Transcript SHELLFISH - School Town

SHELLFISH
MOLLUSKS AND
CRUSTEACEANS
Shellfish
• are distinguished from fin fish by their hard outer
bodies and their lack of backbones or internal
skeletons
• Two classifications:
• 1. Mollusks soft sea animals that fall into 3 categories
– Three types:
• Bivalves : have a pair of hinged shells (clams and oysters
• Univalves: single shell (abalone and conch)
• Cephalopods:
• 2. Crustaceans have segmented shells and jointed legs
MOLLUSKS
Most important in commercial kitchens:
Oysters
Clams
Mussels
Scallops
Squid
Octopus
Oysters
Characteristics:
1. Have rough, irregular shells. Bottom shell
slightly bowl shaped. Top is flat
2. Flesh is extremely soft and delicate and
contains high percentage of water
3. Are available year round but are best in fall and
spring! Locally harvested only in months
containing an R
4. Four main varieties: depending on point of
origin. Dozens of sub varieties depending of
location; flavor also related to area
Four main varieties
• EASTERN
• OLYPMIA
• BELON
• JAPANESE OR PACIFIC
EASTERN
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KNOWN BY MANY LOCAL NAMES:
Bluepoint, Box oyster (LI),
Chesapeake bay, Chincoteague (VA),
Cotuit (Nantucket),
Kent Island, Patuxent (MD),
Malpeque (Prince Edward Island, Canada),
Apalachicola (FL),
Breton Sound (LA),
Wellfleet (MA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spg6XZSJE0s
Click and open
link to see how to
shuck oysters
OLYPMIA
• Very small, from
pacific coast
BELON
• European oyster now
grown in NA
• Shells are flatter than
most eastern types
• Properly European Flat
Oysters
• Belon reserved for those
grown at mouth of Loire
river in France
• Prized for briny taste
JAPANESE
OR PACIFIC
• Usually large oysters
• The much smaller
Kumamoto is same
species
Oyster market forms
• Live, in the shell
• Shucked or fresh frozen, are
graded by size
• Canned—rarely used in food
service except as smoked canned
Checking freshness
• Oysters in the shell must be alive to be
good to eat. Tightly closed shells or
shells that closed when jostled, indicate
live oysters. Discard open ones as they
are dead and should not be consumed!!
• Live or shucked oysters should have a
very mild, sweet smell. Strong odors
indicate spoilage
Storage
• Keep live oysters in a cold wet place in the
cartons or sacks in which they arrived. They
should keep at least 1 week.
• Bag tags must be saved for 90 days from
time of arrival in case someone gets ill.
• Fresh shucked in original container in
refrigerator at 30 to 34F.
• Keep frozen in freezer at 0F or colder until
ready to use. Thaw in frig for 24 hours.
Oyster cooking
• Cook just enough to heat through
to keep oysters juicy and plump.
Overcooking makes them
shrunken and dry
• Cooking methods: poaching,
deep frying, baking on half shell
with toppings, in soups and stews
Clams
Two major types of clams from east coast of NA:
hard and soft shell clams
Hard Shell clams or quahogs go by different
names depending on size;
Littlenecks are smallest; usually type eaten raw or
steamed
Cherrystones medium sized, most common
Chowders largest also called quahogs; tough can
be chopped for chowder or into strips for frying
West Coast also has local varieties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsddhF_a3lM&feature=related
Soft shell clams
• Commonly called
longnecks because of
long tube that protrudes
from between shells
• Also called steamers
because of how they are
cooked and served with
melted butter for dipping
• COCKLES
• Not actually clams but
they look like tiny ones
• Cooked like clams almost
always served in shells
Market forms
• Hard clams: live, in the shell; shucked, fresh or
frozen; canned whole and chopped
• Freshness: same as oysters: must be alive,
shucked should smell fresh
Storage:
• Same as oysters
Cooking:
• Become tough and rubbery if overcooked
• Steam until just opened
• Methods: steaming, poaching, deep frying,
baking on half shell with toppings, simmering in
soups and chowders
Mussels
• Common small black or dark blue/purple in
color
• Shells not as hard as clams so need care in
handling or will break
• Flesh is yellow to orange in color, firm but
tender when cooked
• Green mussels from NZ are larger and
command premium price. Always sold on
half shell frozen in USA
Market forms
• Sold alive in shell same rules apply
as with clams and oysters: must be
alive
• Shucked are sold packed in their own
liquor or brine.
