seafood

I saw a prior fourm with seafood was deleted, it might be cool to start something for the non pros to read. I get lots of seafood questions regarding cooking, buying and finding some seafood. Seafood can be trickey to cook and there might be some culinary ideas / tricks to help the pros. Anyone gettin warm fuzzies over this?
Tom

OK then, I will stat with some of the dishes I like to make:

Carriabean Grouper - Black Grouper, Jullinne tri Color Peppers, Jullenne Onions, Garlic, Seeded and Sliced Jalapino (to taste), Fumet and Sherry wine. When you use a thick cut of Grouper you can braise this after pan searing and it looks great for plate up. I reduce the Sauce Quite a bit so it is almost a glaice.

I love Mussels and Clams - Cooked just about any ethnic style but I find that when you go out to eat quite often they are not taken out of the pan as they open, I feel this is critical to getting them out to ther guest nice and plump and beautiful, furthermore, quite often the sauces come out more like a soup (wich is fine in some styles of service) instead of a more robust and hartier apperance. Also on this sublect I feel that the herbs are added to early in some asian or Fresher Veggie types of preperation. Overall most places just do not pay much attention to steamers and mussels as an item that requires culinary skills.

Now I am off to an early lunch of Carved Roast beef and COLD Beer before the big storm.

Next I will discuss Frying - one of the best ways to make seafood!

Tom

OK, sorry I am back for a breef moment, the wife and I had a great afternoon! Dont look now but I think she is going to take advantage of me!
But on a food note I wil be back tommrow morning to post my food thoughts!
Tom

Good Morning! We have about 15 inches of snow so far in fromt of our house (I just measured) and it is still comming down! Looks like We will be staying home today! The basic NO fry breading used just about anywhere in the region is equal parts flour, cornmeal and cornflour (I have to special order this up in the north here, but is is essential to frying seafood perfect) seasoned how you like (lots of locals use tony Chaceries0 My basic Seasoning is Salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayene pepper, ground thyme and paprika. The cornflour at the Indian stores will do but the stuff in La is ......... more corney to me (if that makes sence).
The keys to good frying are GOOD clean oil, the correct temp, DO NOT overload the fryer and bread to order. Most everyone who has worked for me or with me at first thinks I am nuts. I will filter a fryer 4 and 5 times a day or even more! But once I show them how to fry seafood properly they get a whole different attitude, when done perfectly it is the best way to taste any seafood. I have gone round and round on this subject with many chefs (most who say is a basic broiling). But once I show them how it works and how it taste, I usually win them over. As all of you know when fried properly the food is actually steamed in its own juices and if served right away is crisp on the outside and wonderfully juicy and moist on the inside (wow this is starting to get a bit risque'!!!!! LOL).

Fried Oysters:
Drain the Oysters (save that Liquor, or **** just drink it!!!)
Scramble some eggs and season with whatever blend you want and add the oysters, let em soak in the fridge for a bit (at least ann hour)

When ready to fry (at home I have a good quality store bought table top that has an excellent recovery time, and I fry outside just so I do not stink up the house), heat the oil (I fry seafood at 360), the more the better as long as it is in the safety zone for spillage and splatter. Drain the oysters and coat them WELL in copious amounts of the breading (very important to not let the breading get to "wet", sift it and change it often). I cook no more than 8 - 10 good size counts (enough for a seriously stuffed 12 inch Po-Boy, the size that leaves you compelety oyster po-by satisfied but leaves room for a few dozen raw and some frostys). You let them cook for a bit then make sure they are all seperated and cooking evenly. they are done when they look nice and crisp but still plump (aprox. 1.5 - 2 min, in my fryer). When you remove them drain them breefly but DO NOT push, crush, squish prod or otherwise maul them in any way (keep them juices in so they soak into your bread!). For me I put mayo on one side of the bread, aproxmately 1/2 bottle of tobasco on the other , pound it full of oysters, some shredded Iceberg and tomatoes (if they are good, or=therwise I leave them out) and a bit of shaved red or sweet onions. Then I fold it up and Squish it just a bit to get the oysters flowing, take a long draw of a frosty and CHOW!!!!!!!!!
I do love mussels asian style (they carry the strong flavors well) espically with the formentioned thai prep (I have made them allmost exactly like that befor and they were killer shrommer!). Clams do not always do as well with that style (unless perhaps in a thai "Boulibasse").
Gumbo, in NO we make a red/black roux for seafood (the lightter the food the darker the roux is the rule of thumb). In the restaruaunt I make Peanut roux, red roux and black roux in the oven about twice a week and hold it in soup baines at room temp and add whatever color to whatever food as needed. In La you can buy "gumbo Crabs" esentially cleaned crabs that are light or "weak" and they are used along with the shrimp peelins to make the stock. Saute up your veggies, I cook 1/2 the Okra in the Veggie mix and add the other 1/2 when it is done., with your seasoning, add the drained and Strained Stock and stir in the roux at room temp (do not stop stirin till all the roux is disolved and the gumbo base is boiling again. This is your Gumbo Base, it should be pretty thick so when you add your seafood it will thin it out to the consistency you want when you serve it. Chill this in ice to below 40 as fast as possible.
To make 1 larege soup baine - heat the base to a boil, add Raw shrimp, crab claw meat, Raw oysters and the liquor and some okra. Bring just to below boil and put it covered in your hot soup warmer for about 5-10 more minuites. Put it in a bowl and top with some cooked rice (and soppin bread).

