How you dinner died
 

Restaurants take new steps to explain how fish is caught

By Katy Mclaughlin
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Oct. 17 — For years, “fresh or frozen” was the main question at a seafood joint. Today, however, restaurants are going to great lengths to tell you — right on the menu — how the fish on your dinner plate died. In Philadelphia, the White Dog Cafe’s entrees include Troll-Caught Alaskan King Salmon. The menu at Pazzo in Portland, Ore., lists Harpooned Pumpkin Swordfish.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/822306.asp

I hope they don't extend this marketing trend to beef, veal, and poultry!

I think this should go under the heading of "Waaaaaay tooooo much information"

[This message has been edited by pointsgirl (edited 10-17-2002).]

Well, if you go to a Chinese seafood restaurant and order "swimming seafood", they'll bring the critter to visit your table before it goes to the kitchen.

"Well, if you go to a Chinese seafood restaurant and order "swimming seafood", they'll bring the critter to visit your table before it goes to the kitchen."

You have to understand something here: Chinese believe in fresh food, so when we go to a seafood restaurant, we ask two questions (instead of just, "What do you have?"). First, we ask, What fish to you have today? After we hear the choices, we ask, Is it swimming?--meaning, literally, is it swimming, alive? They might bring it to you after they've taken it out of the tank. That's the only way you'll know it's truly fresh. You don't want fish that isn't swimming before they cook it, believe me. If you've ever tasted/smelled/felt ammonia when eating seafood, you know what I mean.

An acceptable second choice, if you're cooking at home, is to buy (dead) fish that is only recently dead and well refrigerated and kept.

There aren't too many varieties of fresh seafood that taste fishy. Mackerel in a sushi restaurant comes to mind. I gotta go eat!

Oh believe me, I know it very well. The trouble is in that believe is that I also see deep sea fish kept in surface level tanls and bloating or going blind as a result. I'd prefer a fish that died healthy rather than a sickly one in the tank. This doesn't seem to apply to prawns/shrimp. I remember being served a live one in a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo.

That said, I do remember going to an auberge north of Dijon once and ordering trout. The woman who took the order (and presumably the chef) said something to her husband who promptly flyfished 2 trout out of their old mill trout pond farm!

My favorite food when I'm in Hong Kong is drunken Prawns. I won't go into detail on how it is prepared, but it is a interesting show (they are suppossed to be prepared at your table) and tasts great.

I also love my food fresh (...) and I'm not Chinese (or Asian): I'm a gweiloo.
Not only seafood also poultry is best to get fresh: you select the chicken you think is good and it is butchered on the spot: great (especially since most shopkeepers are surprised I'm not shocked by the sight). http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

Good point Terenz, some of the tank kept fish do not have the "turnover" one would want for fresh fish.

Another tank kept seafood is lobster here in some midwest grocery stores. While I have not had bad lobster, the store kept lobster does not have that sweet sea taste to it like freshly trapped lobster does.

Go ahead. I want to see if it beat mine (hint: my prawn hadn't quite met its demise when it reached my mouth).

LOL

You know you are supposed to suck them (that is: suck up the alcohol) before you put them in your mouth... http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

Was yours dead? Mine was still twitching vigorously when picked up. It was ordered for me; I'm not into unnecessary suffering.

Normally the drunken prawns are prepared at your table. The prawns (still alive) are put in a glass bowl and Chinese wine is added. This waine is very strung stuff (upwrads of 40% or so). The prawns suck up the wine and start twitching (or whatever you might call it: quite a spectacle...). After a couple of minutes they are all numb/sedated by the wine. Finally they are boiled and served: by that time they are usually pretty dead.
I've been told (by locals) that the prawns don't feel anything, because the strong alcohol has a very quick effect on their brain (apparently because their brain is so small).
Anyway: not for the weak hearted.

terenz Are you sure nobody tried to play a joke on you?

Hmmm I am not saying there is anything wrong with this..all I know is I could not eat the prawns after watching them suffer like that.

Howdy,

This post MIGHT upset someone with a delicate stomach/sensebilities.

In reference to Lobster, be aware that just because they are alive doesn't mean they will taste good.

Lobster do not keep well - and if kept for more than a day and not fed (I have never seen a gocery store or chain resturant that feeds it's lobsters, legal might - buy they are a cut above most chains).

