fishmonger

It is not often that something new comes along. Alright, so maybe soft shell crayfish are not new, but it has been at least 5 years since I last saw them. In the early 90's more than a dozen operations were set up to produce these crayfish. Unfortunately the economics of it did not pan out for most. There is a lot of waiting and intensive labor involved to bring soft shell crays to market. The range of sales for them has been limited to a few hundred miles of origin because of low yields and limited marketing. I recently purchased a good amount from the producer being only second in volume to Buckhead Beef in Atlanta I was told. I took home a couple dozen in the spirit of quality control, cooked them simply and was very happy with the resulting dish. Soft Shelled Crayfish with Sun dried Tomato and Anchovy Mayonnaise 2 dozen soft shelled crayfish 1 cup flour paprika, old bay, salt & pepper as desired neutral oil for frying for the dipping sauce 1/4 cup mayo 2 pieces sun dried to...

Silver Dory, zenopsis conchifer (aka. American dory, local dory) is a deep water species of benthic fish that can be found in Atlantic waters, it is related to John Dory but differs in appearance being much more slender and compressed with monochromatic silver coloring in adults, and lacking the bold black "thumb print", although juveniles of this species may have similar light markings that fade with age. The dory is a good food fish with firm mild flavored white flesh and a fine flake. The fillets are rather thin and yield is only about 25% meat from whole fish. The range of this dory in the Americas is from Nova Scotia's Sable Island and south to the Carolinas. The silver dory is a deep water species and is found from 60 meters to 600 meters depths, most being found in depths near 150 meters on or near the continental shelf. There is no targeted fishery for dory and most are caught as incidental bycatch in deep water trawls (ie. deep water loligo squi...

As you may know I was a recent judge on 'Throwdown with Bobby Flay', but I did not get to judge any of these chowders. Judged as one of the cities' best from the following link is none other than Wild Edibles own Chef Paul Jambor. New York City’s 10 Best Bowls of Clam Chowder So if you are in the city stop in and check out Wild Edibles Oyster and Wine Bar in Murray Hill. I guarantee that all the seafood is definitely hand picked and of the highest quality. Posted using ShareThis

I woke up and read an article in AM New York "How sustainable is your seafood?" that I was interviewed for. Overall a pretty fair take on the difficulties of the topic. I really liked the fact that they included so many good quotes from Kate McLaughlin of the Blue Ocean Institute. Not many people have such a good understanding of all the factors that go into rating the different species. (full disclosure; I have worked with Kate and the Blue Ocean Institute in establishing our signage system at our retail stores.) There is no one size fits all, the best thing is to get to know your fishmonger, and determine if they can be a reliable source of information.

Hello Chefs and Buyers, We hope you had a great weekend. The fishermen in Florida certainly did. This morning we received a great mixed shipment of fish and shellfish from the sunshine state. Starting off the list is mahi-mahi, the fish are weighing in around 12-15lbs headed and gutted and still showing off their iridescent yellow coloring that earned them the Spanish name dorado maveriko or 'golden maverick'. Speaking of Spanish, we also have sushi quality Spanish mackerel, these fish are around 2lbs each. Red grouper is available, these firm fish with the big white flake would make a great special if not already on your menu. We have a very limited quantity of a very special fish called trigger fish, also from Florida. Trigger fish is a cousin of the blackfish (tautog), and hog snapper, and a member of the wrasse family. Like their cousins these fish feed on shellfish and crustaceans. This diet imparts a very sweet quality to the meat and combined with the...

We have a really nice mix of specials for the weekend. One or more sure to fit your menu needs. The quality of fresh shrimp from Florida has been great all year, but todays shipment seems to be even more firm and sweet. And at these prices you cannot go wrong. Size is 16/20 per pound. And this is just the tip of Florida's bounty because we also have stone crab claws , black grouper and available Tuesday we are taking orders for diver caught live spiny lobster. Just landed at JFK this morning and only hours out of the water we have three specials from Iceland. Big sustainable Arctic char are here, they are running 4 to 6 pounds and we have a few hundred pounds. Get your order in early to get these bigger fish. Dayboat Icelandic cod is available as well as halibut from this island nation. We are always excited to get this shipment and the fish never disappoints us. This country's respect for the sea shows in their fish. Jersey boats are starting to produce an...

Now here is todays seafood news: We will be getting our direct Portuguese sardines that are always great and growing in popularity, thanks for the support. We also have some nice larger sized rouget they are running 1 to 2 per pound, and should have a good yield. We just got in a nice short trip Jersey boat with huge bloody monkfish, and technicolor golden tilefish (3-7 lbs each). Both are limited to a hundred or so pounds. Black sea bass finally made an appearance today so we have a small amount of mostly jumbo sized black sea bass for Thursday. Onaga came in like baseball bats, if you haven't tried this fish yet you will be not be disappointed. Wild striped bass had a few additional limited openings and along with Maryland we now have tagged fish from the PRFC (Potomac River Fisheries Commission), and VMRC (Virginia Marine Resource Commission). We hope the additional fish will start to bring prices down over the weekend. The National Restaurant Associ...

Hi Chefs and Buyers, Halibut continues to be very tight, so please order ahead if possible. We are getting a good mix of wild Icelandic, and farmed Norwegian fish. Both are stellar in rigor and fat halibut. Size range for these fish are in the 5lb to 20lb range. Our Australian shipment arrived today with beautiful hiramasa, and onaga and we still have a small amount of opah. The cold waters of the North Atlantic have blessed us with the winters sweetness in the form of Nantucket Bay scallops and Maine shrimp (many still have roe attached). Our friend Rod Taylor is also sending us his live Taylor Bay scallops in the shell, they are the same species as Nantucket and Rod actually supplies much of the seed to replenish the wild bays. Swordfish continues to run strong and we have some big fish from the African coast that came with our #1 Tuna. From Florida we have a fresh Octopus that is trap caught along with Stone Crab. Striped bass from Maryland continues to r...

For a few weeks now Mj and I have been posting videos to the web from our Long Island City locaion. We offer these as informative, sporadically funny (well we think so), and marginally educational. Just click the link to the left and you will be sent there.