I love catfish just about any way (it with some shrimp makes a real rich gumbo, just cook some "sacrifical Catfish" peices in with the veggies and procide regular, when the time to add the seafood to the base comes use smaller peices of catfish and cook them a bit longer before you put in the shrimp and Okra) just remember to cut the dirty line out of the larger filets, it can make the fish tast "muddy).
The fried Mustard catfish is a classic and dam good! We did a Creole Catfish in NO where we marinated the filets in White wine Zatarans creole mustard and Seasoning for about an hour or two, drained it and ten you Press it in your seafood breading to make a hard crust and Panned it (finish it in the oven). The Culinary trick to this is to not crack the breading getting it to the plate, use a long spat. We served it on Blackeye peas and rice, when the customer cracks the crust it will be all steamey and wonderfull!
I saw a cool preperation of monkfish once. this chef took the raw loin of unifourm leingth, wrapped it in plastic real tight poached it then cooled it then sliced it in medalions for a Quick Saute, it looked awesome, nice and even peices and white!
YEs Peelers! Soft shell crabs to most folks. I like em BIG, FAT AND LIVE!
To clean em you snip off the face, pull back the side flaps and remove the gills and cut off the apron, DO NOT manhandle them Keep as much moisture in them as possible, if you are not a huge restauraunt, clean them and cook them to order. I like mine fried Crisp, as for other seafood, perhaps on a bed of seafood dirty rice or red bean and garlic mashed and lemon burre blanc or creole meuiner. Also Wonderfull on a PO-BOY or good Kaiser. I usually do not like them Sauteed, they just get to mushey for my taste and the textur is "weird). I did make and amazing Soft shell bisque once when I had a bunch of them, basic bisque, cooked the peelers in it, pureed it and pased it through a seiv then topped with Chives and Rice, unbeleivably rich but wow good!

It works great, it creates just a little Coating that lets the breading adhere a tiny bit better but still stays nice and thin / crunchy! the only problem is you have to really work the seasoning in to get it to not be clumpy.

Ra, sorry! that was probably the confusion! just scrambeled raw eggs seasoned.
Tom

Boiled and Steamed

I loved boiled Seafood as well as steamed. In New Orleans they boil Shrimp, Crab and Crawfish in a Courtbillon. They make it salty and spicey so you need lots of beer. In the Northeast they steam lots of stuff. I know they love old bay in Marryland and they put a little vinegar in the steaming liquid. In New england they use pretty much straight h2o and or layer with Seaweed. I have an insteresting way I make boiled Shrimp, it is a major pain but they do come out awesome.
I make a courtbillion with Zatarans boil bags, Tony Characies Seasoning, water, Salt and Cayene Pepper, I add some Garlic heads cut in half some onions cut in half and some lemons and oranges cut in half. Then I strain the mixture and take 1/4 of the broth and freeze it in hotel pans, and the rest I put in the walkin to cool. I take 1/2 of the cool mix add more veggies and if needed seasoning and cook the shrimp Shell on) in it just till they start to pop up to the top, never boil. The unique part is I Shock them in the chilled Courtbillion and shattered cubes and let them soak in dat, they retain lots more of the flavor and are really good. I will strain and recycle the broth several times before I toss it out and start new. I do use allmost excluseivly Bee Gee shrimp either 16/20's or larger so they still taste like Shrimp.
I have a friend down Plaquaiams Parish with a fish camp and his Grandpa use to cook fresh caught shrimp like this then take the leftovers and fry them in cornmeal breading for one of the best (and most unique) fried shrimp I ever ate!

They are the fatist in Early spring. Them suckers ship pretty good as long as they are not sitting in some warehouse for days. If you get them be shur to perge them several times in fresh water, they don't call em mudbugs for nothin! I have thought several times about doing a boil here but if you do not know hot to eat em proper it is a waste of $. It took me a few 10 pounds sacks to get it right, lol. We had an awesome boiling house on the west bank called Tony's they were on Manhatan street. In season they were .99 a pound, cooked, seasoned and steamin, I spent many an evenin sittin on the levy with a 10 pound sack and some frostys!
The potato salad is awesome, an old cajun use to make it at my place and he put Mayo, Zatarans, Creole Mustard, Tony Chacaries and about 80, 000 tons of fine diced scallion greens in it, and he would put the potato salad in his seafood gumbo (lots of the other old timers would do the same thing, they said thats how they ate in in the country.
When I eat shrimp I eat the whole thing shell and all (even the head if they are not to big) I always thought most of the flavor was in the shell, and it beats peelin em!

I crush em and make sure I get all the good stuff. I ordered crawfish one time up here, they did not know how to cook them and they were bland and just spicy, no flavor. I am probably going to break down this year and do a boil at our new house this spring. I will probably just do 25 or 30 pounds and a bunch of other stuff (mostly cajun, and BBQ). I throw a prety good fee Dodo Chere'! Nobody leaves hungry and most leave wit some groceries!
We have A company in Philly (canullies (sp) house of pork, god I just love saying that name!), who will bone a whole suckling and cook it and you get it whole and ready to go. When I first moved up here you could bring in your own seasoning and dressing and they would use it, Now they do not allow that, but perhaps with a bit of persuasion......................