The USA's Most EXTREME Seafood!! From Maine to Miami!

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Go to Better Health.com, the best of Fua today, now on the show here. I have never eaten whole crab legs all in one sitting, especially here in the US. And the fact that this is like an American meal makes me feel even more so. excited because it's certainly not something

most

Americans have tried or even heard of. It's as strange as Maryland is here in this series, we tackle

seafood

on the East Coast of the US from Maine to Miami, that is. just one moment of perfection we can have more moments I can have more moments all you can eat buffet it's raining and I don't even care if we run out we'll go get more but before that, let's go back The East Coast of the USA consists of More than 2,000 M of coastline from the Canadian border to the southern tip of Florida, here you will find some of this country's

most

precious deep-sea treasures.

This is the biggest pum fry I have ever seen. Aquatic gems that fishermen work with. tirelessly to bring no matter the weather, no matter the weather and no matter how dizzy you may get, the cameraman who threw up today, can we show that very quickly from the ocean, this

seafood

changes hands to chefs all over the country, yeah , chefs facing each other? the challenge of preparing what can be an incredibly rewarding type of meal for you to execute this in a fine dining restaurant what is the biggest challenge in sourcing good quality seafood but also an ingredient that if not prepared properly can lead to disaster absolute every year there are some casualties some people die from eating oysters I guess they are raw there was one I think in Virginia last year BJ yes sir good morning good morning good morning from the home-cooked meals of the gulla on the island of Saint Helena the shrimp here It's just different man.

I've had shrimp from the Gulf to the Florida Keys, but these are special for an impressively expensive dinner at a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Manhattan. Someone waded into the water and picked them up by hand. They could have died. They probably did something underwater. you absolutely can't breathe in this series. I'm on a mission to reveal how the best seafood in the U.S. is sourced. I think we're lucky, oh my goodness, that's huge, and how it gets to its final destination on your table. There is a very good keeper here, but this is a large lobster about two pounds.

It's going to be delicious like the main lobster caught in cages by hard-working lobster fishermen in deaths. Oh my gosh, wow, this one is amazing every year. These waters just off the coast of Maine bring in over 100 million pounds of lobster which are then shipped across the country, they correctly separate good and bad lobsters and around the world, how can you tell the difference between a lobster good and a bad lobster? So, are you looking for tattoos? Yes, it's a terrible joke. At Main's Capital, that sweet ocean meat is used in cold lobster rolls, would you say there's a whole lobster in there?

Yes, it's about one PB lobster meat in each roll. There is so much meat here, so many claws should. We tried it, oh yeah, let's go for it, there are famous blue crabs in Maryland, another good look at these crabs, here crabbers go through hundreds of pots hoping to cash in on this valuable crust, oh my goodness, this thing is a gigantic sacred cow, there is a right way to hold them, look at this D no, professional harvesters can tediously scoop out the meat and then stuff it inside meaty crab cakes that we're going to flip or, if you're feeling more adventurous, shell crabs soft they can be fried and eaten whole. it has that leathery feel on the outside it is flexible it is very disconcerting it has legs it has legs in Virginia instead of hunting creatures of the deep Farmers have perfected the art of growing oysters yes, this multi-year process means that the oyster seeds pass from looking like this to eventually growing into these oversized oysters oversized body positivity oysters that finally end up in a restaurant near you cooked in ways you couldn't imagine tell them how many oysters we serve each year 307,000 oysters wow, it's almost one for every person who lives in the city of Richmond and maybe a couple of people had two and then there is Florida, a paradise for all things seafood.

Did they get much bigger than this? Twice as big. Here you will find giant stone crab claws that could be worth up to $90. Overall, for something like this, for the colossal size, yes sir, mind-blowing, here you can find processing facilities that boil giant containers of seafood like this basket of 400 pounds of spiny lobsters, a creature that now competes with the main lobster for the title of America's favorite seafood for me, unequivocally, I would have to say I love them, why okay, first of all, okay, tell me in this series. I don't just want to eat the best seafood in America.

I want to show you where it comes from, standing shoulder to shoulder with fishermen you put yourself through grueling work they hire you thank you just to give you the perfect fight you know there's this trend now if you're not cool as a white person people might say you're not invited to the barbecue or you're not invited to the cookout, well you're here man let me get that straight please I'm invited oh yeah I feel great from Main to Miami. Our cross-country seafood journey is about to begin here on this dock, right now, we are in a local port.

There are both behind me and this boat belongs to Jacob Nolles, you might wonder who that is until you remember, wait. I keep seeing this guy on Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube. He's that guy. We have a fairly large female that is currently full of eggs. The way she makes money is by catching lobsters or locking them in cages. Today I am on a mission to learn how lobster harvesting works and the labor intensive process that is required to ship these guys to their final destination, whether that be across the country or around the world right now we are at We're about to go out on this lobster boat to lift some cages and see what we can find.

Let's do this for me, an avid seafood lover, coming here to the easternmost outpost in New England is an absolute experience. He dreams that these cold, clean Atlantic waters are home to some of the most sought after lobsters in the world, all harvested by hand in small day boats by independent lobstermen with special licenses. Jacob, just like Jacob, and you put it there. Nice to meet you, you're a lobster fisherman. what's the name of lobster lobster fisherman either what's this place like I'd say it's pretty old fashioned how it's different from the rest of the US, we're left behind in time Maine, sparsely populated with only 1.4 million , is dotted with historic buildings, cozy towns and more lighthouses than you could shake a stick at, especially in the world of fishing, the average age of fishermen is 55 years old.

Powered by a generational family. I'm fifth generation and for five generations you've been able to do that and there's still enough lobster. Yes, and that is thanks to the sustainability measures implemented. I'll soon be trying one of Jacob's biggest catches, but catching these lobsters in the Gulf of Maine isn't just about casting a net and counting your bounty, many of them are. It is illegal to keep it right, so we will approach the first buoy of each buoy. We have two lobster traps. They all have bait. They are sitting in the background. We'll pick them up and see what's in them.

Do you remember how old you were the first time you got on a boat? No, no, there were probably four or five with my dad. It's just that you've been doing it your whole life. All my life. It's like on America's Got Talent when the girls. They're like I've been dancing since I was two, but for you maybe, so yeah, I grew up doing it, we got some lobsters, this is the first trap, this is what we would call the header, these are pairs and here comes the tailor, we have a very good keeper here, this is a large lobster about two pounds, fantastic to eat, so on a typical day we start well before 3:30 in the morning, we have 800 traps that stay in the water all time and we just went out.

We take out 400 traps each rotation. We return our catch and sell it at the end of the day. They are only day trips. We don't do any type of fishing trips. We have a very large female, so we can't in Maine. save them when they get too big this is probably a breeder it is very close we will have to measure it to find out in 1872 the principal set the standard with a set of regulations to safeguard their precious lobster populations these same measures still apply today so I can say Quickly note that most of these are too short, there are strict size limits, they all come back, traps must be equipped with exhaust vents and biodegradable panels, in the rare case that a trap is lost, these pig rings will rust, this door will open. will let out everything in the trap, then there's the V-N notch, a way to mark the females who will be the future mothers of tomorrow's lobster catch.

She is a proven breeder, so we must let her go. This is one of the many things that keeps fishing so sustainable. Jacob. launched his Tik Tok Journey years ago analyzing the ins and outs of the lobster trade. someone has already given it a notch. If you've been watching my shorts, you've probably learned that the notch is a way to protect them now that it has millions of followers and was even featured in The New York Times, although it has become an internet sensation, it hasn't left the SE behind. I'm going to open it, I'm going to try to eliminate every species that's inside here.

I'm going to start with this little one. oh yeah, it's a little joner CRA, we get paid better for the lobster, so that's what we're headed for, bye little one, okay, we got oh, this right here is, is it a boy or a girl that's a woman? Just look at their swimmers here. and their tops are very flimsy on males, they will be bigger and stiffer, so we will keep this one, this one is probably too short, actually, oh no, there are other regulations, we can only keep them if they are over 3 years old and/. From her eye to the back of her shelf, you can see that this one is less than 3 years old and a/qu, so she should be released too.

They need a chance to show that they can reproduce. Sometimes we give them a fish for a snack on the way if you've seen it, I saw that I like it, I'm going straight to this gigantic one we have here, to see if I can do it, oh my God, wow, those are very pretty, yes, speaking of size. It's a female, it doesn't have KN so far, we're fine, what about the length along with three and a wh? They also can't be larger than 5 inches, that's the other side of our measurement, those are my wife's requirements for me, yes, 5 inches is very big, so it's barely legal, it's actually a keeper, actually It's a hard shell, it will taste very different than a soft shell lobster, very different, soft shells are much sweeter.

In fact, I much prefer soft-shell lobsters, most of us do when we're eating lobster at a restaurant across the country. Do we eat a hard shell or a soft shell? You're almost always eating a hard shell because they are durable and survive shipping much better. Soft shells cannot survive shipping. I can't ship a soft shell to Florida. I feel so ripped off right now. Yeah, well, you're going to be able to experiment right here, right outside the ocean. Have something. This one here isa nice soft shell next to Jacob. preparing a meal fit for royalty dining on fresh Trap lobster for the star of the show's table, this barely legal hard shell and some soft ones too, all steamed the fisherman's way using salt water from the ocean, obviously you know the nuance of the lobster that you live here and that you catch.

You eat them frequently. I eat them probably five or six times a year, usually only occasionally, my wife likes them, so when she wants them, I bring them home. I don't necessarily eat them for myself, I enjoy them, although yes, no. uh don't do it, don't smoke your own supply, don't get high from your own supply, after 12 minutes it's time to take a look, these are definitely ready, we have a big one here that we're going to give you. Five more minutes while Jacob prepares a local lobster sauce. Here's a little trick: we actually add vinegar to the butter.

This top secret, don't tell anyone, vinegar adds great flavor to butter and, in my opinion, is much better down the road. Jacob intends to turn his online presence into a full-time job while making lobster fishing a side gig, but for now he's sticking to what he knows best when I said I wanted to try this almost 4-inch giant lobster. pounds. You said it's unpleasant. From what I've heard, they are much less sweet. Wait, you're saying nasty, but you're not even sure you want to bet five dollars. Alright? It's not going to be unpleasant but it's not going to be like these, okay let's try it, the first thing we do is separate the tail from the body, separate the fins from the tail, we have a hole right here in the back, push your finger right at work, well there's a big tail that was like a magic button you pressed, oh what's that part you're removing now that covers the poop?

CHS, we can eat it, but this is the most favorite part of the cola, let's try it. it's simple Health Health it tastes good I still like it I'm surprised how good it tastes it's quite sweet it's on the verge of being hard but not too hard a little stringy not too stringy let's try the shade which was our reference point now let's go try one of these you will notice that the cola has much less meat you take a cola I take a cola ready let's go for it M you can taste the sweetness you can taste how innocent it is so young oh that is so delicious good, clean, sweet, fatty and with a wonderful texture.

What I want to try next is the butter that you mixed with vinegar, which is something I've never tried before. Let's go for it. That is the best. It is my favorite. It's super unique. I don't feel like it takes away the flavor of the lobster at all, yes it elevates the flavor of the butter, that's very good. My favorite part of the lobster is actually the claws, you can pull out the knuckles, more tender, that is. much more like a crab leg much more like crab meat what's next with the claw actually we're going to have to break it off there we go there's a piece for you that's my favorite bite right there thank you I'm excited come on Go give yourself a dip Bliss is your favorite part is also Nirvana I went to a new level of Food Heaven that's great oh that's fantastic I just had this thought like you know if a Mormon came to your door and then they were like try this and then you're like oh Oh my God and they say you have that for eternity.

