LAZ wrote:Antonius wrote:I find the percentage of iodine-tasting (i.e. 'off') shrimp at such establishments to be consistently (in my limited sampling -- a 'three strikes and you're out' sort of limitation) and deplorably high
The vast majority of shrimp sold in this country are frozen at sea. Any handling problems would likely be between the local broker and the restaurant.
LAZ:
Thanks for your comments. I found them helpful, esepcially in that they moved me to look further into the matter at hand. I've come to the conclusion that my use of the term 'iodine-like' or 'iodine-y' above is at best peculiar and idiosyncratic and at worst misleading (even 'wrong', though in matters of sensory perception like this, I'm not sure 'wrong' is a valid judgement).
Be that as it may, I am quite certain that what I detect as being a funny flavour in shrimp is
not the natural iodine-y aspect of Gulf (brown) shrimp, as I find it described in your post and further innumerable Google-searched references. I don't dispute your point about Gulf shrimp, but don't think that that's what I'm reacting to. What I am reacting to is, I'm sure, a more or less small degree of rot, of the ammonia and other chemicals that result from bacterial action and the degradation of flesh.
The fact is, in places where I've had obviously fresh shrimp, I've never or at most very rarely had one that I would (perhaps quite misleadingly) describe as tasting of 'iodine'. Ones that are frozen and handled well similarly never or only rarely taste that way (including, for example, ones I've bought here in Chicago at certain fish-emporia). At low level places and even some higher level places far away from salt water, I have had them. The conclusion for me is inescapable.
Regarding freezing procedures, I am well aware of the situation. I also explicitly said that I wondered whether extra travel and handling might be comprising the quality and will stand by that; the more frozen items are moved, the more they're subject to possible errors in handling. I also conjectured about the treatment post-definitive thawing.
But it seems it needs to be said expressly that all states of being frozen are not the same. Temperature matters and the closer something is kept to 0° C the more likely it is to be subject to a small degree of putrification. Handling, which includes the quality of the equipment, matters for frozen items.
I find it very hard to believe that places such as Moto and Avenues and Alinea and Spiaggia and lots of other higher end places buy the exactly same shrimp from the same purveyors as do Western Avenue Shrimp House or Lawrence Fisheries. I'm also quite certain that the quality of shrimp, to be assessed in percentage of shrimp which taste funny (what I have hitherto referred to as 'iodine-y'), found at 'The Jewels' or the neighbourhood carniceria will be quite different from what will be found at Dirk's or other top-notch fish-stores. (If the shrimp purchased by all are exactly the same, then surely the difference in quality for the consumer is to be attributed to handling at the retail/restaurant end.) The majority of shrimp consumed in the US may well be frozen but it seems to me that that in no way means that the quality of all shrimp and the quality of all shrimp-handling is the same; were it so, one wouldn't run into these lousy shrimp at different rates in different places and different sorts of establishments.
In any event, the quality of shrimp at run of the mill or middling places here is not especially good or at least not consistently good in my experience, certainly not up to the quality I'm used to on the East Coast or Europe, where I have encountered bad tasting shrimp at a far lower rate of frequency than here. I suspect others may have had similar experiences.
Antonius
Alle Nerven exzitiert von dem gewürzten Wein -- Anwandlung von Todesahndungen -- Doppeltgänger --
- aus dem Tagebuch E.T.A. Hoffmanns, 6. Januar 1804.
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Na sir is na seachain an cath.