Can You Say Sleep Deprivation?

Yea it's bad. 4 hours a night just doesn't cut it for me. Luckily class is entertaining enough to keep me awake. Thursday was the next family of fish, the Bass family. We did our usual, ID and some cutting to practice and then we shucked... and shucked and shucked and shucked. We had 700 oysters that got delivered and all needed to be shucked so with the 9 people in my class we each had to do 40-50 to get a jump on it. Let me tell you, shucking oysters is hard as hell. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad but it is insanely tiring. After my arms were thoroughly shucked out we had tasting and lecture. I figure since tasting is most interesting I'll go ahead and talk about that.

First we tasted a Wild Striped Bass which are large fish, it was very meaty and a bit sticky but all in all pretty good. Then we tried the Hybrid Striped Bass which is the farm-raised version of the wild that is much smaller and much less delicious. It kind of tasted like top-soil, actually that's exactly what it tasted like. Then we tried Vermillion Snapper, not terribly delicious but meaty, it would probably be good breaded and with a lot of sauce. Next were the "high activity" fish that are rich and flavorful. First here was Swordfish which I had never had before. For not being a "fish" person I really enjoyed it, very tender and moist, pork-like almost. Then Tuna, Yellowfin, not Bluefin because Bluefin are about to be extinct thanks to the friggin Japanese. It was very meaty and filling but has a metallicy blood-taste that is similar to red meat. Last we tried an expensive, expensive little anchovy. They were packed in oil in a big container that sells for a very large amount of money apparently but our chef let us taste them. Now when people think anchovy they think little gross brown things that go on pizza and are awful. Well let me tell you, these "Boccaronas" were amazing. basically salt and vinegar little fishies without a fishy taste. So good. An interesting day.
Friday was our Mollusks day. We cut a few fish each and then did our shucking, clams and oysters. We each did 1 clam and 3 oysters... then we ate them... raw... at 8am. Now I've only had clams once and they were cooked and it wasn't my favorite thing not because of taste but because of texture. But since I go to a school for food I'm expected to taste everything. The raw Quahog (most popular, also known as "Steamers") clam was gross, pretty much a gooey blob of saltwater. The oysters weren't awful. There are 3 types, Western (Pacific Coast) and then Northern and Southern (Atlantic Coast). They were a combination of briny and salty with different fat levels. None exceptional, although I thought the Southern one was better. After clean-up we tasted cooked mollusks. First was a blue mussell, surprisingly I enjoyed it. Next was a wellfleet clam, relatively small but actually one of the best things we've eaten in this class. Finally just Bay and Sea Scallops. If you've ever had them you know Sea Scallops are way better and if you like them, they're excellent, which they were.

The usual for the rest of the day. Lunch, nap, dinner and then weekend fun. So far its been a nice relaxing Saturday. I woke up late, had lunch, through a frisbee around for a bit and then did some homework and paperwork I had to get done before I head out tonight.

I know I said this once but I'll do it again. If you like hot sauce buy a bottle of Sean's Boo-Yah online (only $8). This stuff is fantastic.
Chef Werblin

ps. I've been thinking of team names for school... CIA Main Course. Tell me that isn't an awesome name.
pps. here's some pictures