• Discard any mussels that float. Watch
for closed ones full of sand
Cleaning mussels
• Clean shells thoroughly: scrub well under
cold running water
• Scrape off barnacles with clam knife
• Remove beard, a fibrous appendage
protruding from between shells. Do not
do this until you close to using them
because it may kill them
• May be sandy if not commercially grown.
May be soaked in brine and corn meal like
clams to rid them of sand
Storage and cooking
• Store like clams and oysters but protect
from light and be sure to keep sack damp
Cooking
• Mussels are almost never served raw.
Usually steamed / served in their shells with
cooking broth, in soups, or chilled / served
with mayo type dressing
• Cook only until shells open and mussels are
heated through. Do not over cook
• Discard any that do not open
PICKING MUSSELS
FROM THE SHELL
MUSSELS BEDS
STEAMED
MUSSELS
ON HALF
SHELL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNUr-HOXwPg&feature=related
Open link change to 480 instead of 360 better viewing and
full screen is almost 10 minutes long but very good
SCALLOPS
Characteristics:
• Almost always sold shucked
• Only part we eat is side inductor mussels that hold
shells closed
• If shucking your own leave side orange mussel ( coral
roe) attached
• Two main types:
• Bay scallops: small delicate, expensive (32-40/#)
• Sea scallops: larger not as delicate but still tender unless
overcooked (10—20 /#
• Creamy white color sweet flavor
• Available year round but local in late summer early fall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYPZvkppFik&feature=player_embedded
UNIVALVES
• Abalone are small to very large-sized edible
sea snails
• Flesh (the adductor muscle) of abalones is
widely considered to be a desirable food
• Various larger species of abalones have been
exploited commercially for food to extent that
many populations are now severely threatened.
• Highly iridescent inner nacre layer of shell of
abalone has traditionally been used as a
decorative item in jewelry, buttons, and as inlay
in furniture and in musical instruments such as
guitars, etc.
Conch
• Second in popularity only to escargot for edible
snails, "meat" of conch is used as food, either
eaten raw, as in salads, or cooked, as in fritters,
chowders, gumbos, and burgers.
• All parts of conch meat are edible. Some people
find only white meat appetizing.
• In East Asian cuisines, is often cut into thin
slices and then steamed or stir-fried.
• Bahamas and West Indies in general, local
people eat conch in soups (commonly Callao)
and salads.
CEPHALOPODS
• Means “head-foot” referring to the fact
that animals have tentacles or legs
attached to the head, surrounding the
mouth
• Most important in US are squid and
octopus
• Cuttlefish similar to squid found more in
Asian styles places
Squid
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On menus as calamari
Have ten tentacles two longer than others
Must be skinned and eviscerated
Head and beak and internal plastic quill
are discarded
• Hollow body and tentacles are eaten
• Somewhat chewy, it is cut up and either
fried quickly or simmered for about 45
minutes in seasoned liquid or sauce
Octopus
• Means eight feet range in size from less than on
oz to up many #s up to +100#s
• All are firm textured, even chewy but larger sizes
are usually considered too tough
• Requires mechanical tenderizing ( pounding) or
long slow cooking in court bouillon
• Cleaned by cutting off tentacles and discarding
head and beak and eviscerating body cavity
• Pull off skin may be necessary to par boil to
loosen it
• Skin reddish gray turning purple red when cooked
Crustaceans
• Most important of these are:
• Lobsters
• Rock lobsters
• Langoustes
• Shrimp
• Crabs
Lobsters
• American lobster, Homarus americanus, lobster
found on Atlantic coast of North America. Also
known as the northern lobster, Atlantic lobster or
Maine lobster.
• Thrives in cold, shallow waters where there are
many rocks and other places to hide from
predators and is both solitary and nocturnal. It
feeds on fish, small crustaceans, and mollusks.