I would be like where do I sign just one moment of perfection? We can have more moments. I can have more moments. All this is incredible. you can eat buffet, it's raining and I don't even care, even with today's bountiful harvest, not all of these lobsters are considered good. Then we head to a facility where I'll learn what makes a lobster bad and the tragic history of where. They finished Victor, how are you okay? How are you now? I was told this is a lobster processing facility, but then I was also told the lobsters come here.

They are alive when they leave. They are also alive. What type of processing is it? This happens here, much of Main's live lobster hall heads to facilities like Lobster Track. Do you pay them? Who pays them? We pay them. These centers can produce up to 600,000 pounds of lobster at a time and can store 200,000 pounds of live lobster for up to 3 months depending on market demand. take care of them I like what you say take care of them like take them for a walk give them medicine not medicine, a Lobster Pound is designed to emulate the natural environment of the scabs until they are ready to go to the market Victor, now we are in, here behind me, there is a pool giant that is full of lobster baskets if we go to take out we get what we call a basic boat tour and then we segregate whether it is a good lobster or a processed lobster, which makes a bad lobster something that is not uniform to what you would like to see on a plate because the tongs are different. size, what happened there, you could have lost it years ago, of course they grow their claws back, so you're not up to date, but you might like this one, okay, you could have discovered this one, what do you think is this a clue?

Well, he has one. arm the bad locusts, where do they go? A lot of times they go to Canada, depending on what's going on, where they'll really break down. Canada, you can have our bad lobsters. We keep the good ones, they actually process them into meat format. where they can go in stews or they can go for sushi somewhere where you don't have to see their disgusting CLA body. I had no idea there were so many deformed lobsters crawling on the ocean floor because all you can see are the beautiful ones, on the other hand, the good lobsters are meticulously sorted into seven weight categories, this would be about three and a half, the ones that weigh over 2 pounds are labeled as select and command the highest prices, where are they shipped?

Around the world, we have an office in Spain and Holland, Vietnam, Germany, Berlin, some of that will go to air freight, some will go by truck, so some of it floats wild. There is a lot of work and love behind these to be able to bring this to the whole world. From here I will send myself to a nearby restaurant. I may try some of this lobster here in Maine. Yes, there couldn't be anything better than eating lobster at a restaurant that was voted the best in Portland. Here they won the award for best beachfront restaurant. cover and most importantly the best lobster roll, first of all, very happy to be here.

I'm excited because I'm from Minnesota, far from the ocean, so in my head I was like, well, we're not really a seafood country, but it's like Oh wait, maybe it's because I live so far from both oceans, but you grew up in Maine. I did. There are many seafood. Their best-selling items include the classic steamed lobster with corn, a tasty clam roll with lots of fried clams, and the legendary lobster. roll of which they sell an impressive 600 servings a day and I'm about to make it 600 And1, but first I want to whet my appetite with another main specialty: clam chowder, the iconic New England clam chowder, first combine salted butter and beef minced pork and then stir until browned, something I've wanted to try my whole life.

I mean, I've had Campbell New England clam chowder, how would this compare to onions and celery, then anchovies, garlic, more salted butter and stir, made a kind of clam chowder? idea of ​​clam chowder what is it so when people come and look for a clam chowder they look for that thick consistency then keep adding all purpose flour and mix until the mixture thickens actually a traditional chowder is a thin soup , Oh, it's fine. We're giving the people what they want Now we throw in chopped clams that have been boiling with tomatoes It's not that heartbreaking It's a little I'm not going to China I hope to see a cream cheese won Do you still like this?

I love it I like them both good, just different, add clam juice, mix in the diced potatoes, then add salt, white pepper, dried parsley, basil and half, finally some chives to top it off M oh, that's so good oh it's a wonderful combination of soft potato textures and the clam is super chewy but it's a wonderful chew you like to chew on the flavor. The potato pieces feel fresher. Mhm, am I comparing him to Campbell right now? What type of clam are you using? These are like a run the clam mill, yes there are places pretty close where you can pull clams straight from the ocean.

One of my coworkers is telling me about digging with your toes. I don't think that's how they're doing it with these. Well I hope not, how long have you lived here? I've lived in Portland for 17 years, but I lived on Main my entire life when we first got here. I was very excited. I'm still excited, but they told me this is the biggest city. in Maine and I imagine a futuristic metropolis and then I searched for it out of 65,000 people, so what's Portland's personality? He is a food enthusiast. City people are passionate about cooking here, we have access to beautiful seafood, we also have great farmland here, fresh vegetables. foraged foods and things like that we have meat farms, we have dairy farms, we have potatoes, we have blueberries, we have a lot to offer as far as food, so for someone who likes to cook it's amazing, so the tourists that come here, do they?

What are you looking for? Uh, seafood, what foods? are most tourists when they come here, I mean, I think the lobster probably after our freshly boiled lobster has cooled, they meticulously extract the succulent meat from the tails to the tips of the claws, a crisp lettuce leaf is found inside a toasted bun that cradles the cold lobster. Add a drizzle of melted butter served with a side of golden fries and this coastal indulgence is at its best, would you say there's a whole lobster in there? Yes, it's the meat of about one 1B lobster in each roll joining Carissa and I with Portland lobster.

Business owner Ethan Morgan M mhm, so you have this great combination of temperatures, you actually have the bun that's hot, it's still steaming and then the whole lobster inside is cold. You have a little bit of butter on the side just in case people want it, yeah. I have to try it, add just a little salt, add a little more, take it to the next level M and that's really all you need. It's so fresh, so clean, it's sweet, it has fat. I love it, what got you into this business? I came here to pour beers 20 years ago during college, that was it.

I was going to spend a summer here on the coast, I just fell in love. What's interesting to me about not just Portland but Maine is that it has a small town feel, everyone feels very connected, everyone knows everyone, especially within this very prominent industry, everyone knows some lobstermen, people who work in the processing areas, people who sell the final product. I guess one of my big questions is whether the people who actually catch the lobster are getting a raw deal because it seems like we have so many middlemen in so many industries and it's never like the farmers raise their prices again no, it's always like everyone others will increase their prices lobster still costs $5 a pound lobster catchers work they work very hard they are the ones out there 3:00 in the morning 4:00 in the morning going out setting traps working all hours of the day to bring in no a lot you have been doing this for a long time what are the biggest challenges you face or other lobstermen face there are many times during the year when the fishing is bad and during those times we are limited to how far we can explore and search lobsters, we just have to wait and grind them and during those times it becomes quite tedious and then the backbreaking work is obviously very physical work my father my grandfather when they are 40 5050 years old their bodies are worn out jeez yeah the tourist market here in the state drives part of the price Of course, but much of this is driven by the processing houses.

A couple of months ago we started sourcing our own lobsters. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to work with a handful of lobstermen that we know and then we can pay them a fair amount. more to cut out that middleman, it's a pretty sensitive issue here in the state, sure why it's a sensitive issue, so the boats are coming in, they're selling for a pound, they're selling it to someone else, everyone's adding 20 cents. 30 cents here and there, it's not that anyone needs to spend money, it's just that it's also an expensive process - you're trying to keep an animal alive and that takes a lot of resources to do when it gets to the table you're looking at. a fairly high price that is not necessarily reflected on the boat what do you think is the future of the lobster industry here the fishermen who are off the coast of main recognize that this is the industry for the state they recognize that it is their bread and butter and they are verygood self-sufficient, they are setting their own regulations and it has been a model of sustainability which is something that needs to be put more money into right now as we start to look at the War Waters stuff.

I'm sure you learned the other day about V-notch trap excluders, all that stuff, they're not going to be catching too much. Our east coast seafood tour takes us from Portland Maine to the Big Apple, here you will find one of the largest seafood markets in the world, second in size only the suuki market in Japan, this is the Pton fish in New York City and it's 300 AM. m., this is the earliest call time I have ever had in my life, what about fish that are nocturnal? Central Seafood Hub means delightful creatures from near and far end up in New York City's best restaurants, from affordable, choose your own fish, Greek seafood, how is it different from any other type of seafood preparation? to Michelin rated restaurants, with some of the most expensive.

Seafood menus in town are hard to work with, seafood, compared to pork steak, despite that, why do you choose to focus so much on fish and seafood here, but before we die we have to go to look for some fish? What time does this place crack in the morning because it's 3:00 AM? m. and right now he's on a pretty good cliff, yeah? 1:00 the platform begins to release ice, ice begins to be thrown on the fish and buyers begin to arrive In 1822, Manhattan witnessed the beginning of the Colton Fish Market, recognized as one of the oldest seafood markets in the United States.

In the US, the Brooklyn Bridge built over the market 65 years after the market's relocation to the Bronx began in 2005 expanded its footprint to 400,000 square feet, securing its position as the world's fish market. second largest seafood market in 2013 went digital allowing people from all over the United States to get their favorite seafood. The cooperative, which is the Fon Fish Market, consists of 20 individual family businesses, some of which are sixth generation from before the US Civil War and all have direct connections to the fishermen that the fishermen leave To fish. and they know they came here, they get paid immediately and we sell it with annual sales exceeding a billion dollars and a remarkable daily turnover of 13 to 15 million pounds of seafood.

This market constantly surprises even the most frequent customers at the moment. I'm looking for the juiciest ones. The most exotic treasure in the ocean. I may find the treasure that I will soon take to two very different restaurants where I will see how they treat this meat and Bobby has a very promising offer. Bobby put it there. I feel like I'm going to die. It's so cold here it's like 32 here 100 feet below zero I like to start out as a clam digger Bobby developed a deep affection for the fish market he once attended After more than five decades of sales experience, he is now an expert in tuna where do you think the best tuna in the world comes from?

I would have to say the northeast is right here this time of year. The Japanese might not agree that they have a certain area where they like tuna the most, but it really doesn't get any better than this, right? Try it for sure, so if this was a blue fin tuner, this belly would be like that thing and that's where you get your Otoro choro, oh that looks fantastic, cheers. Taste the fat, feel the fat, mhm, it tastes amazing, the only thing missing is a little sake. Well, I have a little whiskey on top, but it is very rich, oily but with a very neutral flavor.

I love it, this is a local big eye tuna, so this is the loin, this would be the akami, the red meat, so you can see the fat down here next to the skin. that's on the outside of the fish, the fish has to be kept warm. I also keep my fat on the outside. Fat is the first thing that hits you. More flavor, more pronounced. I think it definitely has more flavor. Less fat. Cold, clean, beautiful. I love it. Wanna. to ask you a couple of questions about New York City in the US. Some cities are known as seafood cities is New York City a seafood city.

I think the culture has been that they eat things from the ocean and the streams and estuaries around New York City. In the 1920s, even before that, the average New Yorker ate 600 pieces of junk a year. Now you can buy like a car with that amount of money. Has the seafood world in New York City changed much since the time you started? Oh, definitely, when I started in 1972 it didn't matter much, there was no farmed salmon, even now, of course, we get fish from everywhere and I mean every continent, even Antarctica, and as the culture of the city, they also bring their cultural tastes, so everything comes in tuna.

