23
Don't read too much into the "sea"; there's no rule that every word in the language has to stick precisely to its etymological roots.
Seafood just means edible aquatic life, i.e. fish and shellfish in general. It's a food word, not a biology word, and fish on your plate looks pretty much the same whether it's freshwater or saltwater fish, so generally it ...
21
This article indicates that it's probably gall bladder bile:
The gall bladder [...] sometimes [...] breaks even when you are cleaning the fish very carefully and close to the skin. If the gall bladder is broken, the greenish yellow biliary fluid pours immediately out into the inside of the fish and starts to absorb into the meat. The meat becomes bitter.
...
20
The muscle fibers of octopus are very thin compared to other species, arranged in multiple layers and alternating rings, which are then even further reinforced with collagen, 3-5 times more than regular fish muscle fiber. It's basically the reinforced concrete in the world of muscle fibers.
There are exactly two ways to get tender octopus:
Destroy the ...
20
If it is high quality imitation lobster and you are not amongst the highest skilled tasters (few of us are), you won't be able to tell the difference by yourself.
Imitation seafood is made from surimi, which is made from various whitefishes (most often Alaskan Pollock). The surimi is mechanically formed, colored and flavored to look like whatever species ...
19
This a a great video that explains every step. She cuts the head off by slicing above the eyes, so removing the beak is a part of cleaning the tentacles.
These are your first cuts.
Cut the head off above the eyes, and slit the head open. Rinse out the guts, there will be some connective tissue that needs to be cut away or broken to get to all of the yucky ...
14
With regards to the grit, if they aren't farmed mussels (which generally are fairly clean) you may want to give them a soak for a while. This will give them the chance to expel any further sand/grid they may contain. There are varying theories of whether to use tap water, salt water, sea water or various other concoctions. And admittedly there are those who ...
13
Calamari or squid is of course famous for being difficult to cook, because it gets tough or rubbery.
As Harold McGee explains in On Food and Cooking, octopus and squid meat are very rich in collagen:
They are chewy when lightly cooked, tough when cooked to the
denaturing temperatures of their collagen, around 120 - 130 F / 50 -
55 C, and become ...
13
According to this site and confirmed by several others I found on the internet, the Humboldt Squid produces ammonia chloride as a defense mechanism, or as a side effect of asphixiation, or maybe both.
I couldn't find terribly reliable advice on how to avoid the contamination, but two points were repeatedly suggested on various bulletin boards:
When you ...
13
Live parasitic worms are to be expected in raw fresh fish, and need to be dealt with in one of three ways:
Cooking: If the fish is thoroughly cooked, the worms will be dead and safe to eat.
Removal/avoidance: A skilled sashimi chef has an eye for parasites, and will either discard contaminated pieces, or remove the parasites.
Freezing: So called "sushi ...
12
AFAIK, meat is not really used for Tempura.
Do vegetables. (I assume you already do that).
If you want to do fried battered meats, I would suggest cutting them as small as possible.
Cut the meat into thin strips.
You could also use cheese, look for grilling cheese like Halloumi.
11
The shells do have strong shrimp flavor that can contribute to a sauce, and are also left on for visual reasons. But personally, the choice of whether to leave it on depends on how I'm planning on eating the shrimp.
If they are going to be picked up and eaten, it is nice to have a little "handle" to grab them by. If they are part of a curry or heavily ...
10
Parasites in fish are common. In short, your fishmonger could have done a better job of pulling them out (unless you bought them whole). They are not deemed harmful if cooked properly (see the FAO link below).
There are guidelines and standards about the number of Nematodes in a given amount of fish. Some types of fish are more susceptible than others, ...
10
actually seafood's country origin does make a very relevant difference. Why? ocean floor type, water tempearture, tradewinds, upwelling and feed availability. Best octopus comes from Spain and Portugal (actually portuguese octopus is the best) Viet, China, Indonesia or Mexican octopus live in hot water. Portuguese coast has a very mild water temp, from 10 C ...
10
I'd like to start with an analogy. Look at what you said in comments that some vegetables are actually better purchased frozen than purchased fresh. Let's take frozen peas vs fresh.
Peas notoriously begin to lose flavor and their great texture as soon as they are picked. Quality manufacturers of frozen peas get those peas frozen at extremely low ...
