Crabs, lobsters and langoustes are a sort of know-how in Russian restaurants. These products have quite tender, nutrient and delicate meat. Crustaceans are only on the starting point in Russia of coming into fashion.
It seems that fifteen years seafood was presented by single crayfish in the restaurant menu. A little bit later it was enriched with crabs, lobsters, and shrimps. Our gourmands get to know langoustes and langoustines comparatively recently. Up to nowadays all seafood was considered delicacy food, but today, luckily, there is variety kinds of seafood in our stores and restaurants. Catering companies purchase fresh, frozen and chilled seafoods, chefs make active use of these products in the cooking.
Russian gourmands lacked for long opportunity to taste these delicacies, whereas people all over the world seafood dishes occupied firm positions in the restaurant menus. Even in such a scale, like in USA, where there the annual Crab Festival gained great popularity, encouraging people not only gorge crab meat, but also choose the Crab Beauty Queen, which becomes a perfect dish just after inauguration.
Most of our countrymen hardly could explain the difference between crab and lobster. We just started to find out the pleasure of eating diverse seafood delicacies, for many restaurant started to include seafood in their menus. Exclusive and high cost dishes underline the company’s status, therefore many restaurants try to have the exquisite seafood in their menus.
Among all the seafood the most widespread are crayfishes, shrimps, lobsters and langoustes.
Unfortunately, crayfishes are rare product in haute cuisine menus, and it happens without reason, as crayfish has quite tender and delicate meat, it only needs proper preparation. There are some tips, that should be taken into account while processing crayfishes. First of all, it should be rinsed thoroughly in running water, and they should be boiled (contrary to the widespread opinion) in simmering water, not at rolling boil. In many beer restaurants it is done exactly this way.
Shrimps are among those seafood products, that came close to hearts (through the stomach, of cause) of Russian people at the starting point of restaurant boom. Shrimp dishes occupy leading places in the restaurant menus.
Specialists believe, that there exist more than two thousand kinds of shrimps. But only fifteen of them are used in cooking practice. In Russian restaurants we know only such shrimps, that differ in size. There is no any difficulty for the experienced cook chef to identify really fresh shrimp: its tail should curl up under its back, and its shell should be glossy enough.
WE get to know such an interesting product — the tiger shrimp, that is rather big, having about 8 inches from head to tail, its flesh is packed in black-green mottle shell, this specific shell is that reason for giving the name.
There are diverse shrimp dishes in restaurants, as in Chinese restaurants they cook Kaisen Teriyaki — fried king shrimps with exquisite Teriyaki sauce, in French restaurants they add shrimps to many salads.
Crabs, lobsters and langoustes are a sort of know-how in Russian restaurants. These products have quite tender nutrient and delicate meat.
Lobsters are still underexplored by our cooks, giving much ground for the cooking fantasies. They are hard enough to hunt for, only once a year they gather in shoals, making this period probably the only opportunity to get them. Lobsters are the best for cooking, having about 1 kilo of weight. It the lobster’s weight is more than 3 kilos, its meat is harder. Lobsters are rather good for stuffing.
Crabs are more familiar in our restaurants. Chef cooks know well such a delicacy as king crab. The biggest spider-crabs live at the Japan coast, they run up to two and a half meters in size.
Langoustes and langoustines are less presented in our restaurants. Their cost is comparatively high, but cooks dent to have this newly fashioned products in their menu.
Peculiar feature of the Russian seafood market is lack of crustaceans from Russia’s seas. The only exceptions are crayfishes and king crab. 80 percent of the market belong to frozen seafood, and only 20 percent — to fresh and chilled seafood. Crustaceans are less stable when being frozen, than other products. There is now doubt, of cause, that fresh seafood is better, all chef cooks realize this.
Interest to seafood cuisine is growing constantly, it is noted by many specialists. Russia can assimilate many gastronomy cultures. Crustaceans are only on the starting point of coming into fashion. We remember the times, when a man hardly knew what is sashimi or sushi, and now these dishes can easily be found in many cafes. Cook chefs believe, that soon it would be the same with seafood. These products always find their true lovers.
