I love fresh-water eel (unagi), but that is smoked with a bbq sauce, so really a different thing altogether. I am not a fan of salt-water eel (anago), nor "sweet" fish in general. When I was working at a Thai/Japanese restaurant , for one menu there was a sweet fish dish, served whole. About half the people ate it. I thought it smelled terrible, and never did try it.speedie wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 2:08 am I will eat the fuck out of raw oysters, raw fish, lobsters, mussels, Roe, caviar, et al, but man, I don't like either Uni or Eel.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
12A long, long time ago, almost 30 years, I ended up living on Corsica quite accidently, at a small marine biology research station from the University of Liege that had begun to double from May through September as a diving center with lodging and food in a sort of private partnership with some Parisian entreprenuer. During the tourist season, I ran around all day, picking up guests from the airport, scrubbing toliets and cleaning rooms, helping the cook prepare and serve meals, throwing new divers into the water from the pier for their "baptême", eventually getting thrust into the role of running the lodging part on my own when my mentor, the director's wife, had a nervous breakdown and left for Belgium. In the off-season, I worked on fixing up the place and repairing the long gravel access road after torrential-rain washouts with our old Algerian caretaker, Ahmed, learning his own unique pidgin, like becoming the second speaker of this fairly rudimentary language mash-up, while he scolded me for my driving, or not wearing a belt, and lectured me on the "five qualities of rock".
This is a Luca Guadagnino movie.
I love uni. It's probably my favorite non-human-body thing to have in my mouth. Makes sense, because it's actually gonads.
"And the light, it burns your skin...in a language you don't understand."
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
13I ate Sea Urchin Spaghetti in Malta... delicious
clocker bob may 30, 2006 wrote:I think the possibility of interbreeding between an earthly species and an extraterrestrial species is as believable as any other explanation for the existence of George W. Bush.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
14I'm a huge fan. So silky, so much depth of oceany, briny flavor. But I do understand what people find it off-putting. It's definitely weird.
I call uni 'sea boogers'.
I call uni 'sea boogers'.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
15I was waiting for the inevitable threesome. Alas, it's still an evocative remembrance.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
16Am I picturing this right that it would be a little bit of something added to a multi-layer sushi roll? That would be the only context where I might have eaten it, but it would have been blending with some other strong flavors.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
17I probably shouldn't have posted before having omakase last night. The uni + tuna tartare course was the only thing that, wouldn't quite call it a letdown, but it's nothing I'd seek out on purpose. It's the same way I feel about oysters: they taste exactly how you think they'd taste, never greater than the sum of its parts. Guess that's a C from me.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
18I have had sea urchin in pasta in Sicily that was quite good, once. Maybe there was enough else going on to make it enjoyable.
Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
19This (a) sounds fantastic, and (b) makes me want uni and white wine.jimmy spako wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 7:10 am A long, long time ago, almost 30 years, I ended up living on Corsica quite accidently, at a small marine biology research station from the University of Liege that had begun to double from May through September as a diving center with lodging and food in a sort of private partnership with some Parisian entreprenuer. During the tourist season, I ran around all day, picking up guests from the airport, scrubbing toliets and cleaning rooms, helping the cook prepare and serve meals, throwing new divers into the water from the pier for their "baptême", eventually getting thrust into the role of running the lodging part on my own when my mentor, the director's wife, had a nervous breakdown and left for Belgium. In the off-season, I worked on fixing up the place and repairing the long gravel access road after torrential-rain washouts with our old Algerian caretaker, Ahmed, learning his own unique pidgin, like becoming the second speaker of this fairly rudimentary language mash-up, while he scolded me for my driving, or not wearing a belt, and lectured me on the "five qualities of rock".
Every once in a while, maybe it was a semi-annual Sunday tradition before and after the tourist season, at least that is how I remember it, a couple of us would go out on a dive and gather large bags of urchins, then come back and share them over white wine with the rest of the crew, a special indulgence.
This was not crap.
Like many things, I would probably feel very differently today and balk at harvesting these beings for what little they have to give, of ambiguous culinary value to boot. But as a ritual back then it was pretty special.
"lol, listen to op 'music' and you'll understand"....
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https://sebastiansequoiah-grayson.bandcamp.com/
https://oblier.bandcamp.com/releases
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Re: Food: uni (sea urchin)
20Love the stuff.
When it’s cheap and bad, it’s bitter and muddy.
But if it’s fresh and good, you get flavors of custard, seawater, even lemons and pennies.
Different uni has slightly different tastes. Best ever may have been on the Korean island Ulleungdo, where we bought them on the docks from women who had just caught them. They’d slit them open to order, and we’d slurp them from the ladies’ Kevlar-gloved hands. I’ve also enjoyed the stuff for breakfast over rice in Rebun and Rishiri, islands off Hokkaido that some call the sea urchin capitals of the world. To say nothing of Italian pasta sauces.
Right on.
When it’s cheap and bad, it’s bitter and muddy.
But if it’s fresh and good, you get flavors of custard, seawater, even lemons and pennies.
Different uni has slightly different tastes. Best ever may have been on the Korean island Ulleungdo, where we bought them on the docks from women who had just caught them. They’d slit them open to order, and we’d slurp them from the ladies’ Kevlar-gloved hands. I’ve also enjoyed the stuff for breakfast over rice in Rebun and Rishiri, islands off Hokkaido that some call the sea urchin capitals of the world. To say nothing of Italian pasta sauces.
Right on.