9
I don't like the recipe much.
First of all, paella is a one pan dish, normally. That is, all ingredients are cooked in the same pan (paella) and in sequence. This means that all the flavors are stacked one on top of the other.
Second, if you are going to use saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, hold down on any other spices. In particular, most ...
9
Before steaming the clams, they should all be closed. If any of your clams are open, give them a tap and if they stay open, then it is bad and you should take it out of your batch to prevent it from ruining the other clams.
After you have steamed the clams, most of them should be open. The few clams that stay closed doesn't necessarily mean they are bad. ...
9
I BBQ whole fish or fish filets with or without skin quite regularly. You suspect the BBQ was too hot, but usually BBQs are not hot enough (unless you were REALLY hot and over like 800F?). Make sure grill is clean and apply oil to the grill and to the fish. Put fish skin side down on the BBQ until crispy and flip fish until cook to your desired temp. It ...
9
Usually for a business it's up to the oyster shucker to worry about the quality and you're to just enjoy.
You can tell if the oyster is bad if it has an off smell. Much like fish, fresh oysters won't give that off rotten fishy smell and tend to smell mild.
Many people suck them whole but you should chew oysters before swallowing to taste if there's ...
8
Full-size octopus are tough and rubbery when cooked, so the purpose of pre-cooking is to tenderize. According to some research, this can be done by hanging the octopus out to dry and then beating the crap out of it, but that sounds like more trouble than simply poaching.
If your octopus is already cleaned (i.e. ink sac, stomach, and beak removed) then all ...
8
Short answer: no.
Long answer: People eat abalone because of its taste, texture, and potential for gourmet preparation. Nutritional value isn't under consideration.
7
I think it's a fine question. If I were in your position, I'd definitely go for option 2 - I think pre-cooked and re-steamed crab would end up a lot like oversteamed crab: mushy and gross.
As for keeping them alive, when I was a kid we used to go crabbing every weekend. Mom would just keep them in a cardboard box in the kitchen until we were ready to eat ...
7
There are several major varieties of clam chowder, which you can find enumerated on the Wikipedia page. New England clam chowder is characterized by a dairy base, usually with some sort of salt pork or bacon, and potatoes.
Note: the term chowder basically just means soup or stew, usually with seafood of some sort--very different dishes may go by the name.
7
Based on the article SAJ14SAJ linked to in the comments, in the only known case in which this happened with cooked squid, it was parboiled, and almost certainly not fully cooked: "the whole squid spent just a few seconds in boiling water". If the squid is cooked, then the spermatophore will be inactive, and nothing bad is going to happen. (Living things tend ...
7
The color should not be a problem for you as long as red coloring in beef packaging doesn't bother you.
That's right, that blue dye is blood. Crustaceans, like the prawn, crab, and lobster, and horseshoe crabs have hemocyanin in their blood to transport oxygen instead of hemoglobin, which we have. Hemocyanin has copper in it to give it its color rather than ...
7
In order:
No. It's possible, though not especially common, for a dead mussel to be stuck closed; they'll likely open with very little resistance.
Most likely yes. The main issue with eating dead mussels is that it's an indication they've been poorly cared for; you can't know how long they've been dead or how fresh they are. In your case, you know with ...
7
The parts that are inedible in an octopus of any size are the "insides" and beak. If you got it frozen, no need to worry about the insides but if you caught it yourself, you need to turn its bag inside out (it will fight but once it's inside out it will calm down!) and remove the white soft stuff in there with your finger.
The beak is the only hard bit and ...
7
That's abalone (鮑魚 bàoyú), a popular and expensive delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
6
If a third of a batch of anything is dead, I would expect the other 2/3 to be near death and taste accordingly.
6
Per
http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/clamstorage.htm
Do not freeze clams in their shells. To freeze clams, shuck them,
being careful to save their liquid. Rinse with salt water (1
tablespoon of salt to 1 quart of water), and place in a container with
the reserved clam liquid and additional salt water so they are
completely covered. ...
6
There's no fixed number, as you have too many other variables:
How big are the people eating? (athletes are going to eat more than kids or people on diets)
What are they being served with? (If it's just a table filled w/ crabs, they're going to eat more than if you have other side dishes available)
How experienced are the people with eating crabs? (Some ...
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