BUYING SHELLFISH

You can buy shellfish in many forms and varieties. You can find it live, cooked, partially prepared, frozen, canned and blister packed.

When you are shopping for live shellfish, it is often hard to tell what is fresh and what is not.

To select the best oysters and clams possible, you need to try to find them live. To determine if they are alive they should close their shells tightly when you tap on them.

When looking at crabs or lobsters, you want to look for critters that move all of their claws and legs.

Shrimp will pretty much always be fresh or frozen; you most likely will not find it “live” anywhere except a bait shop. For shrimp you just want to look for evenly colored shrimp that does not exhibit a “fishy” smell.

HOW MUCH SEAFOOD DO I BUY??

Seafood	Servings per Person
Crawfish	1 pound whole
Scallops	4 ounces (not including shell)
Lobster	1 average size tail (about 8 ounces)
Mussels	12 in shell
Oysters (in shell)	6
Clams (large in shell)	6
Clams (med to small in shell)	8 to 10 depending on size
Oysters (shucked)	½ Cup
Clams (shucked)	½ Cup
Dungeness Crab	½ to whole depending on size
Blue Crab	1 pound live
Crab Legs	½ pound
Crab Meat	4 ounces
Shrimp (in shell)	6 ounces
Shrimp (peeled)	4 ounces

You plan on having a seafood feast with all of your friends, but you are unsure as to how much you need to buy. You don’t want to buy too much, but then again you want everyone to have enough to eat. The above table is just a basic list of different types of seafood and a general idea of how much per serving. Remember if you are serving multiple kids of seafood, you do not need the full serving per person.

PREPARING OYSTERS

Preparing oysters can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Preparing oysters is quite simple but it is also time consuming, so allow plenty of prep time.

Scrub each oyster under running water with a kitchen scrubber. If you are going to serve the oysters raw, they will shuck easier if you refrigerate them well for a few hours before trying.

Oysters have very sharp shells; so to protect your hands, use a pair of gardening gloves with rubber palms. The rubber palms will help prevent the oyster from slipping when you are opening it.

Using an oyster knife (preferred over regular knives) locate the “hinge” of the oyster. Firmly press the knife in the crack of the shell just on either side of the hinge.

Firmly press the knife toward the top of the shell, so as not to pierce the stomach on accident, and firmly slide the knife toward the opposite end of the oyster as the hinge.

As you are sliding the knife, gently twist the knife to open the shell slightly. Toward the center you will find a little resistance. This will be a muscle holding the shell closed. Gently slice the muscle to release the top of the shell.

The top shell should then lift off with little effort. Place the knife under the meat in the remaining shell and slice the second muscle to release the meat.

Keep one of the shells from each oyster for serving if you wish.

PREPARING MUSSELS

Preparing mussels can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Preparing mussels is quite simple.

When you purchase mussels, make sure that they are “live”. To do this, select mussels that are all tightly closed and not “slimy”. If it appears that the mussel is even slightly opened, leave it.

Rinse the mussels under cold running water. Remove any loose debris or sand, and using your fingers, remove the beard from between the shells.

Place the mussels in a large pot (8qt or so), and for every 24 mussels add 4 cups of cold water and 1/3 cup salt. Stir will once to mix the salt, mussels, and water. After soaking for about 15 or 20 minutes, dump the water rinse the mussels and repeat. Complete the process a total of 3 times.

This process will help clean any unwanted sand and debris from inside the shells. Now your mussels are ready for use in any recipe.

PREPARING SHRIMP

Preparing shrimp can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Preparing shrimp is quite simple, although can be time consuming so allow for plenty of prep time if buying shrimp in the shells that need to be peeled.

When you get the shrimp home, run them under cold water to remove any extra debris and to rinse off any juices.

If you are going to peel the shrimp, place a colander in the sink and grab a bag for garbage.

If the heads have not been removed, place the shrimp on a cutting board and remove the head just behind the “helmet” (This will be very obvious to you when you see it)

Next turn the shrimp over in your hand so that the feet point upward. Grasp the shell where the legs attach on each side and gently pull apart. This will remove the shell from the main body.

Next, grasp the meat in one had as close to the tail as you can while holding onto the tail with your other hand, gently pull the meat free from the tail.

