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Spotlight FeaturesCooking for Solutions '08: Celebrity Chefs Celebrate Sustainable Cuisine
Menu Trends: Sustainable SeafoodAs we observe in April's cover story, sustainability in the restaurant and retail sectors is perhaps the buzzword on the lips of North American and European buyers alike. The National Restaurant Association last year revealed results from a U.S. survey of American Culinary Federation members to rank nearly 200 menu items and sustainable seafood is hot—topping out at #7 (click here for more survey results). And in Vanity Fair's recent green issue is a sampling of seafood items on the menus of the world's leading chefs by Charles Clover. Bold Flavor, Cured SeafoodIn 2006, Flavor & the Menu reported that seafood is capturing more dining dollars. More recently, the magazine notes that cured, smoked and pickled foods are “riding a wave of interest in big flavors with an artisan touch." With regard to sustainable seafood and menus, we wanted to know more about the trends and applications as seen by chefs in North America. We asked three of the continent's leading chefs to share with us their thoughts on menu trends and smoked and cured preparations. Properly cured seafood takes time and expertise not available to most home cooks. “I think cured products are one of the best ways to maximize the craft of cooking,” says Washington, DC chef/owner Barton Seaver, a 2008 Seafood Champion. Chef Seaver frequently changes his menu at Hook to reflect what is in season and available from fishermen. Currently on the menu at Hook, Seaver offers diners "The Cure," a starter of tuna bresaola, citrus sardine, and smoked scallop with blood orange. Up the coast in Maine, Fore Street chef/owner Sam Hayward agrees, noting he has smoked “just about everything that might reasonably expect to benefit from a dose of smoke,” including scallops, Arctic char, Alaskan butterfish, haddock, smelts, shad, herring and sardines. At Vancouver's C Restaurant, chef Robert Clark does a lot of in-house curing and pickling "to add a variety of tastes and textures to our dishes." His signature dish features farmed Bayon Sound scallops wrapped in octopus bacon—"we cure, house smoke and slice octopus just as you would pork bacon." Other smoked seafood items include wild Skenna river salmon, smoked B.C. sablefish, and on occasion smoked farmed oysters to beincorporated into menu dishes. Adds Clark, "We have always used protein combining as a tool to help us with our mandate of serving only sustainable seafood dishes." For example, when serving and expensive fish like smoked sablefish, Clark pairs it with farmed mussels, oysters or clams, so that although the portion of the wild caught sablefish is smaller than normal, it is supported by the sustainably farmed shellfish. Likewise, Hayward combines several species on the plate—such as a pan-roast from the woodburning oven of razor clams, cuttlefish, and large inshore scallops. Curing is universal and offers versatility—from hot or cold smoked farmed sturgeon and wild salmon gravlax to Korean kimchi and pickle-smoked fish (a good way to enhance the taste of lean fish that do not otherwise smoke well, according to Seafood Norway). With regard to the level of detail communicated to diners on the menu or via waitstaff: All three regularly include information about where the seafood is from (e.g., ocean, fishery, region or country) and how it was caught or farmed. Additionally, both Seaver and Clark regularly list the particular fishing gear or aquaculture system used, and the name of the fisherman/boat/brand name when appropriate—for instance, "Pacific Spirit" albacore tartare at C Restaurant. At Fore Street, the menu changes daily to allow the kitchen to take advantage of the freshest ingredients. Hayward includes how it was caught or farmed as appropriate, and lists the fishing gear used in the case of "certain broadly defined methods" such as trap-caught Maine shrimp or hand-harvested Maine mussels. The restaurant very rarely serves farmed seafood. Only Seaver regularly includes health data in addition to the information noted above. Continue to look for detailed information on more menus. Recent SpotlightsSeafood Surfing UK style (September 19, 2007) - please visit www.youngsfish.co.uk or www.fishworks.co.uk What's Hot... Salmon, Shrimp and Crab (Afishianado™, September 2007) 38% of Americans Opt for Eco-friendly Seafood (July 18, 2007) Sustainability Requires Industry Action - Point of View by Seafood Choices Alliance Director Mike Boots (SeaFood Business, June 2007)
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© 2006 Seafood Choices Alliance