Text 36671, 119 rader
Skriven 2013-05-04 20:11:23 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: she sells shellfish 496
===============================
Hi Michael,

 ML> And I had haddock yesterday. It was actually good.
 RH> It can be good.

 ML> It's been so overfished out here that what we get usually
 ML> comes frozen from God knows where. This was fresh - came
 ML> out of the package fresh-smelling and almost appetizing
 ML> enough to eat raw. It was also $12 a pound. When I was a
 ML> kid, it was half the price of beef; now it's 1 1/2 times
 ML> as much or more.

Sounds like you did well--good fish market in the area?


 ML> Speaking of, my friend Jim is here from Rome to lecture
 ML> in various places - he flew in a couple days ago from
 ML> University of Oregon and is scheduled to present at MIT
 ML> Monday. I took him and my friend Link out to eat at one
 ML> of these fishmongers who got successful and bought out
 ML> the next door for a restaurant, so it's a bit rough and
 ML> ready, if you know what I mean. As it was a celebratory

Been to plenty of places like that. Today's lunch was at a table set up
on one of the streets in WF--annual "Meet in the Street" so we wandered
around a bit.

 ML> occasion, we ordered whatever our little hearts desired,
 ML> and the bill came to $75. Seafood doesn't come cheap.

And you don't want the cheap seafood. We've tried chains and decided not
to return to some of them.

 ML> Broiled scallops - not the sweetest but sushi fresh.
 ML> Came with lots of butter and crumbs, negating all the
 ML> supposed health benefits of seafood.

But the taste was worth every side effect. (G)


 ML> Fried clams - pretty good, fresh; not wholly de-gritted,
 ML> which is bad. Sizable, big-bellied, juicy. The coating was
 ML> almost crisp enough. It had celery seed in the seasoning
 ML> mix (I suspect South Shore Seasoning), which I do not favor.
 ML> The texture was not quite right; I suspect a somewhat too
 ML> low-temperature fry for slightly too long, yielding a
 ML> peculiar mouthfeel and a fair amount of residual grease,
 ML> negating all the supposed health benefits of seafood.

Sounds like those were less than great. Grit and grease is not a great
tasting combo.

 ML> Fried squid (aka "calamari") - I asked for all legs (aka
 ML> "tentacles") and got mostly legs. Pretty fresh, but the
 ML> bodies showed signs of having been treated in some way -
 ML> squid are not as popular as other seafood, even here in
 ML> the northeast, and some shenanigans are possible; also,
 ML> perhaps they are deodorized now, as they lack much of the
 ML> distinctive flavor that squid used to have. Coating and
 ML> texture as above, and I suspect a somewhat too low-temp
 ML> fry, negating all the supposed health benefits of seafood.

Sigh!

 ML> Jim had clam chowder, which was thick and "better than at
 ML> Legal's." The killer, pricewise, was his lobster roll,
 ML> the meat of at least half a lobster with some mayo and some
 ML> celery, packed into one of those New England hot dog buns.
 ML> The cost to me was a couple bucks more than the dish of
 ML> fried clams, which themselves are bizarrely expensive.

Sounds like those made up for the not as great choices.


 ML>  I don't know what kind the WF fire department used for
 RH> their fish fry last week but it was good also.

 ML> There are dozens of species that make perfectly fine
 ML> eating, from pollock to whiting to fluke to shark. Some
 ML> are still reasonably abundant and inexpensive.

Whatever it was, it was better than the fish we got at the United
Methodist Church fish fry a couple of years ago. This tasted fresher
too.


 RH> I'm allowed 45-60 per meal

 ML> Except when having a rice or pasta meal, I almost never
 ML> had that many back in the old days. Now that I am somewhat
 ML> extra sweet, my desire for vermicelli, brownies, and fruit
 ML> juice are greater than they ever were before. It's not
 ML> just orneriness, either. I think there's something in my
 ML> metabolic changes that causes my brain to say "sugar me."

We used to eat a lot more pasta and suchlike than we do now. Now I try
to build the meal around more veggies and meats, less emphasis on the
starches.


 RH> I've used panko but it can add carbs fast.

 ML> I think panko adds more crunch appeal per carb than
 ML> regular bread crumbs, but even being careful might not
 ML> do it for you. Tried mixing it with nut flour?

That's a possibility; I had a macadamia nut coated chicken at Sam Choy's
BLC once and it was good. Maybe try about 50/50 panko/nuts?

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... One of these days, I'll quit procrastinating.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)