*** Warning animals were harmed in the making of this blog. Do not scroll down if you do not want to see photos. ***

Monkfish w/Yucca Chips

I have found that every time I think I have conquered my greatest culinary school fears another one crops up. Last night I had the extreme pleasure (read with sarcasm please) of butchering a live lobster. I thought butchering a chicken was going to be by far my greatest nemesis, however I survived that one with confidence and maybe even a bit of cockiness. Next I had to fillet a fish, nasty but doable. Then I had to cook with game, definitely a challenge to cook something that looks like the Easter bunny, but it was accomplished.

Before

However, last night taking a knife to an animal that was still moving and then realizing that you didn't have enough body strength or momentum to get the knife through the creature quickly, and that it was suffering, was pretty damn near gut wrenching...just being honest.

After-that is not parsley and butter in the center

Thank you to RM for throwing his body into my lobster and taking it out of it's misery.


I have 5 more weeks of culinary school and I fear what my next challenge may be...so help the poor creatures of the land and sea. However, I do have to say that even with the lobster torture I truly did learn a lot and I found the class to be very educational.

We had a guest speaker, John Wilson from Sea Fever Seafood come talk to us. He has several boats out of  Ventura, CA and Alaska and he sells his product at the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sundays from 0800-1300. He was truly an amazing wealth of fish knowledge.

I know this is a crappy pic but I didn't want to look like a stalker

My favorite quote of the night was,"I am on the ocean as much as people are on the freeway." -John Wilson

He brought in rock crabs from the Santa Barbara/Ventura area and although I am a crab snob due to my dungennes crab upbringing from Northern California, these were damn good.

Before

In the middle

After

Let me tell you what else I learned:

• The red king salmon is one of the most flavorful varieties of salmon as it has a diet that consists only of krill. Krill is the same creature that whales eat and it is one of the richest sources of protein, which enhances the marbling, flavor and oil content of the salmon. 
• The understandable version of sustainable is the ability to have enough of a resource for next season.
• Fish that is imported is often sprayed with brine ammonia which keeps it from spoiling, however it alters the flavor and isn't the best for you.
• If you squeeze the 2nd leg on a crab it should be hard. If it is soft it is not a good crab as it has water in it's leg. 

Now for some general food porn. This was a shrimp and sausage jambalaya:

Before

After

This is a random cake, but I don't remember what kind.


We also went on a Japanese Market field trip on Saturday, but I just haven't had a chance to write about it yet...wait for it. Cheers my friends!