Hasimi is amazing, but I long for a less conventional and intriguing Seafood Pioneer vendor. Warren may have just what Warren put her there for. How is it a pleasure to see you so early this morning? I stopped here because you have a fish I've never seen. I've seen a fry before but every time I've seen a fry it's this big and then I came here and they told me it's the same type of fish, at least the same species, but it's gigantic, can I pick it up? Please, this is the biggest fried bubble I have ever seen.

Fried bubbles are a family of deep-sea inhabitants spread all over the world. This type is a deep-fried Atlantic bubble that extends up to 40 inches and dives as deep as 3,300 feet below the surface. You know, it's a very deep fish, so the density of the meat is very tight, so it will adapt to anything you make. What we will do is fillet one for you and we will show you that it is a very beautiful translucent fish. the meat has a good oil and a nice flavor platform, well let's cut your OV, yes let's do it, the fish is from a North Carolina cheese and it's kind of a bycatch, but it's really a delight, we don't see it throughout the season. just a certain part of the year that we really get into as you can see a beautiful thin bloodline that is something that would look great on the sushi bar that I would eat and that you go oh yeah M oh it's almost ironic and You are right, very dense but cold, fresh and delicious.

I love it. I am intrigued by the potential of the giant pom pom. I'll be unpacking it as a surprise gift for Speo, the wallet-friendly master of this city's favorite seafood stop, so he'll love it and take me up on my seafood offer. Have you cooked one? No, I haven't done these before or just show me the door. I think he hates the bomb beyond belief. Historia Seafood Greek Restaurant is a two-in-one restaurant with no menu, a bring-your-own-bottle policy and an open floor for spontaneous people. live performances, but I would be lost without the guidance of second generation owner Spirro, can you tell me in just a couple of sentences what the concept behind this restaurant is?

It's actually a Market retail restaurant so come buy fish, take it home and cook it at home or you can tell us what you want to do with it and we prepare it for you. I know you don't normally do this, but I brought my own fish. It's here in this cooler. I'll show you soon. to see if it's something you think you could work with, okay, have you heard of a pmit pom, yeah, yeah, this is a giant palm frit, okay, a huge one, have you ever seen one that big? I've seen them this big, yeah, oh.

Okay for me, first time, have you cooked one of these before? No, I haven't, but it seems like it's a darker fish with an oilier base and those are generally my favorites. Are you up for the challenge? I'm sure my pom frit is meant for two. Greek-style dishes for our first course, pum fruit pets go through a four-step skin care routine with salt, pepper, garlic and SE spices. Greek seafood, how is it different from any other type of seafood preparation? It has a Mediterranean touch. The grill is probably the best. The most important thing we do and it is made with virgin olive oil and fresh garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, lemon, then they relax on the grill until their skin is tanned and crispy.

What are some of the most classic fish served here? There are many that are local. a group from South America also from the Mediterranean there is a bronzino black sea bass red snappa all those fish are beautiful fish the grilled palm chips fillets are seasoned with garlic oil asparagus broccoli onion tomato and vinegar a pleasure, a pleasure to meet you, what? how does this seem to you? excellent to join us at the table, sp's father and founder of Historia Seafood vasilis, we can do a kind of family style, of course, we all eat it, this is one of the thickest fillets I have ever seen, greetings, it is delicious , meat is the first time.

It has a very good texture, yes, it is very soft, it is very flaky and the seasoning is incredible. The interesting thing is that early this morning at Fton Market I tried the raw version of this fish, it tasted like blood, it was very ironic, but now that taste is completely gone. I said this is my first time eating pmit and I think it's not bad at all in New York, that's a compliment, yes, yes, yes, I know it's very good, it's a very good fish for our second course. The pmri fillets are rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic, some secret spices and a garlic marinade, then there's sandwiched between two layers of fresh onion, tomato and bell pepper.

Our chef tops it off with lots of feta cheese and a lemon-olive oil mix and then pops the dish into the oven. I do not do it. I don't think I've ever had melted cheese on a steak, unless it was fetus fish. Many people don't love it. I like it. I enjoy it delicious. It's really nice. These are the flavors I think of when I think it's Mediterranean, it's so fresh, it has lemon, olive oil, fresh vegetables, it's really amazing. I really like cheese, it adds a little personality, but this sexy dish isn't enough to contain my temptation to add even more to the table. speo has nominated Best in Show a black sea bass black SE is a local fish from the ocean it is a good fish it is oily and what is the best way do you like to score it and fry it or just roast it at home our second fish for today's meal is gutted and then cleanse its flavor with salt, pepper, garlic and homemade spices before roasting it whole while the fish sizzles more about you were born in Greece when did you come to the US 1968 I left Greece for a better life well, America always It's better than Know that between the 1950s and 1970s, Greece experienced an exodus of more than 1 million people driven by the aftermath of World War II and an economic crisis.

The United States welcomed nearly 130,000 of them. One story became home to the second largest Greek diaspora in the world, my brothers. I will live in a great community. Most of it is excellent after arriving in the U.S. Vasilius continued his family's traditional work as a fisherman. Did you find a better life here? So I will get you to start a big family with many grandchildren 12 years ago. I retired and opened a seafood story right here we have the sea bass, where do I start? My favorite is the Nate, the neck part, which is the clean meat on top, no bones, nothing, try it M, that's really good.

It has an oily skin It has a fatty texture It has a little more character I agree that the meat has a little more flavor less neutral It is bold Tasting a little oilier a little more oily It is almost smoky a little yes, that's good Fish, can you find food like this throughout History to find good food? You know, its history is a huge melting pot of cultures around the '70s and '80s. The history was mainly Greek, but now you have maybe 150 different countries, people coming in and out of here. from Vietnamese to Italian, Greek, Egyptian and Moroccan, you have all the cultures in one area.

I still have a lot to learn about New York, but it seems that initially it makes sense when you join a city like this that at first people group together with those they know, those with whom they share language, culture, customs, etc., but for the Third generation are simply Americans. What do you think about the future of History? He will probably become less and less Greek. Well I think. It has lost much of its old identity, but is becoming something a little more world-oriented. Our children grew up in different cultures. I grew up with different people.

It's a beautiful thing, so no problem, there's no equal. no no that's progress, that's evolution on its neighbor, our most expensive seafood meal takes place in the most expensive metropolis in the world, Manhattan, and right now I'm heading to a restaurant with one of the most expensive tasting menus expensive in New York. Their tasting menu costs $298 per person. How can we reach that price with me and offer my latest mystery seafood from Fon fish market? Will it meet the standards of this two-Michelin-starred chef? Good afternoon, afternoon, how are you?you feel really, really good. I wish I could say the same.

I woke up at 150 this morning and I could smell fish. Chef James Kent is the director of this two Michelin star restaurant known as Saga. His menu is a symphony of European techniques harmonizing with global flavors and inspiration, and seafood plays a prominent role. It is the biggest challenge when it comes to obtaining good quality seafood. Seafood is almost always bad and I say that because it has a life and every fishmonger has this depreciating asset: they have fish to sell, so like even our best fish supplier, we must hold firm. the fire like when they send a whole fish you'll see the eyes are clear and they probably showed you why it's a pristine ingredient if you want order it at FedEd, they find the worst fish at F, hit it to see if they pass it Well, today I'm the one who delivers it to you the ingredients.

I see you have some sea urchins. I've never seen sea urchins like these. It looks like grass grows on them instead of these pointy needles where they come from. They are divers trapped in Massachusetts they dive and they dig and they grab them they pick them up they bring them they clean they are excellent they are actually very good so what do you think of these? The quality of these. the ones I brought you today I think look good, yes I had sea urchins in Tokyo, I didn't love it which felt like they had a really metallic taste at the end, but then I tried them again in Vietnam.

I tried them in the Pharaoh Islands. I loved the very different taste here, these are from Massachusetts so we should try some of these and see how they taste, so this is the reproductive organ of this one, they look like little Cavo, it's like a waste product. I've never eaten this before. It probably accidentally smells very neutral, which I guess is what you want, it's good, you don't want it to smell fishy, ​​it smells fishy, ​​it means it's old, joy, creamy, super creamy, not that mineral stuff you're talking about , No. This might be the best I've ever had, just in New York.

It's really good because it's just that greasy taste and feel and there's not a lot of excess baggage that goes with it. That's really good, okay. Note to start. clean my university, the sea urgin will become an item in the collection of many who come together to shape the Kento box, a Bento box reinvented by chef Kent. I love the idea of ​​breaking bread, placing on this traditional level, discovering the restaurants they offer. For you, one thing is perfect, you eat it and leave and then for us, a lot of the things we do are very similar to this, this is shared and it sits in the center of the table and you fight over things. , but you say Yes, I'm hungry.

I'll take a whole box. This vibrant box encourages you to embrace the button. Select any item that appeals to you and savor it in your unique way. There are some beautiful, plump scallops. This is EXO sauce, so there's a little bit of. spice and this is a unique crab jelly in New York that first bite was amazing the scallop is perfectly cooked almost like it melted on my tongue the EXO sauce, it has a nice touch, a little spiciness, very good, served as an introduction to a seven-course tasting menu, this work of edible art reflects the culmination of several days of preparation for each component, plus Chef India's painstakingly meticulous assembly, so there is a bottom and a top for each box lid is for the fish, the bottom is for the vegetables, this is the compressed sweet potato and orange or olive peel salt and then we cook it in a SED and then fry it, these are sweet potato chips, we add a little cilantro powder So what is this base?

Here, this is a St waffle whip chai, okay, give it some oil, give it some of that salmon egg, that's amazing, what kind of fish? it's here, the target is scalar and then the snapper is this seaweed, nor is this when it gets fun, you throw one of these in here, hit it with some eggs, yeah, change it, oh man, there's no wrong way, this is it first thing I do. I've also eaten all day, except I had Subway for lunch, but it was like a high-end Subway. Their tasting menu costs $298 per person. How did we arrive at that price initially?

When we opened this restaurant, we looked at other restaurants in New York that we were playing with in the same group, so we basically got that price and then we backed all the food to make sure the business was working and that has been working, yes we are doing well, we fooled everyone and our final dish was ripped off. On the tasting menu is a ramen-inspired soup made personally by Chef Kent. He pulls a glistening fish fillet from a bright red snapper. Fish and shellfish that are difficult to work with compared to pork steak, despite that, why do you choose to eat it? a big focus on seafood here, I know it shows skill, like cooking a delicate piece of fish where it cooks in just a few seconds.

It makes me very sad when someone spoils food because, like me, this fish was swimming in the ocean. My life is freezing and I'm like, screw it up and now we're going to throw it in the trash, don't worry, when I die I want my leg to be healed and I eat roasted slices with a whisper of salt, the snapper fillet becomes the centerpiece harmonizing with a cured qua a decadent cube of mung bean noodles and a slice of pickled radish the dish arrives on the table with a steaming pork broth on the side smells incredible where should we start?

I would start with the broth. that fat F that pork, yes it's rich, salty and a little bitter too, yes we like M acid, the snapper is amazing and it's very salty on top in a good way, the texture is really impressive, it melts in the mouth, it's not that different from that. scallop, oh my gosh, I'm going to eat these noodles here, so they're mung bean noodles, they're not like stick noodles, so they're not like spaghetti or traditional noodles like Ramen, where it has something like biting your teeth, you know what? is. a little bit very delicate, very similar to our rice noodles and how delicate it is and it absorbs the broth right away.

