Seafood: the availability and cost where you live

flyinglentris

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[Mod.Edit: this and following few posts moved to start a new thread (MG)]

My red quinoa comes in on Thursday, the black by next Monday or Tuesday. so my combination salad won't be made until next week sometime. I am planning on that being vegan.

However, I was out today and dropped into the somewhat overpriced foodie market where (besides seeing all three types of quinoa there, but hey, I already ordered a pound of each... so they still sit there...) I checked out the seafood counter. I was hoping for crawfish on a lark - the western side of Massachusetts is not really known for a good variety of seafood - but found soft shelled crabs, instead. I bought two.

So, either tonight or for lunch tomorrow, I will be eating a seafood salad with soft shelled crab, shrimp, and white quinoa. (And a couple other ingredients I feel like adding in.)

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For those in places that may not have heard of soft shelled crabs, these are crabs that have recently shed their shells so they can grow larger - underneath the lost hard shells is the tissue that will eventually harden into a hard shell you need nut crackers or similar implements of destruction to open. The ones I know of are generally (if not always?) from the Chesapeake Bay (roughly, Maryland, on the mid-Atlantic coast of the US). The soft shells are still soft enough that they are actually edible.

I love soft shelled blue crab. Can't find it here lately.
 
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My red quinoa comes in on Thursday, the black by next Monday or Tuesday. so my combination salad won't be made until next week sometime. I am planning on that being vegan.

However, I was out today and dropped into the somewhat overpriced foodie market where (besides seeing all three types of quinoa there, but hey, I already ordered a pound of each... so they still sit there...) I checked out the seafood counter. I was hoping for crawfish on a lark - the western side of Massachusetts is not really known for a good variety of seafood - but found soft shelled crabs, instead. I bought two.

So, either tonight or for lunch tomorrow, I will be eating a seafood salad with soft shelled crab, shrimp, and white quinoa. (And a couple other ingredients I feel like adding in.)

*******
For those in places that may not have heard of soft shelled crabs, these are crabs that have recently shed their shells so they can grow larger - underneath the lost hard shells is the tissue that will eventually harden into a hard shell you need nut crackers or similar implements of destruction to open. The ones I know of are generally (if not always?) from the Chesapeake Bay (roughly, Maryland, on the mid-Atlantic coast of the US). The soft shells are still soft enough that they are actually edible.

In Dallas, you have to pre-order live crawfish, and we are less than 300 miles from the crawfish farms.

CD
 
In Dallas, you have to pre-order live crawfish, and we are less than 300 miles from the crawfish farms.

CD
Interesting! They have been selling it down in Connecticut practically the entire month of April. I can't get there this year (I would either have to be tested or quarantined upon return to my state, should I do so....) but I told a friend down there about it and she got loads of healthy crawfish.

When I've bought it (2016 - 2019) the crawfish were vibrant and crawling into the pans holding other seafood! They were eager to make their get-a-way!

Note, this is just at one store - anywhere else I've seen them in Connecticut, they've given up and just lie there, half dead.
 
The fishing community from New Foundland to Texas is strong in New England and the first time I ate alligator was from a shop in the area of New London, Connecticut. Crawfish and all sorts of Gulf of Mexico, Florida, fish and seafood are also available in New England, in addition to the Maine Lobsters.
 
There is quite a lot of seafood available locally, especially the local catch. A few local Asian markets carry like Dungeness crab and Geoduck. Pacific as well as gulf oysters are available from various sources. A local food distributor has live, wild caught crawfish available during season.
 
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There are also a few fish markets around, besides the Asian places, that fly in northern east coast oysters and Pacific seafood, but they are really $$$.
 
It is said that there is no fish in Cleveland. (this is Parma, an inner ring suburb) It is not that easy. Sure tilaapia i there but I don't like that. I see cod, all this but not that prevalent. And I found it is better to bread it yourself, even the better brands seems to have more breading than fish.

Another thing is you don't eat fish from this side of Lake Erie. Not everyone knows why. Why is because many years ago the dropped paint in cans in the lake. They are rusting.

And our rivers are not the cleanest, they are much better than when they burned, but still not really clean. So I am leery of fish from the rivers.

When perch comes up in the stores I buy the ocean perch. Peole say the fresh water tastes better but I don't care. I prefer all seafood I eat come from the sea/ocean. It swims around in seawater which is full of nutrients, it is bound to pick some up.

Though I don't eat salmon they showed the difference in farm raised and ocean salmon and there is a big difference in the fat. I do not want any farm raised fish. Compare to free range chicken, costs more but people do pay it. When people pay more they have a reason.

So ufortunately I think I have to go to high end butcher shops or order from out of state to get what I want.

T
 
I have good access to seafood of various types, but I have honestly not tried to find things that are all that unusual. As CraigC mentioned, Asian markets tend to have the more unusual selections. Next time, I will try to find Geoduck and live crawfish. That will be a real test. Finding live seafood is really hit and miss.
 
Another thing about Cleveland is don't eat the fish that comes out of our side of Lake Erie.

Long time ago someone dumped a bunch of cans of paint down there, and nobody hardly knew. Those cans are rusting now. This is not common knowledge because they haven't done much testing - or they didn't publicise it. This comes from someone who saw it.

T
 
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