joethefoodie

I seriously thought you had a listening room! Rubber Soul?

Paella last night, lacked a little oomph as I rushed it a bit...gotta really let your sofrito cook down slowly. Still good enough for a Monday night. With some steamed (possibly over steamed except for Sneakeater) cauliflower alongside.

You mean this... That same hack wrote about hyper local fish years ago. Locavore, Schmocavore

@Evelyn - there is a Whole Foods down in DC or environs (I can't remember which one it was) that I shopped at when we were part-time residents. Pre-Amazon, and they actually had a beautiful, well-tended and staffed fish department - like with one or two people who knew what they were doing. Lots of stuff from the Chesapeake, whole fish, crabs, you name it. I can't remember the last time in was in Whole Foods here (or in Gowanus), but I usually walk right by the fish department; I've bought decent salt cod when they've had it, and the frozen wild Florida and gulf shrimp were good. Otherwise, not worth it.

@Orik - that cure sounds good and easy. Probably works nicely for salmon too. Stealing it. @mitchells - of course I'd much rather work with fresh king salmon. I have noted a loss of moisture from certain fish cooked via certain methods...my current method of cooking yields much moister fish, and that's a very low (like 225℉) steam heat in the combi oven, for a very short period of time (like I'm testing it after 4 minutes). When I worked the North festival with all those chefs from Scandinavia, one of the chefs I worked with on his class was Frode Selvaag, from Norway. He was touting fjord farmed salmon and halibut. And one of his dishes was this "cold-smoked" salmon, he prepared in the oven. I don't remember exactly, but I think he turned the oven on to the lowest temp it could be, put a package of smoldering wood chips in the oven, and put the fish in at the same time. Roasted that fish for like under 10 minutes, and done. This hack of a writer even wrote about the whole festival. North Festival From the Inside

Of course - when they let you touch or smell them.

Sounds great. Nothing is silly at this point.

Happy Birthday! Many more.

Ooh, that’s good to know - thanks! When you cure it, just salt? The Pierless thing sucks. I remember there was someone at the USQGM I bought shrimp from - they were farming it in an old mattress factory up in Newburgh. It was better than I expected. But yeah, shrimp and the other fish you describe - for me, frozen works best for sure. Also agree about other fish from the general vicinity and how lousily they freeze. Won’t touch them. I’ve had a little bit better luck with cod, in bigger hunks.

My latest two batches (sorbet) came out really good. A (local) cherry/lime rum concoction. And lemon/lime, with a bit of gin, for a Tom Collins sorbet. planning on trying some corn syrup (non high-fructose) to see if that gets me closer to sorbet nirvana.

@Sneakeater - do you still listen to vinyl? And how, for example, would Pet Sounds on vinyl sound compared to Pet Sounds on CD, on your new system? Would you be able to tell the difference? See, my problem is twofold. Okay, multifold, like the paper towels I use. I don't have a dedicated listening room. I barely have room at this point. So if I (or anyone) were to buy this gorgeous amp, I'd still (obviously) have to upgrade every other component in my system, because isn't an audio system only as good as its weakest link? I think we're talking upper middle class now...do they still exist?

Let's talk for a moment about the pandemic, which has changed my buying habits dramatically. Others' habits I can't speak for. I haven't been to a farmer's market, where the seafood I'd occasionally buy (only whole body or shellfish) was good, since March. Clams and scallops were actually very good; were they guaranteed out of water the same day as posited above? No, because the only way I think that's possible (fish landed at 7 AM, sold to me at 3 PM) is to buy from a fisher when they return (like at their boat, or in the parking lot at the Rockaways/Jones Beach), or from a store at the docks...or just go fishing. I do think it's possible, however, to buy fish which was frozen the day it was caught. Let's talk for a moment about mere mortals (like me), who don't have access to the purveyors that someone in the food business might have access to. Even pre-pandemic, it was a very rare occasion where I'd shop at a retail fishmonger. Certainly I could pop in to a place like Aqua Best (god help me) to buy a lobster or a dungeness on its last legs...I never bought anything there by the way. Or the guy at Essex St. Market (actually, I liked the guy (no longer extant) at the old Essex St. Market, whose fish delivery schedule if you were on top of, you could get stuff as soon as it came in, so maybe 2 or so days out of the water). But where are those vendors getting their fish from - could it be Ludlow Street? Who knows? And that's where I stick with my convention that frozen fish is often better quality than that which is sold fresh. (Like would I rather have fresh Copper River King Salmon the day it's landed - sure!) But barring that, frozen Copper River King works for me. See I can't really do this these days, and even it weren't these end days, I am constantly searching for where to get the good stuff. Is it Pierless? Is it Greenpoint? Will they bring it to me and will it arrive in great condition? Tough questions in these times. @mongo_jones - yeah, it's pretty expensive. But at 8 lbs., the overnight shipping is included. The salmon (not smoked), halibut, tuna, and some shrimp I've tried have all been worth the price. @voyager - I'm neurotic enough about seafood that I would bring with me an insulated bag with blue ice, to keep the fish in for the walk home. I did that when I used to go to the greenmarket to buy seafood. Then he'd also give me a bag of ice, so the fish would be icy cold when I got home...just the way I like it.

Just go fishing.

One of the reasons I advocate for seafood properly frozen at its source (like Alaskan seafood from Great-Alaska), is because seafood sourced from those places is often much better quality than seafood touted as fresh, if that fresh seafood hasn't been properly handled. Which, in the case of fish once it has been landed, means keeping it fucking cold. So, after a walk on lower Ludlow Street on a 90℉ day, I will continue to advocate for the good frozen stuff. Because the fresh... Might not be all that fresh. I especially like the big mesh bags of clams/mussels sitting out there, not even iced down.

After a day (Friday) spent making dumplings, Szechuan, and Hunan food, Saturday night meant... A simple Japanese-style dinner. Rice in the donabe (note the small amount of socarrat), slow roasted Copper river salmon, a tomato atop red shiso leaves. Sunday was another prep day, to try and use up some of the crazy amount of herbs in the fridge. So... Mezze platters. Baba ghanoush. Tzatziki (not cacik this time). Olives. Crudité. Tabbouleh. A frankfurter and mustard. Baguette.