Shellfish Love

about shellfish, right, our real passionate love for shellfish. If it's seafood with a shell, we're eating it, bringing the seafood tower one to one two. This is the shellfish episode. And just in case you think that you heard a cat meowing rapidly in the background, you are right. That's my cat, Nacho. Nacho Flay. He has his own very Nacho has his very own media world. You can check him out at at at not a Flay on Instagram

and you can learn about his entrepreneurial ways. Okay, so um, I'm gonna show you how to make it like a very classic shrimp cocktail. Have you ever made shrimp cocktail before, I don't think so. So the thing about shrimp cocktail that I love is that it's so classic, and a lot of times I'll find myself eating some sort of shrimp cocktail either like in like in a steakhouse, they always have shrimp cocktails an appetizing, very classic, so that's

always something that that I reorder. But also like you'll see like you know, um like boiled shrimp or a shrimp cocktail kind of thing like in like in brasseries in France or the United States, whatever, you know, and like if you if you see them like on like these big platters of shellfish, you know that we that we served with cocktail sauce that we serve with like a mustard mayonnaise kind of thing, some mignonette whatever. But basically I'm gonna show you how to make a shrimp cocktail.

It's like really really classic. So in something this is a very sort of American style dish. So the first thing you have to do is make a corporiond Have you ever heard that phrase before? Now? So a corpoon is like the liquid that you cook the shrimp in. Because I always find like more often than not that if you go to If you go to a restaurant and you order some cocktail, the shrimp is actually bland. Interesting. It doesn't have a flavor, got it. It's just kind

of like there's no seasoning to it. So basically a corpoon is usually like some white wine, some water, some lemon juice, some garlic, maybe like some celery, um and onions, and then like some fresh time. I don't have time, but I have some rosemary in my garden, so I'm gonna use that. So basically what so what you do is you take you take the water and the wine, and you put into the into the liquid and the and the and the and the onions and the garlic,

all the aromatics. And see what's gonna happen is this is just gonna flavor the um the water that you're gonna steam the shrimp in. Alright, Sophie. So not many podcasts have a single subject of shellfish because no one else is as crazy as us, No I know, but I mean it's really it's one of the things that really kind of like binds us together as as it's foundational for our relationship and daughter exactly right. But it

started it started out very early. I mean you were I've always loved you know, shellfish in general, you know, lobster, scallops, crabs, oysters, clams, etcetera. And you kind of followed suit early on. I mean, you know, I don't know how much of this you remember, but you used to like walk up to lobster tanks and literally look at the lobsters like you wanted them like steam with some drawn butter, not just like because you thought they were cool, like swimming around in their

tanks like you were hungry. And that hasn't changed, no, I still feel that way today. You know. The other thing that you really love to eat when you were a kid, with things like muscles and clams, which is kind of like some some people think that that's weird for like a young kid. I mean when I say young, I mean you were too and you were eating like muscles and clams, like steamed, steamed and broth. And I just think that like you were attracted to like those

sort of salty, briny, natural flavors of shellfish. I mean, to me, I think that's really what it is. Those are my favorite flavors for sure. But also I mean it might be weird because not a lot of people have that type of exposure at that age. I mean I just because of you, I had, I had the right exposure. And there were definitely things that you didn't like when you were growing up that you like now.

You know a handful of things I can just think of at the top of my head, like tomatoes, raspberries. I mean, you know, and you know, and and times change. But the one thing about you is that shellfish has been part of your like love the entire time. Yeah. And we took our first trip together overseas. We went to Paris. Do you remember that? Of course? How old you you? Twelve? Yeah? Check my Instagram for Sophie's birthday this year. I actually don't, yes, because I posted a

picture of you in Paris that day. You had like your you had your beret on. I had awful banks you had. You looked amazing you had. You had your bret on, this like great sort of rain trench coat on. You were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. You're like you were literally like the little American girl in Paris. And all I needed was a bad gut. Yes, if you had a bad guet, that would have been it. And like a little container of butter. It would have

been like French butter, would have been totally perfect. But I remember, like your mom was making fun of us because she's like, I don't understand. You took this kid to Paris and basically all you guys did was eat fish, like the shellfish. And I'm like, yeah, because that we're in Paris, so like you go to like these brasseries and these be stros so fun. That was really like the first time I remember being in like a French brasserie.