Anyway - if they aren't fed - they canabalize their own tissue metabolically. i.e. they shrink (not their exoskeleton - their meat). Along with this - by swimming in water polluted by over population (too many lobsters in way too small a space) they end up tasting funny (i.e. not clean and sweet).

Pakse's rule - you want lobster - head to the north east coast.

rule 2 - anything over two and half pounds can be tough - stick to the small guys - I prefer 2#'ers.

Just my two cents.

Keep the faith,

Pakse

p.s. Do shrimp actually have a brain? I did not think they were capable of thought, but that their nervous system only responded to simple imputs. Anyone know?

Anyone remember when at Fuddruckers you could see your cow and eat it too? For some reason they stopped that practice. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

Isn't at least beef supposed to have died several days/weeks before consumption?
I remember having dinner at a Ruth's Chris steakhouse and reading about how and when the beef is processed, part of it was letting the meat "rest" after the cow was slaughtered, it would make the meat more tender and less bloody.
Since the steaks at Ruth's Chris are absolutely superb I guess what they are talking about.

BTW. there is a word for this practice. English is not my mother tongue so it doesn't come to mind right now...

Wasn't that a Simpsons episode? http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

I belive the term you are seeking is "Dry Aged Beef

birdstrike

Hmm, they seem to have forgotten the above steps.

The guy ate the other prawn which was similarly "alive". So if it was a joke, he was playing it on himself.

Must have been a very remarkable experience terenz! http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

I've eaten drunken prawns at least 30 times in Hong Kong, both with locals as with other gweiloos, but they were always boiled and certainly dead.
My favorite restaurants to have the drunken prawns are the Wan Loong Court (basement of Kowloon Hotel) and Long Yuen (under the Holiday Inn on Nathan Road), both in TST. Maybe you should try one of these restaurants next time... http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...orum/smile.gif

BTW. I'm not sure I spelled the restaurant names 100% correct, about the locations I'm 100% sure.

Was certainly fresh.

Before the authorities banned it a few years ago, there was this craze about eating lived friend fish in Singapore. Might seem a contradiction but how it was supposedly dome was to put a live fish into oil up to its neck so the flesh cooked. Supposedly the fish was still alive when it was served to the diners.

I call it unnecessary cruelty.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Pakse:
[B]Howdy,

rule 2 - anything over two and half pounds can be tough - stick to the small guys - I prefer 2#'ers.


Actually, the above rule is a long perpetuated myth. Having lived in Maine and Massachusetts most of my life, I can assure you that large lobsters are in fact quite tasty and not tough, in fact they are the absolute best. Unfortunately they are exponentially more expensive than the smaller ones, and I think the prohibitive cost has more than anything else, lead to the perpetuation of this "sour grapes" myth.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend large lobsters. Just make sure they are fresh and haven't been in the tank long. Best to get them at a lobster pound or a retaurant that specializes in seafood that does such a good business that the stock is turned over daily or twice daily. Bon Appetit.

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hhonorman:

Quote:

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I highly recommend large lobsters. Just make sure they are fresh and haven't been in the tank long. Best to get them at a lobster pound or a retaurant that specializes in seafood that does such a good business that the stock is turned over daily or twice daily. Bon Appetit.

---

Yes they are best when you get them at a lobster hut or pound. We usually get them in Plymouth and the large ones are pretty tasty.

The Kobe beef restaurant I visited in Tokyo threw live shimp on the hibatchi. The shrimp literally wriggled until they died. The wriggling diminished my dining pleasure.

Nothing like fresh ceviche made onboard from conch and lobster you've just brought up with you from a dive.

I've had sashimi on liveaboards from freshly caught fish, but it usually tastes a bit odd...probably the difference between line-caught and net-caught.

A bit of a danger in this: sushi/sashimi fish are often flash frozen to kill off parasites. There's a chance that some worm or parasitic organism that burrows in a fish's flesh will surive your stomach and burrow into you (it can happen in salmon for one). Trained sushi chefs will look for the worms.

Ugh. Thanks for the tip, Terenz.

I'd heard that salmon always requires preparation because it's not strictly a saltwater fish, but that pelagic fish were okay. Taking no chances, however, I think I'll avoid all diveboat sushi from now on.

The marine worms can get into you - not all but some. If you see any clear translucent strands in ocean fish (often in cod), that's them.