Raw Oysters: Love it or hate it?

EmmetSpiceland · 12-01-2021 1:01pm

Potatoeman wrote: »

It’s difficult to get fresh calamari that isn’t like rubber in a restaurant here.

Be wary if you’re ever ordering calamari in the States. There are stories of restaurants serving “imitation calamari” without stating that it is, in fact, imitation.

A ‘This American Life’ podcast covers it. They speak to a man who’s worked in an abattoir that didn’t throw out the “bung”, the pig’s anus, as was standard practice in other places he had worked. This was, reportedly, sold on and renamed “imitation calamari”. Which is legal as long as it is labelled as such on a menu.

No one believed this would be possible as the smell of the “meat” would put anyone off but when they got a chef to prepare it and did a blind taste test both participants were certain they had the “real” calamari. One of them was wrong.

Food for thought, I guess.

IAMAMORON · 12-01-2021 1:01pm

Thread deteriorating into a vegan trollfest.

Thelonious Monk · 12-01-2021 1:46pm

Wesekn. wrote: »

Farming is bigger here than fishing but ya we don't have much selection of fish for an island nation

Yeah it's mad. I was in Howth a couple of months ago trying to buy fish as I was having people over, pretty much all the fish in Wrights and Beshoffs was either farmed in the Med (Sea bream, sea bass) or imported from farms in India and Central America (prawns). The only fish that they had that was actually fresh fish from the sea, were mackerel, hake, and I think cod.
It's annoying because they like to give off the vibe that everything just came off the boats across the road from the shops.

Potatoeman · 12-01-2021 1:57pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Be wary if you’re ever ordering calamari in the States. There are stories of restaurants serving “imitation calamari” without stating that it is, in fact, imitation.

A ‘This American Life’ podcast covers it. They speak to a man who’s worked in an abattoir that didn’t throw out the “bung”, the pig’s anus, as was standard practice in other places he had worked. This was, reportedly, sold on and renamed “imitation calamari”. Which is legal as long as it is labelled as such on a menu.

No one believed this would be possible as the smell of the “meat” would put anyone off but when they got a chef to prepare it and did a blind taste test both participants were certain they had the “real” calamari. One of them was wrong.

Food for thought, I guess.

Isn’t cows anus a popular Brazilian cut? Supposedly very tender.
Though sausages, hotdogs and pies have questionable meat quality not to mention fish cakes (these’s a reason they’re cheap).

yeppydeppy · 12-01-2021 2:02pm

A friend of mine grows and sells them: https://achilloysters.com/

IAMAMORON · 12-01-2021 2:02pm

I blame a society of demand to be honest. The reality is that the only genuine fresh fish you are getting on your plate in Ireland is fish that is coming off our own trawlers. Nitpick at that all you like.

We have excellent frozen fish here also - Lidl in particular.

I bought a bag of frozen Alaskan Pollock from Lidl a couple of months ago - it was divine.

Supply chains are a reality. The reason why we eat fish on Friday has phuck all got to do with it being a religious thing ... it is because the Trawlers would traditionally get back to harbour Wednesday night/ Thursday morning. Freon was only developed for widespread use in the 1930's.

Don't eat Calamari unless you are in a fishing village on the Med. In fact if you are ask them for the fresh house special. Don't make any enquiries about their eldest daughter either.

EmmetSpiceland · 12-01-2021 2:24pm

Potatoeman wrote: »

Isn’t cows anus a popular Brazilian cut? Supposedly very tender.
Though sausages, hotdogs and pies have questionable meat quality not to mention fish cakes (these’s a reason they’re cheap).

Haven’t heard that but it’s very possible. I’ve no problem with eating anything as long as I’m being charged the “going rate”. If I’m eating hog anus I don’t want to be paying calamari prices.

It’s like the horse meat scandal, the biggest “issue” for me was the idea of paying, low grade, beef prices for, low grade, horse.

The chef who prepared the “bung” on the podcast was originally very skeptical. He said it stank while he was cooking it but once it was fully prepared no one could tell the difference.

Thelonious Monk · 12-01-2021 2:35pm

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I blame a society of demand to be honest. The reality is that the only genuine fresh fish you are getting on your plate in Ireland is fish that is coming off our own trawlers. Nitpick at that all you like.

We have excellent frozen fish here also - Lidl in particular.

