Posted on 07/01/2013 4:54:57 AM PDT by Makana
BOSTON—Scott Segal considers himself an adventurous eater committed to seafood from local sources. But even he got a little squeamish about the Cape Cod Blood Cockle on his plate at Area Four, a Cambridge, Mass., restaurant.
A local clam that is typically banished from New England menus because, true to its name, it is filled with blood-red goop, the cockle was coated with a spicy rub and served as part of a "Trash Fish" dinner hosted earlier this year by Boston chefs.
The event is one of many ways the local culinary community is promoting cooking with so-called underutilized species because of deep cuts in catch limits that took effect May 1 in New England for fish including haddock, flounder and, most painfully, cod, the official state fish of Massachusetts.
"Oh God, they've got to rename these things so they sound more attractive," says Dr. Segal, the chairman of the department of anesthesiology at Tufts University School of Medicine, and a guest at the dinner.
Nonetheless, he said he bit into the "really chewy" blood cockle dish, which came on a skewer. "If you closed your eyes, it was like a slightly fishy tasting beef satay," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Sadly, I have watched and participated in this decline for the past twenty years. I have real cause to fear this same mechanism applied to our Healthcare.
In Louisiana they just call it gumbo.
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I used to buy something called “Alaskan pollock.” Mild, tender, flakey, excellent with rice or in a seafood gumbo. And cheaper than anything but bologna. But I can’t find it anywhere these days.
I agree that this is mostly a bureaucratic thing and I somewhat think that it’s Obama’s effort to stifle the domestic fishing industry and make us buy from abroad, particularly Asia (where they appear to have no limits).
But that said, some of the “trash fish” is quite good (hake, pollock, etc.) and is eaten regularly in Europe.
Don’t forget that salmon was once considered a “trash fish,” suitable only for feeding to lowly creatures like apprentices and servants.
It makes you wonder what the menu will look like at Jean Georges and Daniel NYC when the country goes “full commie”. (Like “full Monty”, but without the accompaniment). The irony is that illegal immigrants ARE the New York City restaurant industry in —and no sooner than they get amnesty, the party’s over.
No more OVEN BAKED BLACK SEA BASS WITH SYRAH SAUCE along with—Oregano-Zucchini Millefeuille and Tempura Cipollini Onion Marmalade, and Green Peppercorn-Potato Duchesse!!Where will Lloyd Blankfein and Chuckie Schumer go to lunch now? Oh, the chickens will come home to roost.
That’s because most of the Fast Food chains use it for their Fish Sandwiches and the supermarkets sell it as artificial lobster meat.
I have a nephew who works for a lobbyist on this issue. It’s all about “sustainability.” That’s the buzz word.
Isn't that a past participle? (RIMSHOT)
Sea Robin is good tasting with a nice texture. But the head is about half of the fish, so a typical sized one doesn’t provide a lot of meat.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s there was a seafood restaurant in Plymouth (MA) Harbor with an excellent meal featuring their “catch of the day”. It would be something they caught of no known category, and they would work with it. It was excellent, always.
That’s their buzzword for everything: sustainable development, sustainable energy, sustainable water conservation.
It means we all have to live in a cardboard box, ride a bike, and crap in an outhouse. Meanwhile the Politburo and their banker buddies take world cruises at taxpayer expense.
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Tautog is a perfectly fine fish that also already goes by the name of ‘black fish’, which is perfectly marketable.
Blood cockles are probably another story altogether.
So was lobster.
Clever marketers will just come up with a new name for the Blood Cockle. Something like Atlantic Yumfish.
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