Fugu, or pufferfish, is a Japanese delicacy whose intrigue has to do as much with its potential hazards as with its actual taste. Fugu liver contains a potent neurotoxin with no known antidote, so licensed fugu chefs must undergo years of rigorous training to seperate the toxic bits from the rest of the flesh. Consuming the liver is completely forbidden. Still, several people die every year from eating improprly prepared fugu - victims remain conscious while becoming completely paralyzed.
Now, Japanese fish farmers have bred a non-poisonous fugu and are trying to get the right to serve its liver, which is said to be even tastier than foie gras. But they're meeting resistance from government officials, who claim it may not be safe, and angering traditional fugu aficionados who say without a risk of death, eating fugu is just no fun. Which frankly, seems like a dumb argument to me. My father and brother ate at a renowned fugu restaurant on a recent trip to Japan, and reported that, while delicious, it was nothing extraordinary. As in, nothing worth dying over. So why not allow toxin-free fugu and get your kicks skydiving, or disarming land mines, or wrangling crocodiles?
The old story was that expectant mothers should eat fish to help their growing babies' brains. Then we heard that eating fish was dangerous to the health of the baby. If you're pregnant, no fish!
Obviously, fish was never really bad for expectant mothers; it was simply that some certain types of fish that had high levels of mercury. All the news about "fish," "mercury," and "pregnancy" must have been confusing. The most recent research doesn't seem to sound like anything new, just a reminder that fish is, in fact, good for the brain, as "Preschoolers whose mothers regularly ate low-mercury fish during pregnancy may have sharper minds than their peers...Researchers found that among 341 3-year-olds, those whose mothers ate more than two servings of fish per week during pregnancy generally performed better on tests of verbal, visual and motor development."
Just remember that it's fish with low levels of mercury, so make sure you do your homework.
Wine bars are multiplying in New York like Starbucks circa 1997, and they've got good food too! Is this really new?
Increasingly discriminating undergrads are prompting college dining halls to revamp their menus, offering sophisticated choices like curried butternut squash soup and à la carte lobsters. I knew I should have deferred a couple years!
Everyone's going crazy for cachaça, a Brazilian sugar cane liquor.
Traditional French food is back at upscale New York restaurants. Hello again, pâté en croûte.
The Boston International Seafood Show is being held starting tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 24 and going through Tues. 26, 2008. The event is located at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center from 10am-5pm on the 24 & 25th, 10am-3pm on the 26th. This is the largest seafood show in North America. If you love seafood and are within a few hours drive of Boston then this is where you should be over the next few days. You will see every type of fish and shellfish there is on display. Experience all the new seafood based products, try samples of value added goods like smoked fish, chowders, pate's, dips, gourmet items, you name it.
I have heard about the show for several years and just haven't been able to schedule it in. This year I gave it top priority and I am going to be joining one of Maine's top, multiple award winning chefs, Carl Johnson, owner of what is one of the best smokehouses on the East Coast, Grindstone Neck of Maine and The Fishermans Inn & Restaurant, both located in Winter Harbor, ME. Carl has been written up in several magazines and newspapers. Last year his incredible smoked crab claws were near the top of the list of Saveur Magazines Top 100 2007. Over the past few months I have been chatting with him as he develops new products. Late last fall he told me about his foray into cold smoked uni. he had made a batch and thought it was really good, but didn't see much of a local market. For New Years I asked him to make me a batch and he graciously did. I coordinated a special event at a local Sushi restaurant where we served this paired with a sweet potato shochu, an elegant Japanese spirit, to huge success. Now I will be delivering some of this incredible product to several restaurants in NYC so they can try it, as well as the test kitchen of one of the best food magazines in the country. Expect to hear more about Grindstone Neck of Maine's cold smoked uni.
I look forward to exploring what is happening in the world of seafood with Carl. I couldn't ask for a more knowledgeable guide. Half chef / half molecular gastronomist, he is sure to have valuable insight into the show. See you there!