Very good. I want to ask that this restaurant has two Michelin stars. The goal is always for any award to be a byproduct of a great restaurant. I think we have the ability to get three stars at some point. I would like 100% to be that the goal is not necessarily the goal is to create the best restaurant we can for me. I think we're going to do it. It's going to be a great restaurant and we're going to do the things that we've all done throughout our careers at a high level, but let me ask you that as a standalone question.

If you get all three, what happens next? We'll keep it as three. Know? At the end of the day, the mission doesn't change, we just created an amazing restaurant, what's the best thing we can do in this SP Chef? Yes, thank you very much, we're going to appreciate it, awesome, we're going to hit the mark on our cross-country East Coast seafood trip. It continues as we leave New York City's huge Pton Fish Market and head south to Maryland, here blue crabs are a point of pride and a big part of this state's culinary identity. You can eat crab cakes all year round, but if your friend likes you, they will have a crab feast with you.

These icy waters promote fat growth in the crabs, resulting in a rich and decadent bite, but getting those delicious crabs is not that easy, just kidding, my finger was never there, ha, now I have a mission to follow. The journey of a Maryland blue crab from the ocean. Do you know someone who has ever lost a finger. Very close to the processing facility. How do you know if there are any shells there? What do you have as an x-ray and the end? Fate is served in a sandwich with legs in a disturbing place, this is Behemoth, right here it has legs sticking out.

I love it and it all starts right here, in the water, when I was first told I was going to meet the crabs I imagined. Turns out they're normal humans who catch crabs, but that's cool too. We'll get on CJ's boat in a moment, just off the coast. Here he has more than 1,500 pots prepared to catch crabs. Let's pick them up and see. What we find now is that we are jumping aboard the floating boat known as Miss Paula with CJ, a veteran crab fisherman with 26 years of experience. His daily routine revolves around setting up hundreds of traps and hoping for the best with him.

Luke Mcfadin, a young man of only eight years old. in the crabbing game, Luke, nice to meet you, CJ, how many days a week are we here? So I typically transport equipment four to five days a week. Crabs don't take a day off. Do you take a day off? Yes, we are working. to deeper waters because this is the best time to fish for crabs in Maryland these crabs are moving to deeper waters to hibernate for the winter. Blue crabs are native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and more than one-third of the U.S.

The blue crab comes from the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the country. Here the interaction between salt and fresh water creates ideal conditions for the animals we search for each year during the high season, from April to the end of November. Crabbers like CJ and Luke do it. their best to collect boom two crabs take a trap shake it the crabs fall add some bait and then that will go to the side just like the lobsters in Maine the crabs here are caught using traps also called pots these pots are Designed to make it easy for crabs to enter and not so easy for them to escape.

A bait box or bag is placed inside the trap to attract them. These crabs are

extreme

ly demanding. They want fresh chicken necks. They want fresh fish. They want the best chicken. necks are part of their natural diet, it makes sense that up to 25 traps would be submerged in the water and attached to a line, it's like a free meal for the crabs, but with a bit of a catch, and a catch is exactly what we search look at these crabs here we go, oh my god this thing is a gigantic sacred cow, look at this guy, oh no you have to hold him like this, if your fingers are too low he will grab you, sometime you will get pinched. all the time, every day, you know, I've seen so much seafood all over the world, mainly in Asia, and I've seen very little in my own country, and just the shape of the carrus, how it closes like some kind of ancient Mongolian warrior . wearing a helmet the claws the colors are really beautiful is it a male or a female is it a male crab you can tell it looks like the Washington Monument the females have the capital dome honestly that's the G version it just looks like a penis that's what I'm saying the Washington Monument in the capital The Dome children's show on good days a year how many crabs you are taking is more than a couple less than a few for tax reasons you don't want to say how many or what Unlike other fisheries negatively affected by climate change , blue crabs are throwing a party in the warmest waters with the best breeding conditions of all, but crabbers still need to play it cool with regulations to keep the crab sustainable long-term in Maryland. is regulated at the beginning of the season is a 5 mail crab, the limit for a crab under 5 and 1/4 inch at this time is not legal unless it is a peeler crab, you only have to be 3 and 2 in what is a pair crab, that means it is about to move out, yes, so it will show a sign on your second swim pin that that crab will move out in a couple of days once it is verified, the Unskilled crab gets a VIP ticket back to the ocean floor peeler, the crabs are taken to CJ's own processing facility, which we'll soon see what feels so creepy about the biggest crabs hitting the market when the big fish are gone.

They are sold whole and ready to impress, while the more humble-sized crabs are sent to a proc processing facility where their meat is extracted. Chesapeake Brand Seafood ships around 6,000 crabs to chalk-filled containers of oceanic delicacies every day, first the mounds of crabs are thoroughly cooked, once boiled, the succulent treasure within is meticulously extracted by the hands of expert harvesters, finally, morsels of meat are sorted by grade, then packaged, shipped and prepared for a gastronomic journey across the U.S. But if you find yourself in the crab utopia that is Maryland, it would be a culinary transgression not to savor the quintessential crab cake in the state and what better way to elevate the experience than by enjoying it on a boat with The captain let me tell you a sad story when I was 22 years old.

He had almost no money. I went to Rainforest Café, it's an independent restaurant. I'm not sure if you've heard of him. I ordered the crab cakes and then paid. I don't know $25, it was a lot of money back then and it was just a small disk of bread with maybe part of a crab in it. I'm not even sure if any of the crab meat made it into the cake, so this is the complete opposite, it's big and beautiful. full of big chunks that reallyyou can see these are the best crab cakes. I think I've seen crab cakes.

They are either full of flour and filling or they are well made. Maryland crab cakes don't have a ton of filling, CJ allows. to show you how to make the base mixture first so we're going to add the crab cake mix J. We're going to need exactly half a cup of perfect mayonnaise like a little bit of hot sauce like a little bit of mustard was Shire sauce a little bit of parsley for health now the main course here we are using maryland jumbo crab meat the best in the world once the burgers are forged to your exacting standards they are ready for the flat top oh it's big and heavy guys let's dig in, oh man oh delicious big chunks of seasoning and when heated like this it really brings out the flavor of the crab.

They're putting some mayonnaise on me. They're putting a little seasoning on me. How do you say? The worst, the worst for shister. Shire, that sauce there. too, but everything plays beautifully with the crab, the crab meat itself is super tender, it's almost like a fattiness, what do you think? I couldn't be more pleading. I'm very curious to know where this crab ends up because when we're talking about something like lobster, it's a premium product, it's something that everyone wants and that's why people are taking the time and effort to ship it all over the country. and the world, but when it comes to blue crab, I know the meat could go everywhere but the United States. the crabs themselves, the fresh animal, the creature even while it is still alive, where is that getting to the crabs caught in Maryland in ch PE Bay?

Probably 90 or 95% are eaten in Maryland. They don't leave because the demand is so high, so we actually ship a lot of crabs. Louisiana Texas North Carolina South Carolina a lot of their crabs also come to Maryland, so Maryland is really the live blue crab eating capital of the world. What is it about these blue crabs that people love so much? It really is in many ways. like the heart and soul of Maryland it's like when you come to Maryland like you have to try a crab C if your friend likes you they will have a crab feast with you if you come to Maryland and you can't experience a crab The feast needs best friends Yes, get better friends when it comes to pin-sized crabs like these, the task of cracking their shells for each minuscule morsel of meat can be tedious.

I have tried opening small crabs. My claws come out when I get it. I simply surrender to the body, but what have I told you? CJ has found a solution. Next, we head to his house, where I'll eat an entire crab hole, including the rack. The poor guy is probably how I feel about everything at CJ's house. It's like a crab laboratory, a crab nursery with cages stacked high and each corner serving as a different workshop for his crab experiments, but the real treasures lie hidden inside his garage. CJ right now we are in your spooky crab lab, this is where the magic happens.

It happens that we bring the peelers the crabs that are very close to molting or shedding their shell we put them here and then when they shed their shell and become soft crabs you help them come out of the shell directly into the pan the best crab food you will get, that It is what we sell as a soft crab that would be eaten whole. A crab does not grow its shell, but rather sheds, sheds the old exoskeleton, makes its way and forms a new one in its life. A blue crab. mols about 20 times this crab came off last night and you can see here the crab can't even hold its claws up it's so soft it's just dangling this is the most valuable crab to me these soft ones can sell for more than double the price of a typical hard shell is why CJ underwent the tedious process of sitting the crab.

What it feels like is so creepy it's chewy. I've never touched a crab like this, oh poor thing, he's looking at me like I'm stiff. claws It would bite your finger but you can wow, it's new to me, it's cool to see, so in this case you're going to eat the whole crab, the claws, the shell, the carrus, it's all good, yeah, you. commit everything we cut off the devil's face and eyes and then the apron well I don't want him looking at me if he's not looking at you CJ's approach to cooking soft shell crab is pure simplicity, treating it like a prime filet in a hot pan , it goes with butter and a touch of seasoning Jo, this is the main event, but before we sink our teeth into it, let's enjoy a full -When boiling the crab, simply toss today's catch into a giant steam spring, pop it in with a pinch of Joo seasoning.

Let the fire kick in and you'll know it's time to feast when those crabs blush a vibrant shade of red, this reminds me of what I. What I've experienced in the south when I went to Alabama and they have boiled crabs and they just have a giant container filled with 10,000 crabs and they put them all over the table, it's like your version of that, maybe that's their version of this, yeah . Cheers, this is a classic Maryland summer scene right here, there's a ton of crabs, just do it with some friends, let's get into it. I like to start with the claws, what's the strategy here?

I'll just try to break it, you know? the table that way oh that works wow this meat looks amazing it's a little dark me delicious juicy sweet that jail seasoning tastes like pepper tastes like cayenne that's very good now if I want to enter this body how would I do it right and Pick the apron like this, the Washington Monument, yeah, and then you're going to remove the top shelf from there, which is actually an undeveloped shell, so the crab will be moving out in the near future. You can eat it and that's good. M, oh, yes. really good, completely different experience, it's salty, super oily and even a touch bitter depending on what's plugged in there, so this is the hard shell crab, this is something I'm a little more familiar with although I haven't tried with seasoning or done this way is amazing, but then the soft shell crab, a crab that just molted yesterday, is basically as soft as meat can be, it still has that chewy feel on the outside, it's still flexible , it is very disconcerting, it has legs but tempting. at the same time, regards, very different from crab cakes or hard crabs, that is so different that the legs have their own flavor, the body itself, this is wild, this is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my life.

It was in my face, I understand why you have a super creepy garage. What's also wild is that if you eat a hard shell crab like this, I mean real estate, there's not much left compared to eating the whole soft shell crab and every bite is Magic is juicy, I know it sounds weird , but it's almost like a casing like a sausage, you know, yeah, that's a great way to explain it because you take a bite, the skin is a little tight on the outside and your teeth work their way through. gets to that juicy core inside, they are delicious, must be one of the best eaten things to come out of this bay, sure, how often do you make something like this?