Like yeah, well, obviously that makes sense because I was young and we were in Paris, but still, like you know, it's it's so different than what you get here in

the US. It is. It is different. Although you know, obviously you know, many restaurant tours, you know, myself included, are inspired by those kinds of travels, etcetera, and in the classic things that you know, you know, for fifteen years in New York City, I had a Russian called Bar American, which was really an American style let's just say,

an American style French brousserie. You know, it was completely inspired by my trips and travels two places, like you know, Paris, where you know it was it was that was the way I wanted to eat then I still like to eat eat that way now. But it was like, you know, lots of like it was steak freed, so like steak and French fries, you know, Yeah, I mean they didn't name the French. They didn't name the fry after after

France for no reason. I mean they you know, the French Parisian style way to cook French fries is still the best way. It's a double it's a double cooking method. That's another show because today we're talking about shellfish and I can talk about French fries for hours on end. But what did you just put in here? Okay, so we have rosemary um and you can use classically used time, some bay leaf, onions, garlic, lemon, a little bit of selery um garlic, and then a little bit of wine

and you let this cook for a little while. Now, like Louisiana, they'll do a corporal but it might have like like a spice rub or like or like in like in when they steam crabs in Maryland, same principle, but they'll put old bay seasoning in it. Yeah, so you can have so you can make like an old Bay shrimp cocktail here actually has something actually have some

old day here. We're just gonna sprinkle some in so obey, is that that Maryland born um spice mixture that has like paprika and garlic and onions and bay leaf and sell recede a bunch of other stuff. Um. And so then what happens is you make this broth and then you let all the aromatics flavor the flavor of the wine and the water, and then you cook the shrimp in it, so the shrimp actually has by itself. See that's the key, all right. And then what I do

is I strained it out. Strain this out. How long did you cook that for? I mean you should cook it for like at least twenty minutes or a half an hour. That's really the key. So straight out all the aromatically. Basically what you do is you just have like this flavored broth and then you put the you take the shrimp. The shrimp that's cleaned. So I peeled into yes, and I always keep the shells and I make a shrimp stock out of it. I guess I should have kept the tail on these. I didn't this time.

It doesn't really matter, and we're gonna put the shrimp right into the into the broth, and we're just gonna post the shrimp in the broth. You see. So now what you're getting is instead of just boiling it in like plain water, you're getting it. You're getting all this this these aromatics in the flavor of the broth. Have you ever had shrimp cocktail on your menu? Yeah? Bar American, it's like I kind of remember that. I have it on the menu at Bar American. I have it on

the menu Bobby Flay steak. But they're like they're they're not classic shrimp cocktails. There's a shrimp cocktail with like like a twist to like a Bar American. It was like, um, it was a Tolle Matteo cocktail sauce, so it was a green sauce. Oh yeah, I do remember that. So good. But then also the Bobby Flay Steak, it's a shrimp

cocktail and has a smoked chili cocktail sauce. So it's you know, uh, we had these things called plateau freedom mayor, which is based that's just that's that's all My French right there basically means it means platter of of you know, fish and shellfish or you know, or fruits of the sea as they you know in translation, and so like, you know, you'd have like poach shrimp, you'd have you know,

crab salad, you'd have steamed lobsters. At Bar American, you know, we certainly were inspired by that, and we had like different you know, levels of plateaus of the shellfish and it was like tears of shellfish. So you have the crushed ice in the bins, and then you'd have like some scallops, or you'd have shrimp and crab, and then you'd make different kinds of shellfish cocktails, which was the shellfish cocktails at barmericanrare probably the most ordered dish. They

were so good. There were three on the top. There were three of them, and so you could order one individually in sort of a larger size, or you could add or you could order a tasting of three, which was probably the most photographed to the restaurant over the

fifteen years. So there was one that was lobster and avocado cocktail, and it was more like a salad because it was steamed lobster obviously out of the shell and meat out of the shell and it had it was you know, there was avocado folded into it, some watercress, some fresh tarragon, and then like horse radish and wish just your sauce and olive oil. It was delicious. Then there was a crab and a coconut cocktail. Do you