Take a look at the back of the shrimp, if you see a definite gray/black vein using a paring knife, slit the back and grasp the vein to pull it out. You do not need to bother with smaller shrimp, but you will need to de-vein larger varieties. If you make the cut too deep, the shrimp will “butterfly” when cooking, so make sure that you only make a shallow cut.

Once you have completed this process, rinse the shrimps to wash off any errant shell pieces and place in the colander. Repeat until all are shelled.

If you are not planning on using the shrimp immediately, you can store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days in a tightly sealed container.

CLEANING CLAMS

Preparing shellfish can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Preparing clams is quite simple.

When you purchase clams, make sure that they are “live”. To do this, select clams that are all tightly closed. If it appears that the clam is even slightly opened, leave it.

Once you get home, rinse the clams under cold running water, scrubbing the shells with a kitchen scrubber. Remove any loose debris or sand.

Place the clams in a large pot (8qt or so), and for every 24 clams add 4 cups of cold water and 1/3 cup salt. Stir well once to mix the salt, clams, and water then let sit for about 15 or 20 minutes. Dump the water and rinse the clams. Complete this process a total of 3 times.

This cleaning process will help clean any unwanted sand and debris from inside the shells. Now your clams are ready for use in any recipe.

HOW MUCH FISH DO I NEED?

When planning meals, it is always hard to determine how much food to buy.

When serving fish a good rule of thumb is to buy 8-12 ounces of drawn or dressed fish per serving.

If you are serving steaks or fillets, buy 4-8 ounces per serving.

I usually tend to buy a bit heavy when serving fish & chips, as there are not as many accompaniments as there would be when you are serving steaks.

PREPARING FROZEN LOBSTER

Preparing Lobster can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Preparing frozen lobster tails is quite simple.

Bring your frozen lobster tails home and place in the refrigerator to thaw allowing 2-3 hours.

If you don’t have that much time, place the lobster, still in its sealed package (if not packaged, place in an airtight bag) in a large bowl or pot. Place the pot in your sink and fill with cold water. You may have to use another bowl or object to weight the package down so it doesn’t float. Leave the water on just to a trickle in the pan. This will keep the water moving and will assist in the thawing process. Check the tails after about 15-20 minutes.

Remove from the packaging and they are ready for cooking.

CLEANING CRAWFISH

Preparing crawfish can be scary for some people. It is expensive in most areas and you want to make sure that you are preparing it properly to get the best flavor. Cleaning fresh crawfish is quite simple.

Once you get the crawfish home, rinse them all under cold running water and remove any extra debris from the shells.

Fill a large pot (12-16 qt) with 8 quarts of cold water and 1/3-cup salt. Add the crawfish and let soak for 15-20 minutes.

Rinse well under cold water and drain. Now your crawfish are ready for use in any recipe.

NO BONES ABOUT FISH

When you are making up a recipe that asks for a deboned fish fillet, you look at the slab of fish and think to yourself, how am I going to do this?

It is actually easier than it looks.

Simply take a clean bowl from your cupboard and put it upside down on your counter.

Lay the fish fillet over the domed surface and using a pair of tweezers, pull out the bones that are jutting out.

BREADING BLUES

You are making a recipe that asks for the meat to be breaded.

Only problem is, you can't get it to stick!

Before breading your food, make sure that the item(s) that you would like to bread are totally dry.

Next take a room temperature egg and mix well. Dip your item to be breaded into the egg mixture and then into your prepared dry breading mix.

Let sit for as long as you can in the refrigerator, up to an hour, before cooking.

LEFT OVER COOKED FISH

You are scrounging around the refrigerator and freezer, trying to find something quick to make for dinner.

A couple of nights ago you made some fish, and had quite a bit left over. You pull it out and decide that you can give it some new life by making some fish cakes.

You can use just about any kind of fish for fish cakes.

For 2 servings, simply add about a 1 cup fish to approx 1/2 cup or so of mashed potatoes. Add an egg and a couple of tablespoons of onion.

Heat a large fry pan with a few tablespoons of oil to med-high.

Make 4 patties out of your fish mixture about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

Fry in the oil for 3-5 minutes until completely warmed through and lightly browned on each side .

Once the are fryed up, you can eat them or you can cool them and freeze until you need it for a quick accompanyment to go with some soup for lunch.