This is all potential profit right here. I can't afford to do that. Eat my crab, they're going to hide, don't get high on your own supply of crabs. CJ soft shell crabs are a better value when sold in restaurants where they can become a culinary target, like here at Ocean Odyssey Crab House, a seafood restaurant that combines a love of seafood with a sense of adventure with its sandwich Known as Bay on a bun, the unique thing about this sandwich is that it sums up the best things that the baay has to offer, from crabs, oysters and fish, first let's dredge the We fish some beaten egg and our seasoned flour, then Same with the tender crab and the oysters will go directly into the flour, they are all fried, now is the time to prepare them, so we already have our toasted bun. with a bed of mixed greens and we'll pile on the catfish followed by the soft crab and the oysters with sauce so this is a tomao aoli ​​and happy sauce and this is how you make the bay on the bun this is a huge leviathan.

It has legs that stick out I love that you join me, the co-owner of Ocean Odyssey, Travis, if I'm not mistaken, this is your creation, it's not just the soft shell inside, we have fish, we have oysters, everything that there is in the bay inside this. bun let's get to it oh yeah that's a completely different experience so yesterday I had a soft shell crab that had just molted the night before and then I hand browned it and it was soft and tender and juicy. I would compare it to a sharp cheddar Johnsonville BR was half stuffed with crab meat, that's my white trash comparison, but this is all fried so it changes the texture a bit, sure you get that extra crunch.

What must be the oyster, there are some very hot pieces, which I think must be the fish because it keeps all that heat, but that crab still has that skin on the outside, it's partly crispy and partly like the skin of a sausage that breaks when you chew it exactly. Plus, you have a nice, creamy sauce that brings it all together and a little bit of vegetables, you know, for fiber. That's right, I guess I need some vitamins. Tell me about being a seasonal restaurant because this is something new for me and something that feels unexpected for the US because if someone has a successful business, people abroad wonder why there isn't a franchise yet, so why doesn't it have five locations, why doesn't it work 100 hours a week and close its doors every winter.

We do, we are a crab house, that's a big part of who we are. You know, crab season is from April to sometimes December. November. Now that's harvest season, so if you're in the Chesapeake Bay, we've got you. It's not whether they're moving, which they do, or whether it's winter and they're buried in the mud, we go into hibernation just like crabs, which starts out as a little wonder of nature that slinks around and transforms into a resource. energetic. Leaving an indelible mark on the state of Maryland, the blue crab is not only a piece of cultural heritage that attracts tourists eager to savor the state's distinctive seafood, but it also serves as an economic gold mine for hardworking locals.

By doing this for a good amount of time, a lot of people just see the final product, whether it's in the store or a restaurant, but they don't actually have access to the first step of getting these ingredients, so what would you do? Let's say they are the biggest challenges you and other crab fishermen face: Our profit margin has shrunk in the last 20 years since I started doing it because everything has increased exponentially, but the price of crabs has only increased a little slowly. . I agree, I mean. What you really know is how much money you can get for what you can fish, because with a lot of the new regulations and coming into play, you're going to eventually hit limits here, so the approach I've taken is a little different.

Like most guys, I really just wanted to sell more catches, you know, so I catch all of mine like CJ, but I sell all of mine directly to the customer for you two. You've both had this journey on online social media, where do you expect it? it ends like I always say something so my grandchildren will see, later they will know what I did. I just saw social media as a very, very good way to build a customer base, but it also gives an idea of ​​who catches your food, how your food actually gets from where it is to the table, you know, and closing that kind of gap because it's something that people have no idea that you know and they don't realize that, like in the United States, there is still really strong sustainability. healthy commercial fishing fleet, you know, most people think that a fisherman is people who just want to take, take, take and leave nothing behind, but for us we depend on the resource and therefore we are the most interested ​in finding ways to make sure we can go to work and feed our families, our East Coast seafood tour will take us here to the oyster capital of Virginia, or allow nothing to start nothing, this is filled with seawater, this multi-million dollar industry is responsible for the harvesting of millions of oysters each year.

Virginia is one of the top three oyster producers in the country, but maturing these mollusks isn't as easy as you might think, even in the same body of water where the sun hits. Thanks to the depth of the water, oysters can have a different flavor. Now I'm on a mission to see how farmers raise the oriental oyster, a high-end delicacy for some, oh my goodness, and a complete nightmare for others. Every year some people die. Eating raw oysters is that important, how important oyster farming is to Virginia, it's essential, it's a staple that comes from the region.

Mount Virginia is one of the three mainoyster producers in the country. Ches Bay is one of the largest oyster-bearing bodies of water in the world. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the US where the river meets the sea and crosses six states, including Virginia, it is unique. The mix of freshwater and saltwater creates a dynamic, nutrient-rich environment, perfect for raising the highest quality oysters in the world, but how does the oyster farming process begin so that everything starts off right with the hatchery? Can we check it first? Absolutely, let's do it like this. It's Oyster Seed Holdings and this is the owner, researcher Mike, oysters have a two part life cycle, first they have a laral phase and then the adult phase, secondly, inside the hatchery is where we do all the larval work , once they grow large enough that we can get them out of larval culture and put them through a shaping process that allows them to go through metamorphosis, once we outgrow them, they will be kicked out of the hatchery here where the Province of Mother Nature He provides them with all the food and we will provide them. in these tanks and a lot of water flows through them, so they are all little baby oysters.

They are at this stage. These little babies are ready to be sent to farmers like Tom, who will grow them to full size in a matter of years. We have seen the nursery but from here we are going to see how oysters are grown right here in the ocean. Let's see it. Now that we've just entered the oyster field, there are a lot more pelicans than I expected. I think it could be a side business. Pelican meat. This is the second time I've been to an oyster farm. The first time was in Vietnam and let me tell you, it was a little different.

In Vietnam they have these giant wooden tartes made from bamboo. Lately they have some ropes or ropes suspended that the oysters are then connected to and you can throw them in groups. This is completely different. What's different about what we do is that we are raising these oysters at the top of the water column where food is most abundant, the first 18 inches is where there is the most light penetration and the most water flow, so there is more algae available when you suspend it, the further you go into the water column, the less algae you will have, so We're about to take this out, what's going to be in here.

These will be our oysters that we pulled to 1/4 inch about 90 days ago, so let's take them out and see what they look like. Tom Farms exclusively. Oysters native to the East Coast, you can help guide that, okay, yeah, that side is on that and we're up. We could have also used the crane. What are we thinking here? You know, we have to use our backs. I thought it was a sailboat. five waltzes have the special ability to filter and clean 50 gallons of water each day by absorbing nutrients from algae and plankton. Can you look there? Oh wow, in these nutrient rich waters they can grow from a/4 inch to this in just 90 days when they initially came in they were big enough not to get out of this net.

Yes, exactly, but these are still the babies. They are small. Some oysters, blessed with good jeans, can grow at surprising speeds. This bag also contains 90 day old oysters. but some are already halfway through their development, so they are a little larger, and in fact, some appear to have grown fully. I would call that a market oyster. You might think that handling thousands of oysters grows and matures at different rates. It would be quite a logistical challenge, and it could be, unless you have one of these Tom's own processing facilities. Once a bag of oysters is filled, it is brought here, the oysters are transported to this hopper and divided into three sizes. we have the first drop, the second drop and the third drop, the first and second drop are much further away from the market size, the third drop is very close to the market.

Each oil here is sorted by size, then you put it back in the bag with similar ones. oysters of the same size return them to the water correctly, on average an oyster makes five round trips between this glass and the water and they eventually swell to their full adult size, they are now ready to be shucked and eaten alive, this It's quite a bit bigger than the others we've just seen from Nursery to reach this size. How long are those 18 to 24 months? It's an incredible amount of effort. It's actually relatively fast for the industry in Canada.

Sometimes those oysters take up to 4 years to obtain. Yes, but Canadians, that's right, we demand excellence here in the United States. He sticks the knife in there and pries it up. You want to cut that adductor muscle at the top. That guy overboard shows the other oysters what's up and then you get a good one. The meaty, succulent bad boy eats something raw at first, but then we'll move on to the other things that don't mean anything, this is full of seawater, so you drink all the liquid too, oh yeah, absolutely electrolytes, so well, mhm, okay.

It was overwhelming at first it's a lot to bear the salty smile, but the meat has a good bite, it doesn't feel slimy, it's interesting because it's not cold, it's not cold, but overall it's super fresh, just out of the water. I'm impressed, I like it, let's put some things in it now. Okay, let's do it, so we'll put some sauce on it. What do you have here? So, this is some Le Ocean fish sauce from my mysterious friend who lives about an hour and a half north of me. Well, you had me at Le Ocean Sauce.

I've already been sold some lemon cheers, that's the ticket, it's like a spicy Asian Tabasco, lots of powerful flavors, that's really good, you know, if people haven't been to an oyster bar, it's kind of different versions of mixed oysters. with alcohol we have some champagne, I mean yeah, he brought a damn Katana, okay, he looked up how to do this on Chachi PT, ready, hey, it doesn't get any better than that, honey, this is something you guys do a lot with the new. Guests coming from Vietnam we absolutely have oysters with caviar, it's a type of caviar I haven't seen before, this is smoked trout, row of trout, mmm, nice little bite, yeah, those eggs are delicious, they just explode every once you bite them a little.

Oily explosion and a wonderful mix with that salty oyster. Don't know. I feel like I just kissed Aeriel. Let's bathe him with some champagne. Say hello to Ariel. I can get used to this, so this is all you do. Basically, this is it. this is the life people think farming is hard it's not it's so simple how long have people been farming instead of just going out and trying to get wild oysters? Farming wild oysters has been going on since the beginning of time, humans have been trying to grow them. They somehow send a bunch of boats, bring them back to shore and leave them there and they can have this bountiful oyster that they can come back to whenever they want, so these oysters, where do they go from here?

It is sold nationwide so you can visit who the oysters are on our website. comom and we buy oysters and ship to any part of the country. I love seeing how different ingredients are obtained, that's what this whole series is about, but from here I'm going to see where these ingredients end up. I think I've almost had every type of pit there is in Vietnam, never with oysters and that's happening next, remember oyster scientist Mike, which is a 2mm oyster, last year his team at oyster seed Holdings opened a food truck serving an innovative menu of oysters sourced from the same sources that supply oysters.

It seems incredible what they're flavored with, but before I get too excited, there's a possible catch: rarely reported shellfish bacteria. speaks and that kills dozens of Americans every year. Some say oysters are dangerous. What can be done here to prevent people from suffering the negative consequences of eating this delicious food? Yes, I appreciate the question. I would love to make it. Let's start with the eating part. Let's start by opening the oyster shells and throwing them on the grill. Now we create three different flavors with three different butters. We have a Chipotle bourbon. butter, a sweet chili and garlic, a little white wine, oh white wine, I like Scott.

The brains behind this food truck put together a menu perfect for lab visitors to savor a satisfying meal after their exploration of the oyster bed after a few minutes, the butter bomb melts drowning every serving of protein. in pure flavor. I want to try the garlic one first and you just throw it all in again, we do good here, we keep going up, so good, oh man, the oysters here are amazing, obviously buttery. amazing garlic flavor and the texture the bite changes when you cook it a little denser and not at all slimy yes and the Peake Bay region has been huge on oysters for centuries what is so special about this place?

Oysters take on the flavor of where they are located if you are very close to the ocean. Oysters can be very salty when you get away from the ocean and get a lot of fresh water in these rivers, you get many types of sweet flavors. that mix with that salty flavor, speaking of salty, what is this? Sweet Chili so good, oh my goodness, it's buttery a little sweet, not much flavor from the chili, very rich, oh they are all so rich and delicious. some of the best oysters I've ever had. One of the reasons we serve oysters this way is we're trying to turn people into oyster eaters and we were talking about maybe doing a Pork Bon Meat and we really realized that maybe a Bon Me Oyster would be the way to go, it won't take much to convince me to try a bon me, so start this recipe by mixing beaten oysters with eggs and cun seasoning.