• Found as far south as North Carolina, but is
famously associated with the colder waters around
the Canadian Maritimes, Newfoundland and
Labrador, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
and New Hampshire and also LONG ISLAND
CHARACTERISTICS
• MOST PRIZED OF ALL SHELLFISH
• LARGE FLEXIBLE TAIL WITH FOUR PAIRS OF
LEGS AND TWO LAARGE CLAWS
• It is dark green or bluish green until cooked when it
turns red
• Meat from tail, claws and legs is eaten
• White sweet meat with distinctive taste
• Claw meat considered especially good
• Coral (roe or eggs) which is dark green turns bright red
when cooked
• Green tomalley (liver) found in thorax is also eaten
Classified by weight
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Chick = 1 #
Quarters = 1 ¼ #
Selects = 1 ½ to 2 ½#
Jumbos = over 2 ½#
Over 20# are caught but rare
1# lobster yields approx 1/4 # meat
Some customers prefer females so they get coral
legs closest to tail are flexible in female and hard
in male
• Must be alive to use indicated by leg movement
• Sleepers (dying lobsters) should be cooked off
ASAP
Handling
• Live are either cooked alive or cut up before
cooking (broiling or sautéing)
• Live should be plunged head first into boiling
water to kill them then simmered 5/6 mins /#
served hot drained well and tail split and claws
cracked for easier use by customer
• If splitting or cutting up insert knife through back
above eyes and cut down towards tentacles to kill
by brain death
• Are considered done when flesh has become
white and coral has turned red
Storage
• Pack in seaweed or covered with moist
heavy paper like old newspapers in a
cool place
• Salt water holding tank used for display
• Remember lobster when being held live
on their own stored muscle mass and it
breaks down after week-10 days once
their claws are banded
• Become very tough if over cooked!!!
In the water
Pair of ten pounders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ndw8upyJKo&feature=related
Rare blue lobster
always found in
extremely cold waters
Cooked lobster
Rock / Langoustes or spiny lobster
• Found in warmer waters
• If you by lobster tails you are buying tails from
these lobsters since they have no claws
• Meat similar to Maine lobsters but is drier and
coarser with less flavor
• Tails weigh between 2 to 12 oz
• Langoustines or langostinos are smaller
relatives and also marketed as rock shrimp (just
tail meat)
• Scampi in Europe is really a variety of
langostinos from Italy but has come to mean
other things as well
Spiny are cooked by same methods as regular lobsters but
tails may be broiled, baked, steamed or sautéed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UqKRGW6_rw
Crayfish/ Crawfish or crawdads
• Are freshwater crustaceans resembling small
lobsters, to which they are related.
• They breathe through feather-like gills (as do
lobsters) and are found in bodies of water that do
not freeze to the bottom; they are also mostly
found in brooks and streams where there is fresh
water running, and which have shelter against
predators.
• Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water,
although some are more hardy.
• Crayfish feed on living and dead animals and
plants and are a favorite food of trout
Crayfish are eaten all over the world
• Only small portion of a crayfish is
edible. In most prepared dishes, soups,
bisques and étouffées, only tail portion
is served.
• Claws of larger boiled specimens are
often pulled apart to access meat
inside.
• Favorite is to suck head seasoning and
flavor can collect in fat of boiled
interior. Popular double entendre laden
from this practice: "Suck the head,
pinch the tail"
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads
Louisiana supplies
98% of
the crayfish
harvested
in the United States
Open link to learn how to
eat crawfish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqWipLPv9lw&feature=fvw
Shrimp
• Live in schools swim rapidly
backwards.
• Shrimp are an important food source
for larger animals from fish to whales.
• They have a high tolerance to toxins in
polluted areas, and may contribute to
high toxin levels in their predators.
• With prawns, shrimp are widely caught
and farmed for human consumption.
Shrimp typically have two
pairs of claws, and the
second segment of the
abdomen overlaps the
segments on either side. The
abdomen shows a
pronounced bend.
Prawns typically have three
pairs of claws, and even-sized
segments on the abdomen.
There is no pronounced bend in
the abdomen
Shrimp Cocktail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjxVoKODnGg
Blue Claw Crabs
• Undergo a seasonal migration
• After mating female crab travels to southern
portion of the Chesapeake, fertilizing her eggs
with sperm stored up from the last mating months
or almost a year later.
• In November or December, female crab releases
her eggs.