remember that one? I loved that one. So that was blue crab from Maryland, you know, steamed in and out of the shell as well. It had you know, very finely diced ripe mangoes in there, like a coconut vinigrette with cilantro in it, and so it was kind of like, uh, you know, it almost had like a little bit of a tropical thing happening. I just I didn't want to just serve like, you know, just crab meat with cocktail sauce, like I mean, you can get that in steak houses

and whatnot, which is totally fine. I'm down for that too, But you know, I always feel like when I opened a restaurant, like I have to do something that has a little bit of a twist to it. It It just can't be like just you know, clearly just copied out of a textbook. And the third one was the shrimp cocktail. But it wasn't a red cocktail sauce. It was a green cocktail sauce made with Toma teos and horse radish and honey. That one was so good to chili's. It's delicious.

The Toma teo cocktail sauce. I haven't made that in a while. I'll have to do that. So it's so signature to you. That's definitely a signature for me because the Toma teos is something that I have been utilizing since my early days at Mason Grill, you know, forever ago, because Toma teos are such an important part of Southwestern cuisine. So I used tom a teo's you know, all the time.

And to be able to kind of like bring in a couple of those ingredients into into a you know, sort of an American slash French brasserie is fun to do, you know, not not not not constantly, but like just you know, a couple of a couple of hits here and there. Yeah, so that you know, and then you know, the and then not like on the plateaus we would serve like and then we'd have oysters to like oysters and clams, and we'd have West Coast oysters and East

Coast oysters. I think we've gone over this. Do you know the do you know the oyster rule something with the months? You don't remember this, I don't remember it. Please please refresh my memory. It's a good it's a good um. It's a good lesson if you remember it. Well, this really is only for East Coast oysters. Okay, it's it's a it's a it's a really good rule of thumb. I mean the problem with the East Coast there's no

problem with the eat Coast oysters. That to me, they're the best oysters in the country, but maybe in the world. And I like them because they have great brainy flavor to them. So like Blue Point oysters, which you know originated on you know, in Blue Point Long Island. To me that that's what an oyster tastes like. It's probably because that's what I grew up eating. It's like anything else, you know. But so basically you should be eating East Coast oysters. When the month has the letter R in it,

it works. So let's go through it. January yes, February yes, okay, March yes, wow, the hesitation there is scary. April yes, May Nope, okay. So basically, so May June, July, August. Okay, May, June, July, August. What are those months have in common on the East Coast besides the fact that they don't have letter are in them. It's hotter, so that means that the water

is warmer. So when the weather, when the weather is warmer, the oysters begin to molt, you know, they go through this process and they begin they get a little muddy in texture and not as crisp and clean. So when the water is cold, the oysters have that sort of great briny flavor and they're crisper, and they have like they have they have more of a like a of a of a chewy texture to them in a good way,

you know. And So basically, long story, short letter, are East Coast oysters in the middle, like in the spring in the summer. If I want oysters, I ordered West Coast oysters kumamotose delicious. Those are the tiny little ones. So that's my oyster move for the day. Let me show you how to make a quick cocktail sauce. So basically it's catch up some porus trash, which I love. I love the spiciness of that. Now, not not not

everybody puts hot sauce in it. But I'm gonna put a little like a little Cayenne Louisiana hot sauce in there, and then definitely some lemon, lemon juice. I didn't know this is how you made cocktail sauce so easy. It's so easy, and there's some salt and pepper. If you want to put like a little wishes your sauce, you can do it. Like people have like different renditions of it good. What does it taste like? Tastes like cocktail sauce. It's like tomato eat has a little sweetness from the

catchup itself. The horse radish has, you know, definitely has its own sort of heat to it. To me, horse radish and shellfish go hand in hand, you know, no matter what you're serving, a little bit of heat from that um frank's red hot and then you know you brighten it up with lemon. What about restaurants, any restaurants in l A like that you like to go eat shell fish and like in on the east. To me,

it's a very East coast thing. It's so East coast, you know, like you go to you know, anywhere in New England or New York State, and you'll find, like, you know, places that have like lobster rolls and steam clams and muscles and steamers. And does that happen out in l A, Yeah, I mean it does. Like you can go to like Connie and Tad's, which is basically in the East Coast version of that kind of food. But when I think of oysters, I mean I think about wanting to go to the oyster bar in Grand

