shellfish

Caviar & Crustacean Blowout in the World's Most Expensive Seafood Hamper

Filed under: Dining

For those seafood lovers among us, nothing brings us bigger pleasure than the raw bar. There is something about mounds of crustaceans on a fresh bed of ice accompanied by a huge tin of caviar, that is truly symbolic of decadence of the holiday season. Throw in a glass or two of good champagne and we are in gastronomic heaven.

The Fish Society, one of the United Kingdom's most respected mail order purveyors of all things from the world's seas, has rolled out a huge assortment of crustaceans to satisfy a hungry group who are thumbing their nose at the current economic forecast. At 2,500 Great British pounds their "Caviar and Crustacean Atomic" hamper is laden with 17 different delicacies from the four corners of the globe. Included in this feast are 16 inch long giant Siberian crab legs, extra large crab claws from Chile,
freshly cooked native UK lobster, four kinds of prawns including monster sized half-pounders from Madagascar weighing in at half a pound each. The centerpiece of the spread is 750g of Sevruga caviar, yum!

Fish Society Chairman James Smith feels that the company helps take the stress out of putting together the assortment by providing a great balance of items already preselected for the customer. As for the price "It's not difficult to get to these price points if you are dealing in meaningful amounts of caviar. I can assure you they are good value." The hampers are intended to serve, and satiate, thirty people.

I don't think that I'd like to foot the bill for this extravagance, but I would love to be invited to the holiday party of someone who did! As an aside, as far as I could tell they only deliver within the UK and Europe but there was some note on the shipping page about the hamper being delivered outside the standard postal codes, so maybe they could be convinced to send it stateside too.

Tags: caviar, crustacean, holiday entertaining, HolidayEntertaining, mail order, MailOrder, shellfish, The Fish Society, TheFishSociety

Stone Crab Season is Here

by Deb West (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

For those of you who have never tasted a stone crab it is well worth the splurge now that they are in season. A specialty food item, they are possibly pound for pound the most expensive shellfish sold in the United States.

Stone crabs are found in and around the water off the coast of Florida. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about about 40 percent of the states average 3.1 million pounds comes from the waters surrounding the Florida Keys. Harvesting stone crabs is a unique process. The claws are removed from a live animal and then the crab is returned to the ocean where it can re-grow its taken limb. There are strict rules placed on the harvesting of the crab claws which must be at least 2 3/4 inches in length, not to be removed from a female crab with eggs, and taken only between the dates of October 15 - May 15th each year. In theory, if both claws are regulation size it is legal to remove them but the crab will remain healthier and be able to regenerate its lost claw faster if only one is removed.

Another reason for the expense of this delicious crustacean is that they should be cooked before they are cooled or frozen. If not prepared in this method the claws will taste watery, mealy, be difficult to remove from the shell and in general not worth the hefty price tag. This is why you will only see pre-cooked stone crabs at your favorite gourmet grocer. Traditionally crab claws are served on a bed of ice with a mustard sauce.

If you aren't planning a trip to Florida any time soon but love shellfish you can have them delivered to your home from one of the areas most famous restaurants appropriately titled Joe's Stone Crab. They come in three sizes and can be purchased according to the number of diners you plan to serve. For a group of four people the crabs will cost you between $166.95 and $245.95, depending on their size, and and will be shipped overnight to your door any where in the continental United States.

Tags: crab, Florida, gourmet food, GourmetFood, Joes Stone Crab, JoesStoneCrab, mustard sauce, MustardSauce, shellfish, specialty food, SpecialtyFood, Stone Crab, Stone crab claws, StoneCrab, StoneCrabClaws