• Crabs hatch in a larval form and float in the
mouth of the bay for four to five weeks, then the
juvenile crabs make their way back up into the
bay.
• Blue crab meat is available year-round in the
pasteurized form, live crabs are seasonal and
much more plentiful during the warm water
months of the year.
• Fresh or pasteurized cooked crab meat is usually
available for purchase as lump, flake, or claw
meat: lump meat consists of whole lumps from
the large body muscles which operate the
swimming legs; flake meat consists of small
pieces of white meat from the body; claw meat
consists of a brownish tinged meat from the
claws.
Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland / Virginia
• Famous for its blue crabs, one of the most important
economic items harvested from it
• Yearly combined harvest of blue crabs was valued at
around 100 million US dollars. Over years harvests of
blue crab dropped; combined harvest was around 45
million dollars.
• Blue crabs remain a popular food in Chesapeake Bay
area, Bay is not capable of meeting local demands. Most
whole blue crabs sold in restaurants in Maryland are
shipped into the region from North Carolina, Louisiana,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas and many
crabcakes are made of crabmeat imported from overseas
especially Mexico and Venezuela.
• Phillips Seafood, began as a crab shack in Ocean City,
Maryland, actually imports a Southeast Asian crab, an
industry there that employs about 15,000 people.
• In the past US crab meat was picked and processed by a
labor force comprised almost exclusively of AfricanAmerican females. They received transportation to and
from work usually on old school buses and were paid by
the picked pound with company coins or chits which
could be converted to cash at the week's end.
• That labor force in the US has today been replaced by a
Latin American female work force. Some seafood shops
being socially sensitive offer crab meat processed both
in the US and in Latin America the differences in the
quality of the two products being little to none; the Latin
American product being about $2.00 a pound less
expensive.
Grading (Sizing)
• There is no industry standard for grading hard crabs. For
instance, a crab that is graded "large" in the lower
Chesapeake Bay region would be graded "medium" in
the upper regions. Use the following as a general rule:
• Colossal - Hard crab measuring 6 ½ inches or more.
Jumbo - Hard crab measuring 6 to 6 ½ inches in size.
Large - Hard crab measuring 5 ½ to 6 inches in size.
Medium - Hard crab measuring 5 to 5 ½ inches in size.
Small - Hard crab measuring 4 ½ to 5 inches in size,
usually females.
• Note: In most states there is no minimum size for keeping
mature female crabs (sooks). This is because it is
generally accepted that female crabs cease to molt
following maturity, thus they remain the same size
throughout the remainder of their lives. It is illegal to
keep immature female crabs.
Other types of crabs
• Alaskan king crab: largest crabs weighing from 6
to 20#. Meat can be removed in large chunks ,
making especially attractive to serve in restaurants!
It is expensive!!
• Alaskan Snow crab: smaller than king. Often used
as less expensive alternate. Legs come in clusters
• Dungeness crab: another west coast crab sold as
whole cooked crabs. Meat very sweet
• Soft shell crabs: actually molting blue crab,
harvested before hard shell re-grows. It is usually
sautéed or breaded and fried after gills and face are
removed. Eaten entirely
Alaskan King Crab Legs
• Alaskan King crab legs are succulent, mildly sweet and
tender, with snow-white meat with highlights of bright
red. Taken from the very finest king crab harvested from
the icy waters of the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean,
king crab legs come fully cooked and are easily and
quickly prepared by steaming, boiling or baking.
• King crab legs are cooked at sea where they are caught
and flash frozen aboard the fishing vessels to protect their
flavors. Frozen cooked crab legs may be steamed or
microwaved. Place them frozen over boiling water and
steam them covered tightly for 6 minutes. Or place the
frozen crab legs in the microwave covered with a damp
towel and heat on defrost for 5 minutes. Brush with
melted butter, season to taste and serve with cocktail
sauce.
What they try to
harvest on deadliest
catch
Dungeness crab
• Crabs are sexually mature and active
breeders after their second year and grow to
the legal harvest size (6 ¼" across the shell
back) in roughly four years.
• By not harvesting sexually mature but
undersized male crabs so that they can breed
with female crabs (which are never
harvested), the reproductive capacity of the
population is protected.