Pass the mixture through a SI to get rid of excess egg. Goo, now coat the oysters with a frying batter fortified with cun seasoning, once they are fully coated, give them a sizzle now for our Carby container, toss in the Bon Me On The Griddle to toast it, fill it with crispy pickled oysters, carrots pickled, cantro and pickled onions. and finally a special house cream sauce to bring everything together. I think I have tried almost all types of Boni that exist in Vietnam, never with oysters, let's try it, it's amazing, super crunchy, a good taste from those who use pickled vegetables and knew OES.

New SC man, you season the breading that goes on top, right? I'm just one of me for the texture, it's meaty and honestly my first guest wouldn't even be an oyster if you gave it to me and I had a blind taste test. Action Some people may be afraid to try oysters because of their texture, but I have heard from people who fear for their safety Vibriosis is an infection that is primarily transmitted to humans through the consumption of raw shellfish, especially oysters, each year. There are victims. die from eating oysters I guess they are raw, that's right, that's right, in the US the disease takes the lives of 100 people every year, so my question is what can people do or what can you do here to prevent people from suffering negative consequences from eating. this delicious food I think the oyster industry is a very safe way to get your food.

One of the things that is very important is cooling the oysters, so vibo is something that usually happens in the summer months, as long as the Shell broth is brought down to the right temperature. very quickly, then there is nothing to worry about, you can eat them raw, you can cook them, it doesn't matter, anyone who knows that they might have any type of immunocompromised condition should definitely avoid raw seafood, just like you should avoid other types of raw foods and I mean there are actually more illnesses and deaths from eating raw vegetables than from eating raw seafood oh wow wait how many people die a year just from choking on food?

Number of choking deaths in the United States in 2021 5,000 There are more people dying from choking on an oyster than from the actual bacteria it may contain. It's an unfortunate but very rare C, gentlemen, this was incredible. Thank you so much. I appreciate you coming just 72 million from the ocean in Richmond, the capital of Virginia. We'll see what oyster magic can be achieved in a large kitchen with top-quality ingredients in this historic metropolis where the concession stand reflects the diversity of its residents. We met at a restaurant known as the Boat House. You know, just when I think I can.

I don't eat oysters any other way. I see this and it looks amazing. Located in a repurposed 1860s power plant, this restaurant offers stunning surroundings and serves the best locally sourced cuisine. These specific oysters are Chapel Creek. The interesting thing is that Chapel Creek doesn't have one. Proper refrigeration to keep the oysters overnight so it's only an hour and 15 minute drive and we have the freshest oysters in town for our first course. The oysters are shaken and then covered in a thick Hol in Day sauce. We give them a quick toast in the pizza oven. The chef created this as a Christmas Eve feature last year and then to up the extravagance added a delicatepinch of caviar, oh my goodness, oh yes, a little salt from the caviar, a beautiful creamy sauce with a lemon finish and it doesn't taste salty at all.

I'm a guy who may enjoy a little bit of brown, but that's delicious, it's creamy. I feel like I'm eating a seafood version of eggs Benedict. That's a good analogy. This oyster really reminds me of something I tried in Vietnam and now Vietnam likes it. put cheese on the oyster, melt it and then eat it like that. This to me tastes like a slightly more refined version of that, where it's not necessarily cheesy but really creamy, it coats your mouth and that flavor lingers. It's excellent right here. have the Rockefeller, these oysters are a staple of this region, the Rockefeller presentation I believe was invented at Anan in New Orleans, let's start with the Rockefeller mixture in a hot skillet, melt the butter, then add the onion, celery and garlic, pour in the heavy cream and add cayenne pepper, black pepper and a healthy dose of parmesan cheese, so this is a classic presentation, we didn't make it up and they should taste really delicious as it thickens, introduce the spinach, then serve this Rockefeller concoction over the oysters, sprinkle with crispy bacon pieces and finally give it a few minutes on high heat M, that bacon is crispy, it's perfect to accompany that Ender oyster, it's a little heavy, slightly salty, so the Flavors of the bacon and the oyster really blend together well, that's great, it's really amazing.

Minnesota is not a seafood state, we have a red lobster, that's all, but we are very close to the ocean here. Is this a place where people take pride in seafood? I think we're spoiled because we have great seafood, it's easy to access, you know? we have high expectations and we are really proud of who delivers it, its freshness and its appearance, gentlemen, this is amazing, the food is amazing and I love what you have done here, thank you very much, thank you very much for your While our seafood tour From the east coast takes us to South Carolina, here you will find the most valuable and popular seafood in the USA.

I didn't realize that the way you catch it really affects the texture and flavor with which our day begins . Saint Helena Island, a place perhaps best known for its connection to Gulla culture. We are different types of people. We tend to introduce ourselves, stand up and speak loudly. Good morning, good morning, why do I have to say clean day and of course Food Seagull, how would I do it? You convince someone they should try an ox story, but who are the Gullams and how their history has shaped food in the U.S. All the answers start with groupers, oysters, and blue crabs in Carolina Southern chefs are a chef's dream, but Shm Creek steals the show using the craft passed down from his father and grandfather.

Mr. Atkins, 72, has been shrimping for most of his life. My father used to make a hand-thrown net when it came to that kind of shrimp. I understand that you have to try to keep it alive and when you pull a troll net, you stress the shrimp, they die much faster and become mushy. Brown and white shrimp harvested from the region's shallow brackish waters are among the best things in the world have changed somewhat over time when it comes to shrimp fishing. One time I could take this nit right here and I go for 3 or 4 hours and I'll have this here full now.

If I get it, about a port or So what are the regulations surrounding shrimp so that in 10 years there will still be shrimp? They have a certain season that allows you to catch shrimp sometime like April T around November. In mid-November, they only allow it today. Mr. Atkins. The harvest is ready to create a hearty breakfast. I've had semolina before, but not like this, an appealing street food. I don't think I've ever eaten shark meat in the US and a huge feast that will feed eight, this is something I've been missing. in my life it all starts with BJ in his combat kitchen BJ yes sir good morning good morning good morning I have to say clean day oh is that part of the gulla language this was one of the phrases in the culture new day Dawn meet BJ a personal gulla Heritage chef, caterer and torchbearer.

He actively works to bring his culture and traditions to the forefront through his social media and culinary skills, including mastering the perfect shrimp and grits. Our shrimp have a distinctive flavor that tastes like they are good. They are tender, they are sweet, I have had shrimp from golf to the Florida Keys, but these are special after cleaning the shrimp, BJ throws them in a pan with a little grease and lets them sizzle until the meat is firm when I was with Mr. Atkins and learned a thing or two about shrimp. He said if you stress them too much, they'll be soft, they'll be bad.

Well, right now they seem very calm. Add onion, a pinch of salt, even more fat and two. generous spoonfuls of Ro N. I only use water because, when the grandparents in my family met someone, with this water the shrimp gives you that body that you are looking for, as the old people say, you make your own sauce, you make your own sauce, oh . makes his own sauce hey, I'm getting better at this. I didn't know there was a completely different language here, that's wild. Gather the shrimp with the sauce and garnish the plate with scallions. Next to the skillet, a bubbling pot of grits is seasoned. with salt and butter, well, in the Low Country, this is the region where we say shrimp and grits originated, so to me, the grits you see here have to be old school traditional grits, the same way they My parents, my grandparents ate grits, you know. corn, they would have roasted it, taken it to the mill and stone ground it, it can't be the stuff that comes out in the store that takes 15 to 20 minutes, this literally took an hour, but when you try them, they are like fluffy relic old schoth amazing gentlemen this looks amazing what do you think of this?beautiful wait before you start rolling you said it was a little dark this gave the shrimp some work but it will be better for what it was o ok, I think it's great, I'm not going to worry about them, that's good, B, that's it. well oh it's also so hot right out of the pan the texture of the grits is really amazing yes it's fluffy the shrimp has a great texture and then this beautiful thick salty sauce on top this is so addictive but so heavy, you know? one of those meals that were made in the days probably before my time, when people still lived off the land, this is your fuel, this is your heavy meal for the morning, just to start the day, this is probably your meal heavier in those days.

I don't know if I'll make it out of The Breakfast Table after eating this. It's like I have enough energy to last me all day or I'm just going to fall asleep with my face in my plate with this breakfast. I'm starting to scratch the surface of Gulla culture, but by the end of the day, BJ plans to immerse me in the essence of Gulla food, this Seagull. When you see this here so I can fully embrace it, my first step is to learn more about the history of this community, this area was one of the first areas where one of the first slave revolts occurred and many of our ancestors were searched in the Sambia region, you know, Sagal Gambia were Congo Mali in the 18th century, West Africans were taken to the sea islands for plantations.

The working but harsh conditions and prevalent diseases led the landowners to leave the islands in the summer and when they left all the slaves here, they were able to hold on to many of the Africanisms, some of the language and some of the ways of eating. We also have Native American influence here and we also have European influence and that just became the Gulla culture. The vibrant Gulla culture still pulses today in this close-knit South Carolina community of 200,000. Saint Helena is the heart of a centuries-old culture that cradles an iconic landmark of gull history Pen Center and the community go hand in hand without a pen, send it if you want to have the community there I will soon join the community leaders to a story of old fashioned shrimp boil where it started well Here with this dish but first I have more to learn about Gulla food and there is no better place to learn than Gulla Express Sherry.

I brought you some shrimp. Thank you Sherry is the proud owner and operator of Gulla Express, a food truck bringing authentic Gulla. flavors for the people of Saint Helena with these freshly caught shrimp, she will prepare the best seller of her. This Patty looks beautiful, but first Sherry teases my appetite with surprise, right here we have shark, shark. I don't think I've ever eaten a shark. meat in the US. What is the story behind this? You know, we live on the coast, so we eat a lot of fresh seafood and I grew up eating shark since I was a little girl, you fried it and put it in sauce. with semolina, however, here the shark meat is simply coated in flour and then fried.

What do you like about the shark in particular? The flavor, the texture is just meat. I don't have to pick any bones. I'm used to that now, because I live. In Asia, here you can see that this is sort of the midsection of the shark and it was cut into sort of a shark fillet. I'm going to split it in half, there's still the bone in the middle, but everything around it is this. beautiful meat M oh man that is to die for, it's juicy and flaky, you have a little crust on the outside and then just a little salt for seasoning, sometimes the shark can be mushy if you overdo it, this is perfect, yeah, you have to cut it well.

If it's not cut right, it will be difficult with over 25 years of culinary experience. Sherry embarked on a new venture in 2019 by launching gulla Express. Here she has infused the menu with gulla classics that have been given a special touch, her bestseller. the shrimp burger after cleaning the shrimp Cherry places them in a processor grinding the meat for a shrimp burger. I'm going to add some crab. I don't need much, we were always making a shrimp burger so I wanted to do something. different was then when I said well let me try the shrimp and crab burger and that would be something different you know people had never tried it before so I tried it and it was a big hit and I just stuck with it.