Apparently, a year-and-a-half later, the problem is still around. The Statesman Journal is reporting that restaurants in many parts of Florida are still passing off Asian catfish, tilapia or other cheaper species like emperor fish, hake, sutchi, bream and green weakfish as grouper. It's not the other fish are unhealthy or taste bad. In fact, it probably tastes just fine. It's that real grouper costs something like $20 a pound and the other fish are much cheaper.
Why don't restaurants just serve whatever fake grouper they're serving as what they really are?
Yesterday I wrote about the controversy over whether pregnant and nursing women should eat fish and if so, how much they should eat. If you've decided that eating fish is the way to go for you and want to make sure that your choices are grounded in good information, there's a new service that can help you out via text message.
The Blue Ocean Institute is offering a service called FishPhone. Simply send a text message to 30644 with the word FISH and the type of fish you want to know about and it will get back to momentarily with information about that particular type of fish. You can also search on their website if you are planning dinner and want to check out the safety of the fish called for in your recipe. Unfortunately, the website doesn't give much info on mercury levels and seems pretty static, so it wouldn't be helpful in the case of current safety alert.
We've all heard the warnings that pregnant women should steer clear of fish because of mercury concerns. The FDA recommends that pregnant and breast feeding women eat no more than 12 ounces of fish a week. Most of my pregnant friends have heeded that advice, giving up tilapia, salmon and trout almost entirely until their children are weened. However, the Washington Post reported today that a group of scientists from both the public and private sectors are planning to announce that they believe that pregnant women should eat AT LEAST 12 ounces of fish per week.
The issue comes down to mercury concerns verses nutrients in fish being excellent for brain development. Since the FDA issued the fish warning, mothers and mothers-to-be have dropped their fish intake to the point where they are no longer getting enough of the Omega-3 oils that are so helpful for baby development and the prevention of postpartum depression. So, what's the answer? At the present time, it's murky at best.
You've seen it laying about at the fish counter in the grocery store -- don't pretend you haven't. But while you were busy averting your gaze, you've been missing one of the holy of holies of southern cooking: catfish.
August is National Catfish Month and if you've turned up your nose at this surprisingly healthy (and easy to get fresh) fish, you're just being -- as my sorta-Southern mama would say -- uppity. Fried catfish is nearly as iconic as hush pups, sweet tea and pulled pork. Now the Catfish Institute is trying to dust off its second-class seafood image and go national. Fittingly enough, Iron Chef Cat Cora has signed on as its celebrity chef spokesperson. I haven't made any of her recipes but coconut catfish can never be a bad thing.
Catfish has long been a secret weapon in my cooking arsenal. I stopped telling people which fish they were eating until after the initial "Really?!" This is usually followed by a request for the recipe. My version (cobbled together from various sources) starts by marinating it in beer (Dixie would be appropriate, don't you think?) for 30 minutes, dredge in flour, cracker or cornmeal spiked with Zatarain's or another seafood seasoning mix, lay fillets in a medium-hot greased pan top-down, flip about 3-4 minutes (depending on the size of your fillet). You end up with a lightly zingy crust that melts into a firm white fish that has just a little bit of tang from behind the bar. Dress it up with cheese grits and cucumber salad or down with corn sticks and fried okra. Guess which I suggest? For hardcore fans, this recipe from Soul Food and Southern Cooking is a good place to start.
I love ceviche, mostly because I could eat raw fish three times a day (don't worry, I eat five meals a day, so I'd eat other stuff, too). However, I also like ceviche because for the most part, it's light and healthy, chock full of fish that is cooked with nothing more than citrus juices, and lots of vegetables.
However, there may be some of us who are squeamish when it comes to raw fish, even though technically, the fish is cooked in ceviche with acid. Luckily, Eating Well has a recipe that mocks ceviche by lightly poaching tilapia fillets, then marinating them in the same types of ceviche spices and herbs. The full recipe is after the jump.
Want to protect your unborn kids from getting asthma and allergies? You might want to add fish and apples to your diet.
