What are the tastiest creatures of the sea?

Cafe Society
1

Since @puzzlegal elected to only go with birds and mammals in this thread:

I thought I’d create a thread that is only about fish and shellfish. And ‘creatures of the sea’ isn’t hard and fast-- it can mean freshwater too. I know there are sustainablity issues, which I try to follow these days, but let’s say this thread is about tastiest of all time- even if you abstain now.

My all-time favorite seafood is crab. King, Dungeness, Snow, Blue, probably in that order. I don’t get any kind of crab much anymore since I know it’s not very sustainable. I remember being able to get King crab legs from Costco that were as long as your arm. You could crack a leg and get a piece of King crab meat the size of a kielbasa. It was almost too easy. Half the fun of crab is cracking and digging out the meat from the shell-- it’s primal. Now sadly, most varieties of crab are getting more and more expensive and scarce. I wouldn’t be surprised if crab (at least some varieties) becomes completely unavailable in my lifetime.

A close second would be Maine lobster. I’m one of those hardcore lobster lovers who even eat the tomalley. I love to take a steamed asparagus spear and dip it in the tomalley-- it’s like lobster-flavored butter.

Shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, oysters both raw and cooked-- I love it all.

When it gets to the finned fish: a nice Ahi tuna steak, seared on the outside, raw on the inside, with a nice simple soy-toasted sesame oil- rice vinegar sauce.

Copper River salmon cooked on the grill.

Haven’t had swordfish for many years due to sustainablity issues and mercury, but I used to love swordfish steaks on the grill. Shark was like a cheaper, not as tasty cut of swordfish. Used to grill some shark steak in years past, but I think it’s even higher in Mercury than swordfish. Don’t think shark is even sold anywhere anymore.

And of course sushi and sashimi of all varieties-- tuna, salmon, mackerel, eel, uni, salmon roe, etc, etc, etc.

I could go on, but as usual my OP is getting pretty long-winded :blush: I’ll give someone else a chance…

2

Do you live on the east coast or the west coast? Because when I’m on the east coast, my favorite shellfish is Atlantic lobster. But on the west coast i think it’s dungeness crab.

(And i don’t think I’ve had enough fresh king crab to judge.)

3

Crab is outstanding. I also remember the heady days of king crab legs being available at the local supermarket for a reasonable price. Now you pay out the nose for any kind of crab at all, even here in Maryland.

Shrimp started making me itchy about a decade ago so I mostly stopped eating them. I’ll risk one or two every now and then but I can’t sit down with a bowl of peel-and-eat shrimp anymore. :cry:

So far other shellfish haven’t given me any reaction at all. :crossed_fingers:

I love a good mojarra frita. Tilapia are cheap and it’s easy to make; I make it all the time.

Sushi I really enjoy but I honestly can’t really tell the difference between most of the raw fish. It more or less all tastes the same to me.

4

Personally, I love white albacore tuna packed in water. I make tuna salad and always have a supply on hand for lunches or even snacks.

5

I can’t think of anything from the sea that I don’t love. My first experience with monkfish was only last year, it’s amazing. I love sushi, shrimp, crab, mussels, clams, oysters, all fish, etc.

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Huh. I can’t relate to this. They all have different flavors and textures. I tend to get strongly flavored species, like tuna and mackerel, though.

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For shelllfish–my first choice would be shrimp. I prefer cold cocktail shrimp but I do enjoy fried and grilled shrimp as well. Scallops would be second. Then fried clams. Oysters are great to.

As for fish–my top spot would Atlantic salmon followed by Rainbow trout. I did NOT like haddock when I tried it or swordfish.

Not a fan of lobster or crab.

EDIT: I forgot about CANNED TUNA. I actually eat it more than any other seafood and it is interesting that it really has NOT been mentioned here. It would probably below most of what I mentioned above as liking. I only buy it because it is cheap over great tasting.

8

For fin-fish, I tend to like fatty fish, like salmon and arctic char. (That whole family if fish is delicious.) But i recently picked up a pack of individually frozen tilapia fillets, and i am always amazed that this fish that’s basically farmed in sewage tastes so good.