I'm going to need some. seasoning I'm also going to add some breadcrumbs and I'm going to mix it a little more now I have to taste it I taste it raw because you have to know that it's seasoned you don't want to buy anything and it has no flavor and after that I just roll it into a ball . I'm going to put it in the dough in the flour dough and I'm going to roll it there and then I'm going to crush it. that's about 3 to 4 minutes and it will be ready this burger looks beautiful that's why I don't want to put lettuce or tomato on it or it takes away the flavor if you want salad ask for salad this is not that It's like a beautiful and charming burger, it's crispy on the outside.

I can feel the heat coming off. It's making the muffins softer and warmer on the outside. Let's go for it. It is really nice. I don't think I've ever had a shrimp burger in the US the only time I've had it was at McDonald's in Korea and Japan they have a shrimp burger I wish it was this one it's like a very basic industrial one it's probably pressed by some guy of meat printing machine has this amazing homemade feel and has those little imperfections that make it perfect. Some parts are a little thicker, others are a little thin and crispier and there is a certain springiness you get from a shrimp burger that you won't get from anything else. another kind of you won't get it from chicken or beef, it's really unique to what you're doing here, it's my number one seller.

I understand why it's amazing. I want to back up a little and ask you more about Gulla food. For you, what is Gulla food? Well to me gulla food is whatever you get, you can't waste it period, like if we cooked with a neck bone pigtail, anything from pork, anything from chicken, that's what we would use, it's called our food gulps, sounds like a tenant. of Gulla cuisine is ingenious exactly with the nearby Atlantic Ocean Gulla cuisine relies significantly on seafood complemented by basic ingredients such as rice and semolina rooted in historical farming practices. It's just simple cooking that you don't have to put a spin on like you would have shrimp and grits. most of the time the restaurant is a little fancy, they put a parmesan and onion and bacon relish, no shrimp and grits, it's just shrimp and grits.

I think I ate it this morning, that's all, over time, the flavors and techniques of gulla have left their mark. In kitchens across America, with one-pot dishes and worn-out cookware as prime examples, you'll soon witness one-pot cooking into our final meal. I had never seen oxtail with shrimp for us. That's a classic, the first on our two-course feast. a gulla one pot, the classicstool Frogmore DJ prepares a soup base in a giant pot with water, garlic powder, old Bas seasoning, salt, hot crab, fresh onion and chiles, once the seasoned water is boiling he adds corn chunks and potatoes, then the sausage joins the pot. and finally the shrimp while BJ is busy in his outdoor kitchen.

I head inside the Pen Center School where Marie explains the history of this Landmark Pen Center and the community goes hand in hand without the Pen Center, you have the community and it started. Known as the Port Royal Experiment, the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860 placed the island of Saint Helena under Union control, leading to the beginning of the Port Royal Experiment in 1861. This experiment aimed to make the The region's transition from a slave-dependent society to one rooted in freedom brought emancipation. to St hel in 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Free Emanipation Proclamation and all the other enslaved people, as you can see, we were already emancipated before the document was signed, we are different types of people, we tend to show up, stand up and speak in 1862, the Port.

The royal experiment gave the newly emancipated people here the right to purchase former plantation land at low prices, and with land ownership comes great power. A system of credit shares was never established on Shelness Island, furthermore the experiment led to the establishment of hospitals and schools. The pen school opened its doors in 1862 as one of the country's first institutions for former slaves. This school was the Beacon of Hope and educated blacks in the Low Country. This was the only school where a black person living in the state of South Carolina could earn a high school diploma today Pen Center is a cultural center and museum of African American history where Marie and her colleagues tirelessly advocate and showcase the wealth of Gulla culture that can be seen and even tasted before starting.

I want to thank you. everyone for being here today, it is a great honor for me to eat a piece of history today and I have already learned a lot about the G of people and food and my favorite way to learn is by eating, so this is a low level. country boil some people call a frog more stew actually this originated here in this I'm going to go for this corn first you said the corn is a little soggy yeah, soggy too much than I like, but it's tasty mhm it has a little pie, it's delicious, it's super salty, it has a lot of pie, a lot of cayenne, this is like cayenne corn, okay, we have potatoes, oh my goodness, everything has absorbed those amazing flavors, even that sausage is spicy, it burns slowly and crawls.

I think the flavor is just a beautiful mix, a combination between what the shrimp offers and this powerful sausage, salty and smoky, to me it's like a homemade sausage that we made back then, we killed a pig, we made our own sausages. Old time sausage, so I want to ask about the shrimp. Are you eating the peel or are you peeling them yourself, peeling them? It's okay, they taste amazing. I'm curious about this dish. Why always cook it with the peels in Tradiciones? How has it been? I think it also helps preserve the flavor - people boil the shells to make shrimp broth, you know what else helps? helps people slow down a little when they eat, take your time, it becomes like a 5 minute meal into a 30 minute meal our second a pot and gulla dish final Flavor of the day oxtail soup first BJ takes his broth prepared in a boiler.

I woke up in the then he drops his oxtails with various beans and the broth and lets them simmer, how was the cooking or the meal? of the people is transformed from the time they came here to what we see today we basically cook the same thing we did back then the sausage people always had the leftovers of the pig the legs the tail and the necks the ones we cooked now and the okra is our main course, anything here, whatever you have for dinner, that was breakfast at lunch. I was having crab sandwiches for lunch and I was embarrassed to eat that.

Yeah, when you were younger, because that wasn't the norm back then, all the Bo's ate. his peanut butter and jelly, I had crab, that's pretty good, yeah, but being here you didn't think that because they asked you, you ate so much, you know, so he had to take lunch too, so you know, that's what You know. I'm tired of this I wanted something else you know once the oxtail reaches the desired softness BJ load the pot with minced meat or stir until the broth thickens and finish with a handful of shrimp don't put me to sleep okay, okay, I got some of that sauce, I got some shrimp, some rice, it's such a comforting hit with a little bit of that oxtail, oh the oxtail, amazing, super soft, tender, delicious, flavorful and such a texture fresh for that stew because it's thick but it's also a little slimy because of the oak Ro but in the best possible way it looks with oxtail here these were the remains of the slavery era where the slaves ate but now the oxtail has crossed it was just that the blacks ate what I went to store man this white lady had they sold about six packages of padlocks in a basket, you know, a long time ago, that was $2 a pound now it was like $89 $10 a libra and these were the things that you thought were garbage, but culturally, even before I was a robot, here they ate every part of the animal. to this day that still exists that's how a culture like this speaks gulla when you see this right here for you two I'll also be happy to hear your answer why is it so important to continue teaching people about go traditions and perpetuate them ? traditions because the legacy we want to pass on to our children can become a time when you will have nothing in the stores, you can always go back and learn how to survive on the land and that is how we have done it.

We have learned that we were isolated here so we had to learn to survive on the land so what happened on the other side did not matter to us because we were independent and self-sufficient people living here. You have to understand that this is not it. a culture that built this country, yes, absolutely, you know the way we speak, the language, you know these things that we have to embrace or you will lose part of history, not only will you lose part of your culture, part of American history and it is a very important part. of American History, how can you reconcile the dark past of American history with slavery and still feel pride in your community and your country now?

The history of this country is a movement towards freedom and African Americans have been great drivers and have tried to bring freedom to everyone. So this whole idea of ​​when we benefit the entire country benefits every community can benefit from our progress on this continuing journey of freedom when the people were freed on this island in 1861, they didn't look back and say, wow, we've been through something Really terrible, they looked ahead and said: What can we be? Do you know how we can project ourselves and be great in the context of life and each community, everyone, of all races, we have to take that off.

You know how we can be big, not small, but big now that we've worked our way south to the Florida Keys? Gosh, dolphins, there are like three dolphins behind you, that looks amazing. The Sunshine State is a seafood lover's paradise, from swordfish to mahi mahi and everything in between, but next we're going after one of this state's most regulated underwater inhabitants if you take the whole body. land that's a criminal offense that's illegal that's something you can't do that's right down the road we'll settle the debate of which is truly Superior between main lobster and Florida lobster with my friend googa there's no comparison it's oh god mine Sorry, you're provoking me.

It all starts bright and early on the water. It's a beautiful morning. I must say it's miserable weather out here. We headed to the capture area a couple of hours from the coast. It's been quite Chompy. My cameramen here are about to throw up any second. It's a bit sporty, sometimes it's a more positive way to do it. From spearfish and spiny lobster to the long-awaited stone crab, what's the season for stone crab? Because that's why we're here from October 15th to May 1st, so wow, there's like three dolphins behind you, that looks amazing. I take videos of everything.

It's time for my kids, you know, sailors back in the day saw dolphins and thought they were hot mermaids. Have you ever thought that a dolphin is a hot mermaid? No, the Florida stone boat capable of growing up to 6 inches wide can be found in the western north. Atlantic, including the east coast of the US, these crabs feed primarily on oysters, mollusks, and a variety of crusts. What's really unique about the stone crab is the fact that if you take the entire body ashore, which is a criminal offense, right, we can only harvest the cloth. Let's get some crabs out and see how it works.

Sounds good. Regulations have been implemented to safeguard the stone crab population, ensuring that this valuable marine life can continue sustainably for future generations. The first trap is up. Open it, let's see what's inside. It looks pretty good. all right, three crabs, those crabs go in the trash here, there you go, oh, this one only has a watch, or someone harvested it or lost it in a fight with another crab and we measure it, they have to measure 2 and 7/8 long. or more or more and then you will break them right here and then we will release the live crab into the wild, as long as they are big enough, we males take all the claws, yes, for the females, it is highly illegal to remove their claws. claws, if they are laying eggs, the females have a wider piece here compared to the male.

When setting traps back into the ocean, attractive bait is essential, but instead of oysters or scabs, they opt for an unconventional Choice Pig seat, it's one of the most sustainable bases we can get, people in Vietnam are horrified right now because you are feeding pigs feet to crabs, actually with these pigs feet it's just the back legs, oh the front legs are processed and shipped overseas on a fine day, PA. and his team can collect up to 600 pounds of stone crab webs, which is roughly equivalent to 2,500 pieces. Does PETA care about this or are people upset that you break their arms in a humane way?

Yes, people are angry because you're not giving them anesthesia first. I'm sure there's someone out there, but there's always someone like a lot of scabs. Stone crabs have a remarkable ability to regenerate their claws. This regrowth can take 1 to 3 years. I think we're in luck, my God. It is huge to reach a legally harvestable size like this again, however this regeneration is only possible if the claws are removed correctly. Okay, let me do this. Faulty disposal can fatally injure the crab and cause it to bleed to death. I know you're angry. but soon you will get angry and you won't have arms either, crazy germ first, oh, I almost broke the lock because I don't think I'll make it, oh my God, no, no, first of all, let's check if it's a boy or a girl. it's a boy let's measure it if it touches it's legal both are legal both are legal to take and then I just turn it down and if I do it wrong I'm going to break it in half could you, yeah oh, you did it, I got it, I sorry, you look ridiculous, at least he can come back and reproduce, that will be for the next generation of crabs now, but here's the thing: if I were a lady crab, I won't go.

To breed with a clawless type you will have to work a little harder to achieve it, throw it straight into the water, there we go, it is quite common for a crab to lose and regenerate one or two claws throughout its life, but this loss can affect significantly. affect a crab's chances of survival according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a flock with two claws removed had a mortality rate of 46 to 82%, while the flock with its claws intact he only had a 12% chance of dying, this is certainly a challenge. work you have to get up early you come here at 12 and the waves are rough my cameraman already threw up here are some pictures of that this is probably the most expensive seafood you can find in florida why is it so expensive? it's a lot a lot of work to get out here you have to see we have to fight the elements many hours the equipment is expensive it's a labor of love having to come here to do it back in the 1890's these stone crafts were considered merely incidental for the sake of capture traps intended for spiny lobsters, but by the end of the 20th century the stone crab fishery had become one of Florida's most lucrative industries valued at $30 million.

