Today's lecture was all about shellfish. There are three categories of shellfish: Crustaceans, Mollusks and Cephalapods.
Crustaceans are animals with bony outer jointed shells, such as crab, lobster and shrimp. When you buy crab or lobster raw, it should still be alive. There are Alaskan King crab, Dungeoness crab, Soft-shelled crab and spider crabs. Crab is most often boiled or grilled. You can tell when most shellfish is cooked because the meat changes color.
Lobster is considered the "king of shellfish". There was a time when lobster was considered the poor man's dinner because it was so plentiful. There are two species of lobster: 1. American/Northern lobster (these have large claws, are black and orange with sweet tasting meat) and 2. European lobster (these are bluish in color and less sweet). Lobsters that are 1 1/4 pounds or less are called "chicks". "Culls" are "less than perfect" lobsters (meaning they may be missing one claw or have a deformity of some sort) but still taste good. When presentation does not matter and you are only interested in the meat, culls are a cheaper choice than perfect lobsters. Lobsters have a liver which is called the Tomalley. It is not meant to be eaten. Lobster also has Coral(e) which is roe or fish eggs but different from other fish roe, therefore highly prized. Lobsters are generally poached, steamed or grilled, but never boiled, which results in tough meat.
Shrimp are the most popular shellfish. However, a shrimp is a shrimp is a shrimp. The only difference between a shrimp, a prawn, scampi or langoustine is size and where you are when you buy them. Prawns are large shrimp. Scampi is Italian for langoustine, it does not reflect how it is cooked. Langoustine looks like lobster but is actually a VERY large shrimp. There are several important things to know about shrimp: 1. They need to be deveined (although you are not actually taking out a vein, but the shrimps intestinal tract which runs along the back of the shrimp).
2. If shrimp are going into a sauce, you need to remove the entire shell as well as the tail. 3. Shrimp cocktail needs a handle, so leave on the tail when you remove the shrimp shell so you have something to hold on to. There are many different ways to cook shrimp.
Mollusks are soft bodied invertebrates inside a hard shell. There are univalve mollusks (abalone and conch) and bivalve mollusks (oysters, clams, mussels and scallops). When you buy mollusks, they come with a tag that tells you when it was taken from the water and where it came from. Restaurants must keep these tags at least 90 days in case there are problems with customers becoming ill from shellfish. Abalone and conch can be cooked either hot and fast or low and slow (stewing or braising). They are usually tough as there is only one muscle doing all the work.
Oysters are the most prized and can be fried, served on the half shell raw, stuffed, oysters Rockefeller, stews. Oysters can be found in many places-East coast, West coast and the Gulf. The difference in all these oysters is their terroir or environment in which they grow (sounds like grapes!).
Many of our mussels come from Prince Edward Island and are American farm raised. During the winter months, when the water is cold, shellfish are sweeter tasting than in the warm months. Mussels can be steamed, grilled, roast, just don't over cook them or they get tough and rubbery.
There are several types of clams: soft shell clams, which have a protruding neck; hard shelled clams which include littlenecks (up to 2 inches wide), cherrystones (2-3 inches wide) and chowder clams which weight 5-6 oz each (big ones!). Clams can be served raw, steamed, smoked but are best eaten from September thru April.
Scallops: there are two kinds-Bay scallops (small, from the Northwest) and Sea scallops, which are large. They can be sauteed or grilled.
Cephalapods are technically a mollusk that has a reduced internal shell. These include squid, octopus and cuttlefish. Squid is sweeter than octopus. Squid ink is also sold in small or large quantities and is used as a natural food coloring. This is what they use to make black pasta. Cooking method is either hot and fast or low and slow.
My friend, Kim, came for lunch today. Hot Plate made an Amuse Bouche. We made tomato pedals then placed a poached mussel on top of that that had been seasoned then mixed with pesto. We served it on a salad fork that sat on a plate. Very nice! One bite! GardeMo made crab cakes with Romesco Sauce. They did a GREAT job. You could taste the crab as well as the other things used to flavor the crab cake. In Hot Plate, I got to clean and fillet a grouper-it was a HUGE fish! Then I sectioned the fillets out to individual portions of about 6-7 ounces. We peeled potatoes, then shredded them on a special machine. We then wrapped the fish in the shredded potatoes (they were shredded but in long strands like spaghetti), then browned in clarified butter and placed in the oven to finish baking. We served the fish over a bed of sauteed spinach and green olives. Cris made a Rouille Hollandaise Sauce derivative to serve over the fish. It turned out well. Dessert was a frozen lemon souffle with a lemon curd center. Very light and refreshing after our large meal.
I came home from school and baked Lemon Bread and a Cinnamon-Walnut Coffeecake for the B&B. I will be baking for a wedding shower that will be held at the B&B on Sunday afternoon. My friend, Vicki, is coming to spend the weekend with me. Maybe she'll help!
Tomorrow we "dispatch" lobsters. We'll see what happens....
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