• Dungeness crab can live in excess of 8 years
and reach a size of 9-plus inches.
Alaskan Snow Crab Legs
• Snow crab is somewhat similar in appearance, but
smaller than the king crab.
• As snow crab is sold and pre-cooked, it needs to only
be thawed for chilled applications, or thawed and
heated for hot applications.
• Split legs are best prepared broiled, grilled or served
cold as an appetizer. Whole legs and clusters are best
steamed or sautéed as an entrée.
• Snow crab meat is very good in omelets, crepes,
quiches, soups, salads, pastas and casseroles. A
convenient appetizer is the cocktail claw, cap removed
and ready to eat.
• Any part of the snow crab can be used to make a dish
more visually appealing.
Soft-shell crabs are one of America's
favorite seafood delicacies
• The blue crab is the only commercially available soft-shell
product. The scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, is derived from
Latin and Greek. Calli = beautiful; Nectes = swimmer; sapidus =
savory. The translation is not only accurate but surprisingly
poetic—the beautiful, savory swimmer.
• Blue crabs grow rather rapidly, 12 - 18 months, from the juvenile
stage to adulthood. A full-grown blue crab will measure nearly 8
inches across.
• During its lifetime the blue crab will go through several growth
stages.
• In order for a blue crab to lose its shell, the body of the crab
physically grows 30%. T
• he commercial crabbers will harvest the blue crab and place it in
floating tanks according to its expectant shed dates.
• The crab expert looks for a faint line next to the
crab's paddle-like finlet (backfin).
• The color of this line will determine when the
crab is about to shed its shell.
• What crabbers refer to as a "green" crab is a crab
that is just entering the shedding stage.
• The "green" crab will have a white line on the
backfin and will most likely shed its shell in
approximately 7 - 10 days.
• If the line is pink, the crab is likely to shed within
2 days and probably not longer than one week.
• If the little line on the backfin is red the crab is
likely to shed its shell at any time.
Soft-shells: 5 basic sizes
SIZE DIMENSIONS AVERAGE WEIGHT
DOZENS PER TRAY DOZENS PER
CASE as follows:
• Whales: 5 ½ inches + 5.9 oz
2
• Jumbos: 5 - 5 ½ inches 4.5 oz
3
• Primes: 4 ½ - 5 inches 3.3 oz 4
• Hotels: 4 - 4 ½ inches 2.5 oz 5
• Mediums: 3 ½ - 4 inches 1.8 oz 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UocMvHT560s&feature=ch
annel
Miscellaneous seafood
• Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails,
usually served as an appetizer. The word
is also sometimes applied to the living
snails of those species which are
commonly eaten.
Lt: meat
out of shell
Rt: Meat
cooked in
the shell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YZJt_Bw3eo&feature=related
Frogs’ legs
• Frogs' legs are one of the
better-known delicacies of
French and Cantonese cuisine
• Also eaten in other regions,
such as Caribbean, Alentejo,
in Portugal, northwest
Greece, Piemonte in Italy,
Spain and the Midwest and
southern regions US.
• A type of frog called the
edible frog is most often used
for this dish.
A bag of frogs legs
from Vietnam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8ljarENVs&feature=related
Frogs’ legs
• They are often said to taste like chicken
because of their mild flavor, with a texture
most similar to chicken wings
• Frogs are raised commercially in certain
countries, e.g. Vietnam. Frog muscle does not
resolve rigor mortis as quickly as warmblooded muscle (chicken, for example), so heat
from cooking can cause fresh frog legs to
twitch
Surimi
• Surimi Japanese: 擂り身 (literally "fish
puree or slurry") is a Japanese loan word
referring to a fish-based food product
intended to mimic texture and color of meat
of lobster, crab and other shellfish.
• Typically made from white-fleshed fish
(pollock or hake) that has been pulverized
to a paste and attains a rubbery texture
when cooked.
A tub of
uncured fish
surimi ready
for finishprocessing
Surimi
• In many Asian cultures and is available
in many shapes, forms, and textures
• Most common surimi product in
Western market is imitation or artificial
crab legs.
• Often is sold as sea legs and krab in
America, and as seafood sticks, crab
sticks, fish sticks or seafood extender
Surimi in various forms; really they look artificial