seafood debate

ChefDelicious · #1 12-25-2005, 10:24 PM

Need to settle debate with son-in-law. I make a dish that contains seafood of all kinds along with some fresh water fish. He thinks I'm committing a mojor no-no in combining the seafood with fresh water. I've done it for decades & no one has suffered to-date but if anyone knows of a hard & fast rule against combining the two, please let me know. I'd hate for him to be right but I can live with it. hehehe

Pierre · #2 12-26-2005, 12:09 AM

i grew up in new orleans where there's plenty of both FW and SW seafood at disposal. i can think of a few recipes where some freshwater fish is prepared with crab, shrimp, and/or oyster stuffing, all of which are saltwater specimens.

so i say, as long as your son-in-law keeps going back for seconds and no one gets hurt, you're doing the right thing.

tell us more information on the dish you are preparing, it sound interesting.

panini · #3 12-26-2005, 06:59 AM

when you say suffered, does he think there is some sort of health problem with mixing?
I've been mixing. There is some fish that go from salt to fresh and vice cersa.
I really don't know for sure though. heck, I'm on the sweet side.
pan

Pete · #4 12-26-2005, 08:05 AM

There are no health reasons that freshwater and saltwater fish can't be combined.

ChefDelicious · #5 12-26-2005, 08:30 AM

The dish is simply our family tradition seafood gumbo. I, too, grew up on the gulf coast. We have gumbo as a holiday meal either Thanksgiving or Christmas every year. It's jam packed with whatever variety of seafood is the freshest when you buy it. He's a land crab, so I don't hold him to task about his misguided, albeit, vocal opinion. Due to timing & circumstance, he was sent to purchase the seafood this year. (That won't happen again) Poor boy substituted cod for scallops (huh??!!), imitation crab & lobster meat (double huh??!!), and didn't get any oysters at all. I thought I was going to cry! Basically, this year it was shrimp & fish. It was tasty but not the same. Yes, he thinks there must be some health issue. He's an awesome son-in-law other than his critique and lack of knowledge of seafood. He's been in the family 8 years now and hasn't died yet. Not only does he go back for seconds, he eats from a serving bowl.......enough said!

Suzanne · #6 12-26-2005, 09:53 AM

Imitation crab?

Throw him out of the family!!!

Just kidding. But the boy does need some serious training.

Be gentle with him.

He's probably thinking of the issues with eating freshwater fish raw -- a major no-no. But as all the others have said (and as you clearly already know), with proper cooking, it's ALL good!

castironchef · #7 12-26-2005, 10:47 AM

I think that he needs to do penance, for his lousy purchasing and his vocal criticism of his MIL's wonderful gumbo.

For the next eight years, he's the dishwasher for family events! Maybe that'll learn him.

Pierre · #8 12-26-2005, 11:03 AM

GUMBO! here's what i learned a long time ago about what goes in gumbo:

anything that crawls, walks, swims, or flys,
and you can catch it,
goes in your gumbo.

same is true for jambalaya.

shroomgirl · #9 12-26-2005, 01:39 PM

LOL.....there's an old story from the Bayou that goes...."hundreds of years ago the city of New Orleans was surrounded by the English, a letter was written to the King saying, "Sir, we have them where we want them, they're food supplies have been cut off for weeks and they've taken to eating turtles, crawfish and other disgusting inedibles!"

Kinda like Brair Rabbit in the briar patch.....gotta love the Acadians and Creoles! they know how to have a really good time. They talk about food, if they are dining they are talking about that meal then future meals....Cajuns have seafood boils and cochon de lays (pig roasts) that last a whole day if not a whole afternoon/evening. There's a commraderie around food in the deep south that is not found elsewhere, I miss it and the wonderful romantic Acadian sing-song, mon chere!

Blade55440 · #10 12-30-2005, 10:41 AM

I think is the culinary world suddenly started going "Oh my god! We can't mix these ingredients! One is salt-water and one is fres-water!", we'd be in a WHOLE bunch of trouble, because I think that would kill a nice bit of creativity...not to mention some current ideas that are already out and about if you ask me.

Headless Chicken · #11 12-30-2005, 06:37 PM

Sounds a lot like my grandmother who believes nothing raw should ever be digested. She apparently freaked when my mother started eating a fresh salad!

Ma Facon · #12 12-30-2005, 07:43 PM

Personally I think this thread is a joke, I mean you can't be serious about the question of mixing fresh/saltwater ingredients.

Pete · #13 12-31-2005, 09:13 AM

I have seen much stranger questions.

Suzanne · #14 01-02-2006, 06:31 PM

Yup. We've had all kinds of questions here. Sometimes it takes my breath away, but then I remember that nowadays there isn't a lot of stuff being taught about food and cooking either at home or in schools. So I always assume it's a serious question and do my best to help.

I mean, remember that people used to believe that tomatoes would make you go crazy. (Well, I go crazy for perfectly ripe ones!

)

Blade55440 · #15 01-04-2006, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre

GUMBO! here's what i learned a long time ago about what goes in gumbo:

anything that crawls, walks, swims, or flys,
and you can catch it,
goes in your gumbo.

same is true for jambalaya.

There is this place up here in alaska that makes what I call the "primordial ooze gumbo".

They do a small bed of rice and then put the "ooze" over that to make their gumbo (tasty, you'd be surprised). But like you said "anythign that crawls, walks, swims, flys". They have whole crab legs, chicken wings, etc... I saw this and was surprised, not only that but it's got a great kick to it and is delicious.

I think all people should subscribe to that thought process (even if it doesn't present well heh).