a gradual eruption of ink. May be I'm too squeamish with my food, but I also just preferred the flavour of fried babies.

[Adam Balic]

You had better not be talking about the delicious sambal sotong that I made you.

[athinaeos]

polipo alla luciana+

as a small contribution to the discourse on octopus, I offer my version of the polipo alla luciana in napoli

i use a covered terracotta pot, sealed on the seam with a simple flour-water dough, and add coarse sea salt, red hot chili peppers (i do not use pepper in this dish), basil, capers and green olives

i prepared this dish a week ago on the island of Paros, and attach a photo

i recommend to serve the dish with crunchy french fries and a malvasia white, or even better, a blend of malvasia and asyrtico (a greek grape), that has higher acidity and kicks the fiery odtopus in the face

cheers

[Adam Balic]

Excellent. Lovely photograph too. Is the liquid in the pot wine or stock based or is it simply the liquid that comes out of the octopus upon cooking?

[athinaeos]

Excellent. Lovely photograph too. Is the liquid in the pot wine or stock based or is it simply the liquid that comes out of the octopus upon cooking?

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the liquid comes out of the cooking and the peeled chopped tomato that is in the original recipe - but you could do without the tomato if you ask me

cheers

[bleudauvergne]

Now there is the real 'a la greque'. It looks amazing. What kind of pepper do you use? Can you post a photo of it?

[primowino]

You had better not be talking about the delicious sambal sotong that I made you.

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I don't remember that - don't tell me you once had a dinner party without me.

The big cuttlefish we're both on the Algarve. I can't remember seeing cuttlefish on a restaurant menu in the Scotland. Do we catch them here and export them or is it just the restaurants that aren't interested?

[Adam Balic]

The UK cuttlefish fisheries are confined to the English Channel and no, you Brits don't really bother to eat them (like all your fisheries), so they mostly go to Spain/Portugual.

Dinner parties?

[athinaeos]

Now there is the real 'a la greque'.  It looks amazing.  What kind of pepper do you use?  Can you post a photo of it? 

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as the chinese nouveau would say, a photo is worth a thousand words

their actual length is approx 1/2 inch

cheers

[Chris Amirault]

i recommend to serve the dish with crunchy french fries and a malvasia white, or even better, a blend of malvasia and asyrtico (a greek grape), that has higher acidity and kicks the fiery odtopus in the face

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That's the best wine recommendation I've read in a long while!