Locally Available Seafood

[mudbug]

Maybe I'm a little late to weigh in on this one, Andy, but almost all the shrimp in the local mega-marts here are tigers and I hate them. To me they are tasteless.

 

[AlexR]

Excellent post, Claire!

Claire,

I really enjoyed your remarks, which seemed so true!

Bubba Gourmet is obviously on your wavelength since he wishes to adapt to what's available in mainstream America.

What *that* means is to go on the assumption that *most* people will be buying frozen fish and seafood. For sure!

Best regards,
Alex R.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Well if you want fresh where I'm from that means going down to the Wabash River.....just a 1/2 mile from my house and trying to catch some catfish, blue gill, bass, walleye. However, I don't recommend it. Not sure what you might find in the water. Otherwise, head to the grocery store and see what frozen or what once was frozen seafood you can find.

 

[Claire]

Marmalady, of course you are right. When I lived on the east coast, we could find people who could sell us truly fresh shellfish. Often in coolers out of the back of their trucks. But we'd also get people who were telling us we were buying fresh mahi and tuna. AlexR, thank you for understanding exactly what I'm trying to say. The average person who is just going to their grocery store, and even many who are going to a seafood store, are still buying frozen and thawed stuff. So I prefer to buy frozen and thaw it myself. Yes, I have bought fresh .... that's how I know that most of what most of us buy fresh is really thawed. So buy frozen and save yourself a step. And if you can find someone who will sell you fresh lake and river fish (which should be available here) ... well, for the most part, if I don't fish it myself, it isn't available (and I don't care to fish). I get the opportunity to buy fresh trout or perch very seldom. So ..... back to IQF.

 

[Claire]

Don't you hate it when you write something and get a glitch and it disappears? Bubba, I'm just saying that if you aren't writing a regional cookbook, then you need to deal with the reality most of us have. Buying frozen beats buying thawed any day of the week, and most of what most of us deal with is thawed. Theoretically, I should be able to get trout and perch -- both are seldom seen, and even with a wide variety of friends, no one fishes enough to give/sell. Actually, I think the state has laws against individuals selling various game animals (be it venison or trout) ... a wise move, I suppose. If you're writing to the masses, then you need to understand what most have to deal with. In Hawaii I ate fish fresh off the boat. In New England great shellfish. My favorite Florida treat was rock shrimp. But even when I lived in those places, sometimes the seafood had been frozen on the boats before they ever hit the coast. Your average home cook is buying from their local grocery store, and usually that means something that has been frozen. Don't dismiss them.

By the way, I have a lobster gram coming on Tuesday. I'm so excited. Anyone ever get one? There is only one lobster tank in this area, and I won't buy from them because those poor little suckers look like they should have been thrown back, they're so sluggish. I haven't had lobster since my birthday, and that is one lobster in five years. Puh-leeze let them arrive alive.

 

[lyndalou]

Bubba,
Where do you live? I have a friend who ate shrimp at a wedding , became very ill and now won't touch seafood . She was told that she is allergic,and I am going to tell her about the STP dipping that you wrote about. Very interesting. She still won't eat the seafood, I'm sure, because as you say most of the fish is "soaked" in the stuff and there is no way of knowing for sure if what you are getting has or has not been treated with STP.

Is it just shrimp and scallops that they dip or are lobster, clams and mussels also dipped?

Thanks for the info.