9

Hard to pick my favorites, but in particular, I love walleye and sea scallops. Monkfish is up there. Mackerel or sardines grilled or canned in oil. Spanish tuna canned in olive oil. Bluefin tuna.

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I keep cans of mackerel and sardines around for an easy lunch. Yum.

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Yeah, that’s what I always get, too. Tuna, hamachi, and saba nigiri. Honestly still can’t tell the difference.

12

I’ll eat them, but I mostly don’t like fish, crustaceans, bivalves, etc.

13

I’m a flyover guy- SE Michigan. Thank God for modern flash freezing and shipping techniques!

Nothing like fresh out of the water, though. I didn’t mention maybe the best fish I’ve ever had is lake trout fresh from the water. I’d like to say I fished my share, but a friend who has a few acres in northern lower Michigan and I went to a hatchery, where you can just buy trout that they will also kill and clean for you. Grilled trout that had been alive less than two hours before is unbelievably good.

Funny story- so my friend and I bought the trout at the hatchery on one trip to his cabin up north early in the Summer. A couple months later on another trip, we decided to make a run to the hatchery again to get some more fresh trout. The hatchery was run by a youngish guy and his wife in their 20s, and he had a friend or two helping out as well. The same young people who got us our trout were there a couple months later. We said, “hey, you guys helped us out last time, think you can hook us up again?” They gave each other nervous glances and hesitantly said, “yeah, maybe. What can we help you with?” When we said we wanted more trout they seemed very relieved and said “sure, of course, coming right up”. It dawned on me they probably thought we were looking for meth or something.

Yeah, I like canned fish, too. It has a quality all its own. I like with sardines and canned salmon how the bones are crunchy and edible. Good source of calcium. I sometimes do a ‘quick and easy’ weekday boulliabase where I add fresh shrimp but canned salmon-- the juice from the canned salmon makes a nicely flavored stock. A can of chopped clams with the liquor adds flavor too.

Don’t think I’ve ever had monkfish. Some call it ‘Poor man’s lobster’, I believe. Is the taste and texture really similar to lobster?

14

Of the Australian locals for fish the choice lies between pearl perch and orange roughy.
Of the non-finned species then it has to be octopus, done simply Greek style.

15

I’ve got to echo the love for crab (particularly King crab) and shrimp, but I’ve got to throw in abalone as one of the tastiest. Properly prepared (pounded to hell and back and then pan fried), it is heavenly.

16

Away from the coast, my favorite is often trout.

Funny that i now have a freezer full of flash frozen fish, which i quite like, because my favorites are mostly things available fresh.

I think fin fish does better frozen than crustaceans, though. I bought frozen raw lobster once. Never again. And i love lobster.

17

Yes! I almost couldn’t believe I was eating fish.

18

I make tilapia ceviche pretty often, it works great.

19

I’m another one that would have a hard time choosing. As the thought of one variety of seafood has me salivating another one will come to mind. Lobster comes to the forefront, delicious flavor, not overly delicate like lump crab or shrimp, and in combination with other ingredients can make the best of meals. Clams can be very flavorful, you’d have to spend time in New England to enjoy the wonderful experience of whole belly clams, but they are rarely my first choice. For the fish with fins I don’t think anything matches fatty toro tuna eaten raw, but trying to find the truly fatty stuff has become difficult, it’s not just meat from the belly, it has to be the belly of a fat tuna. Another favorite of mine not quite raw is mackerel, almost always marinated in something because of it’s short life, it has a sweet fishy flavor. And even though I skinned, battered, and fried thousands of pounds of cod fish I still love a good fish&chips. It’s easy to sum up by saying I like all of it. As much as I love red meat I get more than enough of it and never pass up the opportunity to eat seafood of any kind.

20

For finned fish, my faves are sashimi grade tuna and fresh caught lake perch.m Trout liver mousse is also delicious.

Otherwise I adore crab, lobster, shrimp, oysters, and mussels. Clams less so but they too can be very nice. Not a big fan of scallops, and I’ve tried to like them many times.

I also love a decent cioppini.