[rollei_list] Aballone and Caviar

  • From: Marc James Small <msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:30:14 -0400

At 04:28 PM 8/10/06 -0700, Jerry Lehrer wrote:
>Jeffery,
>
>Just below that lighthouse WAS some of the finest abalone "fishing"
>in the world.  Illegal now.
>
>Jerry

Jerry

When I lived in Marin County (for those unfamiliar with California
geography, this is the northern part of the San Francisco "Golden Gate"),
my folks were friends with a couple who were into deep-sea fishing.  They'd
often trade off some tuna or the like for some abalone, and I spent my last
year in high school burping away from magnificent meals of the stuff.  I
believe that it can still be caught, but only under controlled condtions:
it is still offered in NY eateries, but at about $200 a portion.  I love
real (East Coast) oysters on the half-shell and have had delectable mussels
in Ireland, but that abalone was marvelous.

It is interesting.  The sea otter preys on abalone, so, for a century, we
killed off every sea otter we could to allow the abalone population to
grow.  Then came groups like PETA ("People Eating Tasty Animals", I call
them) in defense of these cute little critters, and then the abaloone goes
protected.  It is not a shellfish which lends itself to farmng as do clams,
oysters, mussels, and scallops.  And it is TOUGH.  One of the epic visions
I have of my late mother is her pounding the crap out of abalone steaks
wrapped in burlap.  I still have the hammer, but the abalone is long gone.

Marvelous stuff.  One of the few real taste treats restricted to the West
Coast, along with artichokes and avocados.  But I can get the latter of
these at my Kroger, and I can get real Russian caviar at the local Fresh
Market, and I shall do so shortly, as I've not eaten this since my days at
Yale.  Grand stuff, and it ought to be, at $200 an ounce.

Marc

msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx 
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!


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