Maine has record lobster harvest (Yum)

yahoo/AP ^

[nuconvert]

PORTLAND, Maine – Preliminary figures show Maine fishermen caught a record 93.4 million pounds of lobster in 2010 valued at more than $308 million.

[ApplegateRanch]

Langostina, not lobster, in Florida. Not bad, but not the same A-tall!

[JoeProBono]

[Daffynition]

Maine...

Alaska...tend to be smaller...

[ApplegateRanch]

[Daffynition]

They *sleep* with their eyes open.

[GOPJ]

Lobster will be cheaper than steak this year.

Yum, yummy...

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

Some folks think a Nova Scotia lobster is sweeter than one from Maine b/c the water where they are caught is colder. They are the same species though.

Not sure I agree one way or another...I buy them according to their shell, whether it is *hard* or soft.

There are those that say they like soft shell lobsters and say things like the following:
- Meat is so sweet
- Easier to bust open
- tastes better then hard shells

It is my opinion that hard shells are far superior. To me soft shells have the following problems:
- Flabby watery meat
- Lame flavor lacking that lobstery wonderfulness
- Less meat per pound in relation to shell
- Lots of water (which you are paying for) in the shell

[Roccus]

Never had the opportunity for soft shell lobster. Soft shell blueclaws (shedders) however.........

[BlueDragon]

Uh, the top photo is cooked Pacific Pink Shrimp.

The bottom photo is raw Spot Prawn, along with a few smaller banded shrimp of some sort which I'm not familiar even though I have seen many tons of the other two...

[Daffynition]

[BlueDragon]

Ok, I thought those which I didn't recognize may have been coonstripe. I was aware they were most commonly found in Alaskan waters. I haven't shrimp trawled further North than Monterey. But I've seen my share of spot prawns, along with more than few boat loads of pink shrimp. I used to see some side stripe come up in dungeness crab pots once one gets North of "the City".

Among other things in about 30 years of commercial fishing, I've fished on as crew, and skippered Gulf Coast origin double-rig trawlers on the West Coast. Used to shrimp in the Gulf too, many years ago.

I miss the prawn fishing, although I didn't eat all that many of them.

We used to get a few of what the locals called "California King" crab, which is much similar to Snow Crab (perhaps is, albeit far distant from Alaskan waters) incidental to trawling for prawns. The cooked and cracked crab, peeled or shook (extracted) meat would go into the huge dinner salads we would eat, just about every night.

They tasted very much like King Crab (been there, done that, too) just not quite as firm as Alaskan King, with a different texture being noticeably moister to the point of being almost a bit wet or runny, particularly before being well drained and refrigerated.

[mirkwood]

This guy lives down the road. He’s a lobsterman and has a private bar in his basement. Kinda nuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOeK15z4xc

[Daffynition]

Thanks. You made me nervous and questioning what the heck was I buying DownEast??? Gulf of Maine shrimpies....8-p.

[Daffynition]

The best shrimp I’ve ever had are the
Florida pinks, or gulf shrimp. I treasure those!

[maine-iac7]

nom nom - a little butter and lemon, please

[Fresh Wind]

How can it be that such an ugly critter tastes so good?

[Daffynition]

Most of what I don't like about Maine is found in Portland....two agreeable recipes for Maine shrimp >>>Maine shrimp is so delicious that it doesn’t need much tampering<<<

[maine-iac7]

re Portland - agree with ya on Portland. We like to keep most of the flatlanders down there.

I fix my bay shrimp 3 ways:
1. sauteed in butter, garlic and then add lemon.
2. on Shrimp Louis salad
3. Quickly steamed in shell and served in shell - to shell and dip in butter/garlic/lemon juice. (I just hate the clean up after cooking in shell - those feelers are everywhere and the sticky gunk on the pan is hard to get off)
But a big mess of them once or twice a winter makes winter go down easier ;o)