Oh, from the docks we head to a seafood processing facility where we will soon see 400 lbs. of live Florida lobster are steamed all at once, are they alive when they go in? Yes, but not by muchtime, this place is crucial. The journey of stone crab claws from sea to plate. Jason Hi Sunny, this place is amazing. Can you ever make a Wish the kid would come around no, no, they're not making good decisions. I think they are not all there by the time the ship docks, the stone crab's claws are weighed and carried away. Have you ever heard of someone bringing in a whole crab? body on the ground and getting in trouble for it.

I certainly have what happened at BC Fisheries. They have their stone cloths sorted into four different sizes and then send them onto a giant steamer. If you get caught doing that you can lose your boat, you can lose your licenses, you can lose all your traps and if you were ever allowed to fish again, once that happens you usually get a lifetime ban and then where do you go? do you change? Because that's what happens in the US, once you're a convict or a criminal, you move to Unfortunately, Florida, if you make that mistake, if you're already in Florida and you become a criminal, where do you go? the hell are you going?

I guess you have to find a new home, Arizona, there you go, yes, the whole process is designed for Swift to secure the meat. Not spoiling once steamed, the claws are quickly transferred to another container where they are buried in ice to aid the cooking process within a week. How many pounds of crab claws do you think you have coming through here? 15 to 20,000 pounds, but sooner. They are shipped to local restaurants and wholesalers throughout Florida, they must be sorted by grade, let's go through the size category, the smallest is medium, we don't have small, not small, it's like movie theater popcorn, right, we have large and we have jumbo and Something colossal like this in a restaurant, do you have any idea how much that would cost?

Between $65 and $90, depending on the location. It's amazing. You better bring your checkbook. Yes, no joke, you won't be disappointed, although luckily it's our next stop. features a deal not to be missed and all you can eat Stone Crab Claw Feast for $120 and the best part my friend gooa will be there to share the experience thanks for having me son but before that I'm about to try another seafood. I'm glad Florida is famous because you guys specialize in other types of seafood too. I am very interested in this lobster because we started this trip in Maine with the main lobster, it was big, beautiful, red, it has claws.

Lobsters are the second largest. commercial fishery in Florida and are protected by law in the US to help maintain their population. I also need to try the spiny lobster and judge for myself what I think is the superior lobster, you will be the judge of that, would that be ok? for steaming worth 400 pounds. I think we can make that happen similar to the stone crab claws themselves. This vat of hundreds of spiny lobsters will soon face the same fate as they are immersed in brutal, smoky temperatures, cooking their meat and transforming their shells a bright shade of orange.

After steaming thoroughly, they need to stop the cooking process, so they submerge it in ice water to prevent the meat from cooking. They are beautiful, they are orange, they are radiant, they are bright, they are beautiful. I said beautiful. twice and I meant it every time, the first step, give it a little chiropractic treatment, oh my gosh, there's so much goo and stuff in there, that's how fresh, there's a green tamale right here on the edge. I want to get all this tail out of here. why do I have a knife don't cut your hand don't go to the hospital don't go every time I go to the US I go to the hospital last time I shot myself in the head buddy they picked me up boom there we are go and see that automatically Dev in vain if someone tells you it does something special you know fertility is an aphrodisiac don't believe them I did a good job I have everything right here I'm going to skip the Come back and try it here we go mhm, temperature really affects the texture and flavor for me, so being colder it feels a little denser, a little chewier overall, I prefer a warmed lobster, but it's still very good. juicy is sweet is succulent has a strong bite I mean, who doesn't love lobster?

It's good, but the question is not if it's good. The question is which is better between this and a lobster main and I'm going to say it. soon I will meet my good friend googa at Billy's Stone Crab with some of the biggest and freshest crab claws pulled straight from the ocean floor this morning we are heading to the best seafood place in the Sunshine State, soon we will bite into a colossal and discover If these claws are worth all the hype, put it there, how's it going, pleasure Carlos, the menu includes a variety of seafood that Florida is known for, but its best seller, 75% of customers seek out the reigning champion from the depths. the stone crab, how much stone crab do you think I could go through in a week?

Thousands of pounds, but it's an expensive item. I mean, this is something you have to save in your weekly allowance, put it on the American Express card, you could do it, you could go. in Dent Americans love that the average person how many order? They only get one claw. They receive a plate of claws. Many people eat as much as they can. How much is all you can eat? $120 per person for medium size. amazing, let's talk about what I'm going to try tonight: Seafood Tower, which is over $120, how much is Seafood Tower? $550 and what's included, you'll get a dozen oysters, you'll get giant Lum shit meat, our beautiful colossal stone or jumbo crabs, the Florida lobster tails and then the steamed king crab right on top, this sounds amazing, I'm very excited, I'm happy to be here, thank you very much, it's a pleasure, man, the Seafood Tower comes as a three-level tower.

Man-made wonder on the first layer, a dozen raw oysters elegantly placed on a cold bed of ice and kale with a central arch overflowing with giant crab meat. The second level of it shows today's highlight, six stone crab claws of colossal size adjacent to the centerpiece, four spiny. lobster tails and finally crown the third level with robust king crab legs. A feast like that is not for one, it's an absolute pleasure, Michael, you've been here for a while, how long have you been here? 20 years and how long the restaurant has been here. about 46 years old, that's a good amount of time, googa, you're here, it's a pleasure having dinner with you, thanks for having me on camera, googa is a master of meats in the wide variety of googa foods and eats everything you Man knows, beef like shoulder. from the hand of him, but what about seafood?

My first YouTube video on googa Foods was actually about spiny lobsters, to be specific, I tried it today we'll talk about that soon, I'm sure this is the end of a long series we started in Maine. about an hour from Canada to the east coast, trying different seafood that this beautiful country has to offer and ending here in Florida, which some might consider the seafood capital of the USA. 100% of what comes to you the mind when you think. Seafood in Florida, well one of the main things that comes to mind of course, stone crabs, are a delicacy that is only in season 7 months of the year.

I hate to say this, but it's like a drug, a good drug, one thing I was told coming to Florida is that if I'm going to try seafood, I have to try grouper, that's what we have in front of us in this moment. Yes, black groupers are commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic Ocean. They must be at least 22 inches long. land, but they can reach up to 52 inches and a whopping 180 pounds, it's my favorite fish, by the way, next to Hogfish, have you ever had Hogfish, I've never had Hogfish, what ever, OMG that's a good one, eh, no we understand.

It sells often, but when we get it it sells immediately. I have to try Hogfish, but first let's try this shitty grouper. I'm just kidding, first sprinkle salt and pepper on the butter-soaked grouper fillet, sizzle when hitting the pan with hot oil, deglaze the fillet with white wine, add more butter and thyme, then leave it just for a moment in the oven and place the fish on top a generous amount of jumbo crab Meats Top it with jumbo shrimp and a few slices of avocado drizzle the creation with burlon a rich mixture of white wine, lemon and butter and finish with a pinch of micro greens oh wow wow that's delicious Everyone, that's really good, it has a good bite, it's flaky, but it doesn't fall apart at all, it's a thick, flaky fish, mmm, this is cooked really well and the fish, the ingredient itself to start with, is magnificent, it's spicy and there's light so this isn't a cow and that's okay maybe it's the sea cow Son, by the way, I saw one of those.

Today I saw a manatee. I wanted to jump on his back so badly, no, Sunny, you can't do that. I don't expect that anymore, sorry, yeah, we don't want everyone to get into big trouble. It's definitely excellent, but I haven't had grouper on my trip yet. This is my first grouper. I have nothing to compare it to. So far on this trip I have had two lobsters, I had Main lster and Spy Lobster here in Florida. Now, for me, unequivocally, I would have to say that I love lobster mains, because one of the best parts of a lobster mains are the webs and the claws.

They are soft, succulent and juicy. They are even softer than the tail meat. They are perfect for a lobster roll. Spiny lobster where the claws are. The reason you like it. The claw is because the tail. The main lobster is not good. That's what. Opposite to the Florida lobster, whose details are better and also sometimes it is too sweet in the main lobster, oh my goodness, I never heard anyone say that the seafood is too sweet. Michael tiebreaker, honestly, I like Florida lobster. I love the taste of Florida lobster, the kind that doesn't. You don't like seafood and you say you don't like cold lobster right here we have some cold stone crab claws now I've been working hard all day damn come to this moment right here please my friend will you did you fish yourself?

It have been a long day. I'm telling you, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. m. I was on a boat, someone on my team threw up here's footage of that again, he's right behind me, it must be really fun, we should start with Knuckle. I mean, I always start with KN. where is the mustard? this is the mustard sauce that's our famous mustard no butter no mayo mustard health mhm wow that's delicious eh gentlemen wow it took my breath away that's amazing I can't believe you got it these guys were swimming yesterday they were alive wait they're still alive, Wait, wait, yeah, that's what I learned today.

So you're telling me this is the only animal you can eat twice for potentially decades? 3 years later the claws could be as big again, so that's the gift. that's still giving 100% now listen to mustard that was delicious the meat itself has a nice firmness a wonderful texture a great bite slightly sweet slightly sweet but not too sweet to googa here so we tried the mustard I say I say we dip in butter , son, oh my goodness, cheers, friend, cheers, brother, I know it's so good, undeniable, everything is better with butter, which absolutely reflects this journey so far.

I have learned a lot. I'm from Minnesota, we have a red lobster at the end. trip I have learned a lot about different regions in these beautiful places in the United States along the east coast. I have two main conclusions: one is that fishermen work their assets, they are diligent, they put in the effort on a hard day and they do it. over and over and over again it's hard work it's also hard work it doesn't matter if it's a good day if it's a bad day they are always there to fish and sometimes you get lucky and other times you don't get it right and they have no control over it the market or what they are going to be paid that day, that month or that year.

I am very impressed with the fisherman but also with the chefs who choose to take on the challenge of serving seafood to their customers. You have to get the freshest seafood possible and they have a very limited shelf life, especially if you're looking for things like the main lobster, it's not going to be there forever and they need to be alive even if it makes it to Minnesota or Son of China, of the whole trip. , which was your favorite? Oh, which seafood, yes sir, we want to know what stood out the most: It's the Florida lobster, but just tell me.

I think it was a once in a lifetime experience. When I was in Maryland, I had a mild experience. Crab in shell for the first time. The skin had just been removed the night before we put everything in a pan. It was like a sausage stuffed with crab meat. It was incredible. For me, I don't think I can replicate that, but still. no better than Florida lobster. Sorry guys, that's the end of video number 6 in the US, the seafood tour is complete, we went all the way from basically Canada to basically almost Cuba, pretty close. Thanks so much to Googa for coming and hanging out with me tonight for this meal it was a pleasure thanks for having me bro you can find googa at Goa Foods in Goa and on Su everything three different channels there are so many things so much foodso much entertainment for you to watch with my man.

Googa go check it out thanks son otherwise guys that's it for this one. Thanks so much for looking. See you next time. Peace, it's okay. If we go out, we can jump off the dock here in the ocean, of course, to be specific. different you are not right