Yep. Stone crabs. What's better than a plate full of stones, a cold beer and a warm sunny day in FEBRUARY! It was a few days of paradise. Sigh.
Stone crab are the ultimate in sustainability. When crabbers pull their traps, they check the crabs inside for two claws. If they have two, one gets pulled off and the crab is tossed back into the water. If the crab has only one claw, he gets a pass and goes back to the water. It takes about three years to grow back a claw that is legal to harvest.
Hasta La Vista Lobsta
If you don't live in Naples, Florida, winter is the season of cabin fever blues. On top of everything else that stinks about winter, lobster rolls are not available this time of year. It's a sad fact but here's why we are unable to provide them to you: our lobster rolls are made with fresh, never frozen, lobster meat.
Why no fresh meat? It's a long story but suffice it to say that fishing in the fall in New England was terrible. Bad weather and weird market conditions meant that not many lobsters were put up in the lobster pounds (a fenced in cove for holding lobsters without caging them) in the fall so the supply of lobsters is limited right now. In the winter, New England fishermen put away their traps and lines and get out their shot guns for hunting.
Right now the few lobsters in the pounds are strong, hard-shell lobsters so processing plants in the area shut down. Lobster tails and lobster meat are processed from weak lobsters that are generally molting. Molting happens in the warmer weather - mostly June through September - although we will see a bit more meat starting in April.
In the meantime, we have our tuna salad sandwich that is still amazing! It's yellowfin tuna boiled with lemon and Old Bay, then shredded and mixed with mayo, etc.
We are playing around with a cold crab sandwich that, when we finally get the recipe perfected, might become your new favorite Catch sandwich. Watch for this in the next few weeks.
Lent & Meatless Fridays:
When I was a kid, Fridays in Lent meant my mom would put a frozen slab of white fish in a pan and bake it until it was totally unrecognizable as a food product. I hated the taste and smell as much as I hated boiled cabbage.
These days, meatless Fridays are something to look forward to.
In response to last week's email, Joseph F. said "
My goal is to eat more fish for Lent". We couldn't be happier with this decision! Our weekly specials and Catch To Go meals can help with keeping it interesting. We can also help with recipes if you need inspiration. In-store we have a recipe book filled with all kinds of delicious recipes and on our website we have our recipe and cooking tips
page.
The Slimier the Better!
Have you noticed that some of the fish you brought home is slimy or slippery? That's a good thing! Skin-on salmon and rainbow trout secrete a mucus that protects them from infection and abrasion when they go up over rocks and sticks in rivers. Especially trout - it is very slippery. We don't wash that goo off before selling it because it is a sign of freshness, but you can wash if off before cooking it.
