Today we continue to talk about Japanese materials.
When it comes to japanese restaurants, the most popular dish should be salmon. In the next three final seats, there will presumably be a place for Arctic shells.
Arctic shellfish
Arctic shellfish has always been loved by diners for its delightful red color, crispy texture, delicious taste, and the properties of cooked food.
But careful friends will find that in some high-end Japanese food stores, in addition to Arctic shellfish, there is also a kind of "North Shellfish" supply. It looks a bit like an Arctic shellfish, and asked the merchant that it was a live Arctic shellfish. As for why the names are different, the clerk can't say why.
So is it true that Arctic shellfish and northern shellfish are just raw and cooked? What kind of relationship is there between the two?
Listen to me slowly.
Arctic bayonet
We know that many species will have different names in the market due to their different origins, such as the well-known "cherry" and "cherry", "kiwifruit" and "kiwi fruit", "pineapple" and "pineapple", etc. Although they are all the same kind of fruit, they are still different in variety. To take another popular example, even if it is the rice we eat every day, the wuchang rice in the northeast and the silk seedling rice in the south are not the same.
Cherry and cherry
The same is true of arctic shellfish and northern shellfish, both of which belong to the mollusk phylum-bivalves-curtain clams-mosaic clam family, and are more closely related, so they are somewhat similar in appearance and taste. But at the end of the day, these are two different kinds of creatures (just like humans and chimpanzees belong to the same primate family, but you can't always say that humans and chimpanzees are the same kind of creatures).
Can you tell what this is?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > let's start with arctic shellfish</h1>
Since it is called "Arctic", it must be produced in a place close to the Arctic Circle.
Yes, Arctic shellfish are found mainly in the icy waters along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the North Pacific, and the North Atlantic. Among them, Canada is the most important producer, and about 90% of the world's wild Arctic shellfish production comes from Canada. The cold water temperature of 0 to 5 degrees Celsius there all year round makes the growth of Arctic shellfish very slow, often taking 12 to 15 years to reach the catch size. It is precisely because of this that they can have such a delicate but firm and sweet taste.
Mature Arctic shells are about 15 centimeters long, about the size of an adult's palm. The top of the shell is off-white and the bottom is yellow-brown. The shellfish is lilac red, and when cooked, it turns into a bright red color.
Uncooked Arctic shellfish look like this
Catching wild Arctic shellfish is not an easy task. Wild Arctic shellfish usually inhabit the icy seabed about 50 meters, and also lurk under 15 cm thick gravel. Therefore, when fishing for Arctic shellfish, the digging vessel needs to sink the trawler to the bottom of the sea and then wash the seabed with high-pressure water pipes to salvage the Arctic shellfish hidden in the depths of sediment.
Fishing vessels
After the Arctic shellfish is caught on the ship, it will be sorted, hulled, cleaned, steamed, and finally frozen packaging at the first time, and strive to "lock" the sweet and crisp taste of the Arctic shellfish in the shortest possible time.
The arctic shellfish that have been fished out are processed immediately
So, don't doubt that the red and white Arctic shellfish we see in the Japanese food store are actually cooked. The store simply takes them out of the refrigerator, thaws them, and brings them to the table and delivers them to diners. In other words, although the Arctic shellfish is called "sashimi", it is cooked.
Moreover, the refreshing and sweet taste of Arctic shellfish has now appeared not only in Japanese food stores, but also in Chinese restaurants, and there are many hot pot stir-fry dishes. Cantonese chefs cut Arctic scallops into thin strips, stir-fry or fish, which is also favored by diners.
A Chinese stir-fry made from Arctic scallops
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > let's look at the north shellfish</h1>
Since the name of the beibei also has the northern character, its origin will naturally not be in the south. Kitaji shellfish are distributed in northern Japan and around the Korean Peninsula, especially in Hokkaido, Miyagi, and Aomori as the most important production areas. Therefore, the North Shell is the player who comes out of the authentic Japanese material, and the Arctic Shell is the one from the outside.
Kitabi besei
The shell of the northern shell is about 10 cm long (could it be that the shell is also the same as that of humans, and the eastern ones are all small in the west?). ), the top is off-white, the bottom is black-brown. The living Beijibei shellfish is light gray-brown and has a light red color after cooking.
The water temperatures of the seas where the northern shellfish live are also low, so their growth cycles are also relatively long. In order to maintain the resource sustainability of the northern shellfish, fishery associations across Japan stipulate that only shell-length shells > 9 cm are allowed to be caught and sold ashore. In late spring and early summer, the breeding season for the northern shellfish, commercial fishing operations are prohibited (similar to our fishing moratorium).
Fishing moratorium
The most common way to eat beiji shellfish is "sashimi", that is, raw food, which is crisp and sweet. It can also be made into sushi and is also popular with diners.
Kita sends shell sushi
In addition to sashimi, kitashi can also be cooked and eaten. After cooking, the shellfish changes from light gray to light red, the texture becomes tougher, and the entrance is more crisp and has a different flavor. The most common practice is "Beiji oyster roast", which uses shells as a container and is roasted over a charcoal fire to make it fragrant (similar to our roasted oysters).
Kita sends shell-fired
In addition, Kitaji can also be made into miso soup, fried rice, or ingredients in pots.
A dish made from beijibei
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > finally let's talk about how arctic shellfish became a member of the Japanese material</h1>
In the above article, we have already said that the Arctic shellfish is native to Canada, and the northern shellfish is the indigenous people of Japan. So why do we see Arctic shellfish in Japanese food stores instead of Western restaurants?
Fresh Arctic shellfish
This starts in the 1980s.
At that time, Canada's marine fishing industry began to rise, and foreigners were a little confused about the Arctic shellfish they caught. They love big fish and big meat foods, like lobster, salmon, these dishes, shellfish are not in their recipes. So they thought of exporting these shells to Asia to try, after all, the eating habits there are very different from theirs, maybe there will be a market!
Marine fishing
From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Canadians have been trying to break into the Japanese market (because that was the golden age of the Japanese economy, and China was still in the early stages of reform and opening up). Through their unremitting efforts, the Arctic shellfish began in Hokkaido, Japan, gradually expanded to the Kanto and Kansai regions, and finally blossomed throughout Japan.
Boxed Arctic shellfish sold in the Asian market, look out for the Canadian maple leaf logo in the upper right corner
Later, with the popularity of Japanese food in other parts of Asia, especially Chinese mainland, Arctic shellfish also followed the pace of Japanese food and achieved great popularity in Asia.
a daily fee shop
As an aside, Arctic shellfish is popular in Japanese food stores outside of Japan, and in addition to its own delicious taste, it is inseparable from the store's efforts to promote it.
The reason is none other than him.
First, because Arctic shellfish are frozen packaging from Canada to Asia by air, the transit time to which part of Asia will not be too bad, and the quality will not be deteriorated due to the long transit time.
Secondly, Arctic scallops do not need to be cooked, and can be eaten directly thawed. Even children can do this, and it is not too convenient for Japanese food stores.
Third, Canadian exporters do a good job of quality control to ensure that the quality of each batch of Arctic shellfish is consistent.
Combining the above points, how can such a convenient, fast, simple, and quality-assured ingredient not push it into a signature dish? After all, it is a dish with almost no possibility of failure!
Well, let's talk about the story of Arctic shellfish and northern shellfish first.
If you have anything you want to see, you can leave us a message, we will see you next time!