Researchers in Scotland and the Netherlands have discovered that apples might have an effect on asthma in kids aged 5 and that fish might have an effect on the risk of eczema in children.
This isn't the first study involving the same group of children. Earlier studies suggested that mothers who had more vitamin E, vitamin D and zinc while pregnant might also lower the risk of asthma, allergies and eczema.
Think you can just walk up to the fish counter at your local grocery store, purchase a pound of fresh tuna, take it home, and eat it raw as sushi? Of course you know you can't do that. You need to look for "sushi-grade," right?
Not so fast, Slashfoodie-san. First of all, you want to be looking
After watching an episode of Chef at Home, I've been experimenting with chef Michael Smith's recipe for salmon and potato cakes. The Food Network Canada website has his recipe here, but it looks like they've jumbled a few of the steps around or perhaps left a step out. Step two reads, "Meanwhile heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and when it's hot, add oil." Step three: "Using a potato masher, mash them together." Obviously something is amiss. At any rate, if you have salmon leftovers (not to be confused with these guys), this is a good way to use them up. Let's assume we're starting from scratch, however. Smith suggests pan-frying a salmon fillet, which I did the first time I made this recipe. The second time, I broiled it, which I think is more convenient and I didn't notice too much of a difference in the taste of the final product. So, either pan-fry or broil a skinless 1 pound salmon fillet until it's just cooked through and flakes easily. When I broiled the salmon, this took between 15 and 20 minutes.
Attention all mothers-to-be: some new research done by the U.S. National Institutes of Health has shown that eating more fish and seafood while pregnant could have a positive effect on the intelligence of children in the long run compared to the children of those women who ate less seafood, or none at all. The omega-3 fatty acids in seafood play an important role in fetal brain development, and the additional benefit that can come from eating more than 12-ounces of seafood (about two meals' worth) a week. Lower consumption, in spite of the fact that the government recommends no more than 12-ounces a week, did nothing to help fetal development.
The study looked at the children of 8,000 British women, tracking them from before birth to the age of 8. On average, they "were more advanced in developmental tests measuring fine motor, communication and social skills as toddlers, behaved better at age 7, and earned higher verbal IQ scores at age 8."
One of the controversial things about this study is the fact that so much seafood is affected by pollution - specifically mercury, which can damage the nervous system. In this study, a negative impact on the children was not found, but researchers say that solid evidence of the benefits of seafood should motivate the legislature to "take [further] actions to keep pollutants out of seafood."
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
The Boston International Seafood Show is being held starting tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 24 and going through Tues. 26, 2008. The event is located at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center from 10am-5pm on the 24 & 25th, 10am-3pm on the 26th. This is the largest seafood show in North America. If you love seafood and are within a few hours drive of Boston then this is where you should be over the next few days. You will see every type of fish and shellfish there is on display. Experience all the new seafood based products, try samples of value added goods like smoked fish, chowders, pate's, dips, gourmet items, you name it.
When Slashfood alum Nick Vagnoni wrote about fish in Florida restaurants being served under misleading guises a year-and-a-half ago, we thought that officials would take care of the problem. 
You've seen it laying about at the fish counter in the grocery store -- don't pretend you haven't. But while you were busy averting your gaze, you've been missing one of the holy of holies of southern cooking: catfish. 
Boston chefs tell you the best way to prepare fried chicken in a pan. 
Want to protect your unborn kids from getting asthma and allergies? You might want to add fish and apples to your diet.
Attention all mothers-to-be: some new research done by the U.S. National Institutes of Health has shown that eating more fish and seafood while pregnant could have a positive effect on the intelligence of children in the long run compared to the children of those women who ate less seafood, or none at all. The omega-3 fatty acids in seafood play an important role in fetal brain development, and the additional benefit that can come from eating more than 12-ounces of seafood (about two meals' worth) a week. Lower consumption, in spite of the fact that the government recommends no more than 12-ounces a week, did nothing to help fetal development.
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