I bought a bag of frozen Alaskan Pollock from Lidl a couple of months ago - it was divine.

Supply chains are a reality. The reason why we eat fish on Friday has phuck all got to do with it being a religious thing ... it is because the Trawlers would traditionally get back to harbour Wednesday night/ Thursday morning. Freon was only developed for widespread use in the 1930's.

Don't eat Calamari unless you are in a fishing village on the Med. In fact if you are ask them for the fresh house special. Don't make any enquiries about their eldest daughter either.

The calamari in Spain and Italy could be from anywhere in the world too, and their traditional fishes like sea bream etc are all farmed.
The whole seafood system is a bit of a mess, as you said it's down to people expecting to be able to have whatever they want whenever they want.

emmalynn19 · 12-01-2021 2:38pm

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

Would you find raw beef appetizing?

Yes...

IAMAMORON · 12-01-2021 3:00pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

If I’m eating hog anus I don’t want to be paying calamari prices.

I don't know when, where or how .. but I am using this analogy at some stage in the future.

Muahahaha · 12-01-2021 3:17pm

Purgative wrote: »

One of my odd passions is whelks - love them. Can't get them here. I have to get someone to bring them over (not these days with Covid and Brexit) but where are they caught
Donegal
.

There was a guy on the Late Late who's thing was whelks and Tubs had to admit that though they'd tried they couldn't source them here.

This site Irish fishmongers site has an incredible range of fish and shellfish, about 60+ different species there, including the whelks you love

https://eatmorefish.ie/?s=whelks&post_type=product

Purgative · 12-01-2021 5:00pm

Thanks Muahahaha, just put an order in and it arrived next Wednesday - just warned herself we'll be eating fish for a couple of days

Hellotonever · 13-01-2021 2:44am

yeppydeppy wrote: »

A friend of mine grows and sells them: https://achilloysters.com/

Yes thats my go-to. The smoked salmon is also phenomenal

John_Rambo · 24-01-2021 1:19am

murpho999 wrote: »

As an island, the fish culture here is very poor.

Go to a shop and they'd have a small selection and good shellfish is hard to get.

I'm always amazed when I go to places like Spain and even in the normal supermarkets you can get fresh squid, octopus, swordfish, oysters etc.

Wish it was like that here.

If you're in Dublin Kish Fish in Coolock and Howth have the best Irish caught selection from my experience. I think they have two big trawlers they deal directly along with good buyers from the Med. Lots and lots of locally caught fish on the counter. They have a place in the city centre too, it's near Smithfield and another in Kildare. I think they do delivery if you spend over €30.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 24-01-2021 1:57am

My cousin runs an oyster harvesting business in Galway. Brexit is already having a huge impact. The majority of their business involved shipping oysters to England for consumption in London restaurants. A premium product charging premium prices. Covid and Brexit has had a pretty devastating impact. The oysters can wait in their beds, but trying to keep a few people employed cannot.

There's going to be a glut of world class shellfish looking for a market in Ireland this year. Make the most of it. A Clarinbridge oyster is €5 a pop in a restaurant in Germany.

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 8:25pm

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

My cousin runs an oyster harvesting business in Galway. Brexit is already having a huge impact. The majority of their business involved shipping oysters to England for consumption in London restaurants. A premium product charging premium prices. Covid and Brexit has had a pretty devastating impact. The oysters can wait in their beds, but trying to keep a few people employed cannot.

There's going to be a glut of world class shellfish looking for a market in Ireland this year. Make the most of it. A Clarinbridge oyster is €5 a pop in a restaurant in Germany.

Oysters are completely over rated.

The market knows this. They are more of a hyped up status symbol than anything.

There’s a reason why they are not popular in Ireland. Ppl dislike the taste, texture and hassle of them.

Ppl will NOT pay much for them.

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 8:34pm

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I blame a society of demand to be honest. The reality is that the only genuine fresh fish you are getting on your plate in Ireland is fish that is coming off our own trawlers. Nitpick at that all you like.

We have excellent frozen fish here also - Lidl in particular.

I bought a bag of frozen Alaskan Pollock from Lidl a couple of months ago - it was divine.

Supply chains are a reality. The reason why we eat fish on Friday has phuck all got to do with it being a religious thing ... it is because the Trawlers would traditionally get back to harbour Wednesday night/ Thursday morning. Freon was only developed for widespread use in the 1930's.

