Uni: one a day keeps the tsunamis away

[Gifted Gourmet]

article here

America's growing appetite for exotic sushi may help preserve vanishing beds of seaweed seen as an important part of the ecosystem along the California coastline. Diners in sushi restaurants are eating ever greater amounts of sea urchin roe, known as Uni ...

an excellent article on uni!

Sea urchin roe, known as Uni, has a widespread reputation as a fresh new taste among sushi connoisseurs. "Uni is a fashionable yet affordable seafood with an international and inter-cultural attraction," says Vern Goehring, Executive Director of the California Sea Urchin Commission. "While primarily used in sushi, uni, thanks to avant-garde chefs, is finding it way into other ethnic-inspired menu applications," continued Goehring.

Is eating uni your "thing"?

Why do you particularly enjoy this spiny urchin of the deep?

Do you buy and prepare uni at home or only indulge your uni pleasures in restaurants?

Share a tasty morsel with us here?

[Busboy]

One of the best plates I've ever eaten was in a French 2-star called Le Bateau Ivre, one magnificent baseball-sized sea urchin served with a lime froth of some sort. Extraordinary. If I'd known, I would have skipped the tatsing menu and ordered the plate a la cart -- a lady at the other table had a plate with five of the spiny beasts arranged on it.

The first time I ever tried them, again in France, I was served tiny little guys about the sized of golf balls. The guts had been dumped out, abd I was given a demitasse-sized spoon to scrape out the the remaining urchin-sludge on the sides of the shell. Quite tasty, as well, but not very filling.

Friends in Greece tell tales about fishing out their own sea urchins and sitting on the balcony, cutting them open and slurping them down straight from the sea, accompanied by sunset and Greek white wine.

Once you get paste the weird factor, sea urchinns have an extraordinary and distinctive taste, briny, but sweet, almost fruity, as well, like an oyster only more elegant and concentrated.

I don't know if I've ever seen them for sale, retail, in the U.S.

[bandregg]

I had uni a few years ago for the first time at a sushi restaurant and it's, thankfully, one of the very few times I've gotten food poisoning. Normally I'm a strong proponent of the "if it smells bad and tastes bad it's probably bad" school or thought, but in this case I told myself, "it's sea urchin, how the hell do I know what it's supposed to be like. Maybe it's supposed to taste like this." It's not.

Since then, well I did take about a year off, I've become a very big fan of uni, in a number of preparations: Spanish, French, Japanese. I am fastidious about the freshness.

[johnnyd]

My first sushi experience included uni with a quail egg. Wonderful. Ten years later I'm jumping into the ocean off the wintery Maine coast in a drysuit and wool sweater, collecting sea urchins into a net bag (see goofy avatar, left). We used to crack a couple open every trip out for good luck. Delicious.

Best job I ever had.

[SuzySushi]

"Uni" rhymes with "swoon" in the most wonderful way. It's the sexiest sushi.

Yes, I eat it in sushi bars. Yes, I eat it at home. (I buy it in Japanese supermarkets, already prepared.

Besides sushi, it makes a dynamite pasta sauce.

[M.X.Hassett]

Love uni, I enjoy it on its own. I have also had it in a very good rissoto dish though I cant recall where. WARNING do not read next line if one is faint of heart: Uni is not roe it is realy the reproductive organs of the urchin. It is called roe to help sales like sea bass vs. toothfish.

[johnnyd]

it is realy the reproductive organs of the urchin.

Indeed, it is the gonad.

I once made an interesting hollandaise with a handful of uni. Nice, rich flavor, orange color, just a bit lumpy.

[docsconz]

I love uni as well. The best experience I have ever had with it was eating it in Sicily right out of the sea. It was extraordinary. The best preparation I have ever had in the US was the uni at Sushi Yasuda in NYC. That was extremely fresh and superb.

The uni at Kurumazushi in NYC wasn't too bad either.

[russ parsons]

the connection between foodstuff and ecology is interesting. sea urchins are voracious nibblers of kelp--devastating really. and the sea urchin population in southern california is pretty much out of control since their main predator, the sea otter, is rarely found south of big sur. sea otters are also big eaters of abalone (good taste those guys!). and it was the near-extinction of sea otters in the 19th through mid-20th centuries that allowed abalone populations to grow to the ridiculous proportions that they did.

all part of the great circles of life, grasshoppers.

[johnnyd]

About 1970, boatmen in the gulf of Maine started noticing that they were not fouling their propellers in the kelp as much any more when puttering around the shallows. Turns out, the sea urchins had eaten vast stretches of shoreline kelp and seaweed. Urchins had few predators, seals and crab mostly but they seemed to out-spawn everything else.

