Anyone here love fried seafood?

[Sasha Distan]

speaking of seafood....i still dont' get the whole "i don't eat meat but i'll eat fish" deal with the weird people...

 

if it's for moral reason, i define these people as hypocrites. fish feel pain, and most fish (which are trawl caught) die in the most inhumane way of any 'food animal' on the planet (imagine the uproar if we drowned all our cows). Just because fish aren't 'cute' a lot of people assume that their deaths, like the deaths of insects, do not mean as much as the deaths of lambs and bunnies.

 

we actually eat lots of meat and not a lot of seafood because it's so hard to get sustainable fish we can afford. if you can't afford free range meat, that sucks, but the only thing suffering is the animal that died. trawl caught fish is awful for the fish, and also destroys the ocean floor and habitat for thousands of other animals.

 

rant over.

[Cia]

if it's for moral reason, i define these people as hypocrites. fish feel pain, and most fish (which are trawl caught) die in the most inhumane way of any 'food animal' on the planet (imagine the uproar if we drowned all our cows). Just because fish aren't 'cute' a lot of people assume that their deaths, like the deaths of insects, do not mean as much as the deaths of lambs and bunnies.

 

we actually eat lots of meat and not a lot of seafood because it's so hard to get sustainable fish we can afford. if you can't afford free range meat, that sucks, but the only thing suffering is the animal that died. trawl caught fish is awful for the fish, and also destroys the ocean floor and habitat for thousands of other animals.

 

rant over.

 

And so speaks a fellow meat-eater, yet social thinker. We're very similar in my household. I eat animals. I even kill animals to eat them. But then again, I like knowing where my meat comes from and how it's processed. My husband and I grew up around farms, it's natural to us, but many people find it odd that we oppose things like veal and lamb, as well as other types of inhumane food practices.

 

Usually the only fish cooked in this house is what we've caught ourselves. With fishing poles--no nets. Growing up I've eaten just about anything you can get in the Pacific NW, fried. That's just about the only way my dad knew how to cook it. Now, the hush puppies with leftover batter were good, but bleh on the fish. There's only so much salmon, sturgeon, steelhead, trout, bass, bluegill, croppie, catfish, etc... a girl can eat!

 

.

[Irritable1]

Speaking of New England, here's the bit in Moby-Dick that always makes me so hungry I have to take a break:

 

 

Upon making known our desires for a supper and a bed, Mrs. Hussey, postponing further scolding for the present, ushered us into a little room, and seating us at a table spread with the relics of a recently concluded repast, turned round to us and said—"Clam or Cod?"

"What's that about Cods, ma'am?" said I, with much politeness.

"Clam or Cod?" she repeated.

"A clam for supper? a cold clam; is THAT what you mean, Mrs. Hussey?" says I, "but that's a rather cold and clammy reception in the winter time, ain't it, Mrs. Hussey?"

But being in a great hurry to resume scolding the man in the purple Shirt, who was waiting for it in the entry, and seeming to hear nothing but the word "clam," Mrs. Hussey hurried towards an open door leading to the kitchen, and bawling out "clam for two," disappeared.

"Queequeg," said I, "do you think that we can make out a supper for us both on one clam?"

However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great expedition: when leaning back a moment and bethinking me of Mrs. Hussey's clam and cod announcement, I thought I would try a little experiment. Stepping to the kitchen door, I uttered the word "cod" with great emphasis, and resumed my seat. In a few moments the savoury steam came forth again, but with a different flavor, and in good time a fine cod-chowder was placed before us.

[Kitt]

Ok - now I don't want the chicken I have defrosted for supper - I want to make a run to the waterfront and get clams for chowder!

[Irritable1]

LOL, remember they must be scarcely bigger than hazel nuts. And where you're going to get the ship's biscuit I don't know! Still, a lot can be done with bacon... Oh god I'm so hungry...

 

Edit: Now, I will say that I've never eaten a fried clam that didn't have a bit of sand in it. I have a theory that in chowder the sand all sinks to the bottom or something. This liability doesn't arise with oysters, and they have a lot more flavor.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Irritable1

[Kitt]

old restaurant trick - buy the clams a day early and put em in cold water with pulverized oatmeal. They eat the oatmeal, expell the sand and voila - no more grit

[TetRefine]

Vegans are just hypocritical idiots. 

[Irritable1]

Vegans are just hypocritical idiots. 

 

Now, now. Maybe it's my advanced age, but the ones I meet these days are very sweet and undemanding. 

[W_L]

Now, now. Maybe it's my advanced age, but the ones I meet these days are very sweet and undemanding. 

 

 

....At a Buddhist restaurant

 

 

Vegans are just hypocritical idiots. 

