PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CATHY NELSON ARKLE
Recipes & Ramblings from Chef School
What a huge learning curve I had this week with shellfish. If you read last week’s blog, you know that I am a Midwest farm girl who had no experience with fins, scales, and particularly things that carry a house on their back! After this week’s class however, I am shocked at how easy most shellfish are to cook.
Shellfish are categorized according their skeletal structure:
-
Univalves – Single-shelled mollusks
e.g. abalone, sea urchins, conch, escargot -
Bivalves – Mollusks with two shells joined by a hinge
e.g. clams, mussels, oysters, scallops -
Crustaceans – Jointed exterior skeletons or shells
e.g. lobster, crawfish, shrimp, crab -
Cephalopods – Mollusks with tentacles attached directly to the head
e.g. octopus, squid/calamari, cuttlefish
Buying Shellfish
When buying live crab or lobsters, look for movement. If you buy them frozen or pre-packaged and they are still moving—run.