This development coincided with frequent appearances of urchins in lobster traps instead of lobsters, and the decline in cod, striper, shrimp and mackeral stocks in the Gulf. The kelp forests were important breeding venues for these species.

The urchin population had reached infestation level by the late seventies. Lobstermen were so mad when they found urchin-studded baitbags in their traps they started calling them whore's eggs.

In 1986 or so, a japanese diver came to Portland and hired out a lobsterboat for a trip out on Casco Bay. He freighted the deck with sea urchins, much to the captain's dismay. Word got out around town and in a few years the coast was in a full-bore gold rush.

The quality of the urchin gonads in Maine were very high, if a bit smaller than their pacific cousins. They are also harvested by individual scuba arrays instead of surface-supplied air hookahs preferred by California divers. Last I checked, California-licensed urchin divers need to supply a quota and are granted to platforms (dive boats) rather than individuals as in Maine.

State regulation came too late in Maine and the harvesting reached a point in the millions of pounds, making the fishery the second busiest in the state in '94, '95, '96 and '97, the first being lobstering.

In the peak years there were about 2500 licensed divers. Now there are about 250 with no new license availability. Diving is restricted to 10 days in some parts of the coast, about 30 days in others. Urchin "season" used to run from October 1st to mid-april.

The landings ain't what they used to be and they aren't everywhere you look anymore, in fact, I hear divers have to really dig around to find the critters. Prices are stable regardless of the establishment of this fishery in Korea, Russia, Chile and possibly China.

Lobstermen aren't getting urchins in their traps anymore, just lobsters. An old timer out on Swan's Island told me he's fouling the prop on his skif these days, so the kelp is back. That might explain why the stripers are back in almost commercially viable numbers and the Maine Shrimp catch has improved in recent years as they both spend their juvenile stages in-shore among the kelp and eel-grass.

John - the color of that uni is exceptional.... mmm!

[russ parsons]

great post!

[Rebecca263]

Uni, sushi with a quail egg atop and a spritz of lemon. My favorite boyfriend knows my predeliction and supplies (or is that plies?) me with immense orders of this whenever we go to a sushi bar. I would thrill to try uni with pasta, I have only eaten it in sushi.

[russ parsons]

here in southern california we're blessed with great japanese markets where you can buy entire wooden trays of uni, just like you find at sushi bars. one of my favorite summer appetizers is a crostini with 1 or 2 tongues of uni and fresh lemon squeezed over.

[PCL]

Having uni for lunch today.

Apparently Tasmanian uni rivals San Diego uni in sales in Japan.

[Gifted Gourmet]

The prickly tale of Charlie and the urchin factory

Sea urchin gonads, or roe, are already sought after in Paris restaurants and in Japan, where they are used in sushi. But Scottish MPs and seafood farmers are confident their own, home-grown urchins will soon be a familiar feature of British haute cuisine.  The plan is for thousands of the spiny sea hedgehogs to be "grown" on fish farms and sold as a delicacy.  They are prized in Japan, where the edible portion, which has a subtle creamy and salty taste, is known as uni. People tasting the urchins' gonads for the first time have reported a gagging sensation, and the "smoky sea" flavour is regarded as an acquired taste.  The sea urchin has a reputation as an aphrodisiac. It is growing in popularity in New York, and experts believe it is only a matter of time before it becomes an exotic feature of British fusion cuisine.

so, drop that turkey drumstick, rethink fine dining, and head for fine British fusion ...

[Pan]

Need it be said that one farmed uni a day does not keep the tsunamis away?

[Corinna Dunne]

I had uni for the first time about 18 years ago in Tokyo... but here's the bizarre bit... in a French restaurant! As far as I can remember, it was served like a sauce on top of a fillet of fish and I was astounded at the rich, sweet, unctuous taste. I also had it as sushi. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have hit the radar over here in Ireland yet, but I did have it in a restaurant outside of Gerona in Spain earlier in the year.

Edited November 22, 2005 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[Zeemanb]

I've had uni as sushi before, but two weeks ago I had a version at Manresa in Los Gatos, CA. that really blew me away..... served with a raw Maryland oyster in the oyster shell, both semi-suspended in a gelee made with some sea water. Buttery, briney, smokey, rich, unctious....absolutely delicious. During the same meal I was served a whole sea urchin with spiced coconut milk and dungeness crab. While it was very good, the oyster/urchin was one of the best single bites of food I've had in a long time.