 

Matt, think about it this way, you get a few pounds tofu and split peas in a cheap supermarket for under 2.00, but a vegan goes to an all Organic place that charges them 10.00 for the same amount of food (Does not mean they don't use fertilizers or will get transplanted pollen from their all natural bees ). Youldn't shun them, but pity them fo getting ripped off by their grocers

 

-----

 

As for the suggestion of Chowda', You can't get better Chowda' than up here in New England, where we do it just right. New Orleans has their delicious seafood gumbo and New York has their monstrosity Manhattan chowder (Yuck, tomato were never meant to go with clams):

 

New England Choeda':

 

 

New Orleans Seafood Gumbo

 

 

And dead last Manhattan Chowder:

 

Edited July 21, 2014 by W_L

[TetRefine]

Sorry to say, but I definitely prefer Manhattan clam chowder over New England. Half my family is New Yorkers and the other half is New Englanders so I was fed both. Manhattan wins because New England always makes my stomach feel so over bloated any time I eat it.

 

Of course I would never admit this in real life where I'm from because I would be hung for treason.

[W_L]

Sorry to say, but I definitely prefer Manhattan clam chowder over New England. Half my family is New Yorkers and the other half is New Englanders so I was fed both. Manhattan wins because New England always makes my stomach feel so over bloated any time I eat it.

 

Of course I would never admit this in real life where I'm from because I would be hung for treason.

 

Treason! Hang him!    

 

Next thing you know, you will be showing us a selfie with a Yankee's Jersey at Fenway

[TetRefine]

Next thing you know, you will be showing us a selfie with a Yankee's Jersey at Fenway

 

Are you trying to get me publicly lynched on Yawkey Way?

[Y_B]

I wonder if dating a vegan means he won't swa....I mean...uhhh swat flies...yes. swat. flies.

[JamesSavik]

Once you've had New Orleans gumbo, you won't geaux back

[Tomas]

Once you've had New Orleans gumbo, you won't geaux back

When I lived in the French Quarter my favorite place to eat was the "Gumbo Shop" on St Peter St. between Bourbon and Royal Streets. They have some of the best Seafood Gumbo in the city. Ranks right up there with home made.

 

Damn, now I'm getting homesick!! 

[Irritable1]

 

....At a Buddhist restaurant 

 

 

I'm in California, epicenter for every restrictive diet on Earth. I tell you the vegans are mellower than they were... or maybe the bad ones have gone gluten-free now 

 

And maybe one reason I'm off the fried seafood these days is because I've got these locally:

 

 

Dungeness crab is cheaper and silkier than lobster, easier to prepare than oysters.  Get the water boiling and you're good to go.

[Sasha Distan]

 

Dungeness crab is cheaper and silkier than lobster, easier to prepare than oysters.  Get the water boiling and you're good to go.

 

aww but he's so cute! look at that little face!

[Aditus]

Aww he so cute, couldn't eat em. I'm with Samwise Gamgee: Po-tae-toes, boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew. Oh yes and fry em.

[Kitt]

Gang - if we stopped eating everything that "has a cute little face" we would ALL be vegans.  I am a carnivore! What was that saying that was so popular among the university set recently? Sorry- not sorry.

[Sasha Distan]

Gang - if we stopped eating everything that "has a cute little face" we would ALL be vegans.  I am a carnivore! What was that saying that was so popular among the university set recently? Sorry- not sorry.

 

I think the crab is cuter that the fluffy bunnies i shoot on regular occasion. look at him with his widdle clawses!

[Ashi]

Matt, think about it this way, you get a few pounds tofu and split peas in a cheap supermarket for under 2.00, but a vegan goes to an all Organic place that charges them 10.00 for the same amount of food (Does not mean they don't use fertilizers or will get transplanted pollen from their all natural bees ). Youldn't shun them, but pity them fo getting ripped off by their grocers

 

-----

 

As for the suggestion of Chowda', You can't get better Chowda' than up here in New England, where we do it just right. New Orleans has their delicious seafood gumbo and New York has their monstrosity Manhattan chowder (Yuck, tomato were never meant to go with clams):

 

New England Choeda':

 

New Orleans Seafood Gumbo

 

And dead last Manhattan Chowder:

 

Being vegan and eating organic are separate issues, but since sometimes they overlaps, so I'm going to mention both here.  Certified organic foods are more expensive because they're more costly to make.  Well, that's assuming they went through the certification process and the manufacturing plant is dedicated to making a particularly product only (e.g., you can't make olive oil with the same plant that makes peanut oil, since some people are allergic to peanuts).  That's why some foods in markets like Whole Foods are more expensive.  They did their research, so whatever you see on their shelves are certified by Whole Foods to be organic or allergent-free.  So customers don't have to their research, but you have to pay for the convenience.