Don't eat Calamari unless you are in a fishing village on the Med. In fact if you are ask them for the fresh house special. Don't make any enquiries about their eldest daughter either.

You are incorrect regarding the reason for friday being a fish day. That harkens back to the Middle Ages church calendar and has nothing to do with supply chains

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 8:41pm

murpho999 wrote: »

As an island, the fish culture here is very poor.

Go to a shop and they'd have a small selection and good shellfish is hard to get.

I'm always amazed when I go to places like Spain and even in the normal supermarkets you can get fresh squid, octopus, swordfish, oysters etc.

Wish it was like that here.

As some who works in the wholesale food industry my two cents below.

The reason is Irish consumers are not into the taste, texture, or hassle of fish and certainly not shell fish oysters mussels whelks etc - this explains the tiny niche demand for it

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 8:47pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

like mussels they're a great source of protein from our own back yard. It's mad how these things aren't really popular here compared to other countries, we do produce a hell of a lot of these things organically too, rope mussels and oysters are one of the cleaner ways to produce protein, environmentally.

The reason is ppl can’t be arsed with the hassle when they taste them first and go “is that it?”

Dramatik · 24-01-2021 8:52pm

Salty, slimey and cold... I don't know how anyone could enjoy this texture

Purgative · 24-01-2021 8:52pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

As some who works in the wholesale food industry my two cents below.

The reason is Irish consumers are not into the taste, texture, or hassle of fish and certainly not shell fish oysters mussels whelks etc - this explains the tiny niche demand for it

Nah. They have no history of eating fish and don't know about eating fish.

- Taste - there is a lot of fish that is very mild in flavour
- Texture - again there's fish that resembles the texture of meat, Monkfish John Dory. Chunks of Monkfish in a Masala sauce would be very hard to tell.
- Hassle - fillets in the pan, simples.

They don't know.

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 8:53pm

Purgative wrote: »

Nah. They have no history of eating fish and don't know about eating fish.

- Taste - there is a lot of fish that is very mild in flavour
- Texture - again there's fish that resembles the texture of meat, Monkfish John Dory. Chunks of Monkfish in a Masala sauce would be very hard to tell.
- Hassle - fillets in the pan, simples.

They don't know.

Maybe but I can tell you there’s v v little demand so maybe it is “don’t know, don’t care”.

Purgative · 24-01-2021 9:01pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Maybe but I can tell you there’s v v little demand so maybe it is “don’t know, don’t care”.

OK, but in tough times, and I think we're probably headed for them, fish is a cheap, healthy source of nutrition.

Beechwoodspark · 24-01-2021 9:01pm

Purgative wrote: »

OK, but in tough times, and I think we're probably headed for them, fish is a cheap, healthy source of nutrition.

I’m sure it is. But in my experience there’s v little interest in fish and certainly not shell fish among Irish consumers

I’d liken oysters to caviar or lobster. Status symbol food that very few ppl have on a regular basis

John_Rambo · 24-01-2021 11:04pm

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

I’m sure it is. But in my experience there’s v little interest in fish and certainly not shell fish among Irish consumers

That's in your peer group. Most of my family and friends eat fish very regularly including shellfish.

ShatterAlan · 25-01-2021 2:49am

whisky_galore wrote: »

Like swallowing a giant gob of cold snot.

What's wrong with that?

smellyoldboot · 25-01-2021 2:53am

Snotty slimy creepy ****e. You'd want to be some dirty self deluded pretentious baxtard to even pretend you liked that ****e FFS.

25-01-2021 4:35am

IAMAMORON wrote: »

I will probably be labelled a heathen by the Oyster purists, but I love a few dashes of Tabasco on one myself?

Nothing wrong with that at all. When I get oysters delivered, a blob of Franks hot sauce is delicious.

My favourite oyster restaurant only has tabasco, but they also serve cold Guinness to have with it, so its just perfect.

the beer revolu · 25-01-2021 10:25am

Purgative wrote: »

OK, but in tough times, and I think we're probably headed for them, fish is a cheap, healthy source of nutrition.

Fresh fish is generally priced at a premium.
Not really cheap, at all.

CruelCoin · 25-01-2021 10:28am

I love shellfish, but Oysters can **** right off.

A big slimy snot, that's all it is. It has no redeeming features.
People pretending to enjoy it to look "cultured"

Raw Oysters: Love it or hate it?

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