Printable View
I dive for abalone and always see an abundance of sea urchin. I've had uni in sushi restaurants in the past and didn't much care for it. For whatever reason my interest has been peaked and I think when abalone season opens again in August I'm going to grab a few.
I was wondering if any of you fine gentleman had any pointers for dealing with and preparing this spiny creature.
I used to fish in Baja ALOT,after a day on the boat we would have the kids gather up bucket of black spiny urchins,get some limes and a spoon.
A little lime spritz,eat the the roe,was great stuff.
You want to open it at the bottom and fish out the orange parts. Carefully clean off any black, that's not nice. Sea urchin is delicious, and also quite pricey. You can find prep vids on youtube, several of them. For cooking, try it with pasta, or on bruschetta. Use in a sauce, make a mousse, or serve with other seafood or fish. Just have fun.
Not as pricey as abs,back in the day (1960s) had a friend that farmed 1000 acres (brussel sprouts) just north of Santa cruz calif.
Private secluded beach,we used to get abs by the bucket full in shallow water (no diving)
have not had an ab in 30 yrs:( greatest eats in the world.
I always wanted to know how to do this with urchins. I usually hit them with the butt of my spear gun to draw in calicos. Scallops are stupid good! I usually eat them under water. As fresh as it comes. LOL! But now that I see this thread, I think I'll have more respect for delicacy of urchins and use them more for my belly than rather other fish to enjoy.
The flavour can be quite strong, have only ever had them raw and to me they are yum.
If you haven't tried them before, go for a smaller one with lighter coloured roe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
May be time to put together a NorCal eat with razors and eats, I could bring venison, abs and urchin....
people are actually paid to kill uchins with hammers,urchins eat the kelp which is far more important than the urchins,at least on the Calif coast.
They push the abalone out too since they're competitors. Just another reason to see if I like them or not. Just finally found the regs for taking them, there is no season and no bag limit.....
Sounds like my kind of job, get paid and fed all in one.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
The northern California coast's otters are doing their best to control the urchin population.
Not that the otters understand urchins help destroy kelp which the otters use as their sea anchors and protection from sharks.
The sea urchin industry in southern California, especially the San Diego area, is huge and the fishermen would prefer the otters stick to the north coast.
Red tides, when they happen, kill off abalone and urchins among other crustaceans.
We don't see to much of this stuff in Illinois. It's a luxury item that I get once in a while when my sushi restaurant has it on special. We've got some good stuff but not this.
A little update:
Finally went diving a couple weeks ago. I'm questioning myself regarding not taking urchins when diving! My god, the experience with uni in a restaurant vs straight out of the ocean is incomparable. My buddy and I grabbed 18 or so red and purple urchins. Splitting them open was a cinch just a couple large spoons back to back and that was it. We ate most of them some friends about 2 hours after taking them from the water. What a wonderfully salty and slightly sweet flavor. My wife and a few of her friends were down at the river so we kept a half dozen whole and on ice for when they got back. In just that short amount of time though they started going fishy, much more akin to the flavor I was expecting from my restaurant experiences. They were still pretty lively but regardless it seemed to make all the difference between 2 and 5 hours.
Anyways if any of you have the chance to eat them straight out of the ocean it is well worth it!