 

If you are not allergic to anything, you can buy non-organic vegan foods without costing arms and legs.  But given how complex our food sources are, can you be sure your foods are really vegan?  Genetic modified soy beans for example, is a product of crossing soy bean DNA with fish DNA (that's why even insects and other herbvorous pests don't eat them, free farmers from using pasticide).  If you're vegan for religious reason, and you ate those GM soy beans, you're screwed.  Many restaurants probably cook their "vegan foods" in pans that seared lambs for previous customers... (I am not vegan, but my body has some reaction to lamb.  Not lethally allergic, but I know the frustration). 

 

So being a true vegan isn't as easy as most people think.  If you're just being vegan for the appearance, none of what I said matters anyways.

 

And do take a course on nutrition before turning into a vegan.  I just googled, soy beans and quinoa are the only plant products that contain all nine essential amino acids for proper human protein synthesis (we could the other twelves amino acids ourselves.  Animal proteins are all complete protein with all 21 amino acids, so you only need to eat smaller amount to get the protein your body needs).  You could die from malnutrition if not all nine are fed sufficiently.

 

And I ate all three soups you posted.  My Manhattan chowder is very yummy.  And I do love gumbo back in my work place.  So I like all of them.  Depends on who's cooking, of course. 

 

I think the crab is cuter that the fluffy bunnies i shoot on regular occasion. look at him with his widdle clawses!

 

You only need to be pinched by its claws once....  They ain't that cute.  They're all meanies....  LOL  But they're yummy.  These dungeoness crabs have been a little bit over-harvested.  I remember no one could catch them (except for the licensed commercial fishermen) for a while, so they could repopulate (and the same fate goes to tuna..., another yummy food that's endangered by overharvest).  At that time, if you came to San Francisco with a cage, you could only catch rock crabs and must release the dungeoness crab back to the bay.  Rock crabs' meat is much rougher....  And the shells are much tougher to crack, and the meat inside is so much smaller than dungeoness crab of the same weight....

 

Speaking of the cuteness factor of foods....  Bulls aren't that cute either....  I don't know how I got the idea bovines are peaceful creatures (must because I think they are grazing animals), but I only had to be scorn by them once to know they don't smile like the ones you see on milk cartons....  Actually pigs aren't that cute either.  What's wrong with farm animals these days?  Did someone put George Orwell in their head or something? 

Edited July 22, 2014 by Ashi

[Irritable1]

aww but he's so cute! look at that little face!

 

They don't usually look so adorably dismayed, but I would still spare them were they not so unspeakably delicious.

 

 

 

look at him with his widdle clawses!

 

LOL. Come out here and I'll show you a whole new way to appreciate them!

 

 

 

I am a carnivore!

 

Hey, the Glint brought me a live mussel attached to a rock, on the beach last week! She cooed over how great it was... and then asked permission to eat it. My vegetarian friend said, "Okayyyy, that's a true carnivore's thought process right there...." [for the record, I said to throw it back because it was under regulation size]

 

Do people fry mussels? 

 

Oh, and I have to defend Manhattan clam chowder. I have a theory it's descended from cioppino and it has to be judged by a different standard...

Edited July 22, 2014 by Irritable1

[Sasha Distan]

Speaking of the cuteness factor of foods....  Bulls aren't that cute either....  I don't know how I got the idea bovines are peaceful creatures (must because I think they are grazing animals), but I only had to be scorn by them once to know they don't smile like the ones you see on milk cartons....  Actually pigs aren't that cute either.  What's wrong with farm animals these days?  Did someone put George Orwell in their head or something? 

 

All animals are cute from the other side of a fence right? Someone tried to tell me that "oh well ,sheep are not as evil as rams right?" to which i needed to respond "And when was the last time you tried to wrestle one?"

 

Also, don't trust animals that smile all the time. Crocs and dolphins - something's up with those guys...

[W_L]

I wonder if dating a vegan means he won't swa....I mean...uhhh swat flies...yes. swat. flies.

 

Damn you Banger! That's actually a good point against being vegan and gay ....

 

 

Are you trying to get me publicly lynched on Yawkey Way?

 

Nah, the lynch mob will catch up to you between Park Street and Copley, so you will get thrown in a pot of New England Clam Chowder on the Common

 

In Boston, Sports fans in this city are extremely fanatical, but New York teams seem to push the thing in high gear. Yankees, Giants, and Rangers are big rivals here. (As for the NBA, the Knicks are crap even compared to a much depleted Celtics bench, so we let them pass and focus on the Lakers instead  )

 

And I almost forgot, one last New England Delicacy:

 

Lobster Rolls:

 

[zaf89]

I just spent a week on the Carolina coast and consumed so much delicious, fresh seafood that I think I'm on a crab and scallop hangover .