Central Station. Yeah, I mean I iat in this place in the Hampton's called Bostwicks, which obviously you know, you know, lobster rolls, steam clams, steamers which are soft shell clams. I love steamers so much. Those are hard to find out here. Actually you can't. It's hard. Yeah, But I mean like a lot of like a lot of early shellfish memories for me. Also start at Mary's Fish Camp. Oh my god, So Mary's Fish Camp for those of people that have not been looking enough to go there.

I hate to call it a shack because it's a restaurant, but that's how they guess people describe it. It's like a lobster lobster rolls shack roll lobsters speak um just because it's a shack doesn't mean it's not expensive, because because these because this kind of these ingredients cost a lot of money. So one thing that people like don't understand. It's like they see a lobster roll and it's thirty eight dollars and they're like, this is insane, right, well,

you're eating an entire lobster. They're probably losing money at thirty you know, I'm just you know, I'm backing up the restaurant tours of the world because you know, these commodities cost a ton of money. You know, Lobster is like, you know, top of the food chain when it comes to the expense. And just because it's sitting in a toasted hot dog bun doesn't mean it's cheap. What about muscles, I mean, muscles is like, okay, so the broth that muscles make or one is one of the great things

I've ever made. Because I'll give you I'll give you an Iron Chef secret. Whenever I had to cook something on Iron Chef that needed like any kind of shellfish, I would always get muscles and cook the muscles. And sometimes I wouldn't even use the muscles, just the broth to fortify whatever I was making, because the broth from muscles is intoxicating, so like even more so than the clam brought that we were talking about before. I think muscles are even better. There's a place on the Moufie Coast.

So now I have this restaurant called the Maufie in Las Vegas, and you, clearly inspired by my might travel to the Moufie Coast because well, it's delicious there, and you know, there's there's like a handful of dishes. There's not a there's not a hundred dishes that you think about there. There's there's all kinds of different fish and shellfish of course, but like there's a handful of dishes

that are that are truly a Moufie coast. There's a place called Dodd Alpho that actually in your bedroom in my house. Here there's a picture of the place. Oh okay, sure, okay, that's Dodd Alpho. So Dodd Alpho is speaking of shacks. It's basically this shock on your positano nearby. And anybody that's been to a Moufie coast more than once knows

this place because everybody tells you to go there. So basically you pull the boat up, and you asked the whoever you're having the boat to take you to Dad Alpho. And then you get like nearby, and then the guy calls the guy that owns it and says, you know, I've five people. You know, what time can we come for lunch or whatever? And the place is packed, but it's in sand there. Nobody's in their bare feet and t shirts and bathing suits, and you know, you've been

swimming in the Tyranny Sea. And then you want to eat lunch. And so this place has like a handful of dishes. I'll just go through them really quickly. You know. One of them is fresh mozzarella that's cooked in lemon leaves. One of them is like this pasta with this green pepper pesto that they have. It's called frigid um peppers. We can't get them here. Like the closest thing is a Sheshito pepper. So I actually make ashito pepper pesto for some things based on that experience exactly. And then

they have muscles, which is why you go there. Okay, muscles is the real reason you go to Dal Adolpho. And it's very simple. It's it's white wine. The muscles make the broth with the white wine as it's steaming. There's tomato in it, there's some garlic in it. I don't know if there's herbs. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. They are and you're sitting like on the sea eating these things. You can't stop eating them. They're just incredible. And what I do is I just kind of I

have them. They're like a little bowl here, so I just I just attached the shrimp to the side of the bowl. Fancy, Yeah, looks good. And then what I always do is I'm cooking for yourself, you know, and then um, I usually take a little bit of extra horse rash and just put it right in the middle of the cocktail. It's just a garnish. You don't have to do that. But basically that's great. That's really it. See and you can see these here smells broth. Oh,

it smells so good. Smells like it smells like Rosmarry. But it really do smell like old Bay. Yeah, I'm getting the onion too. That that was the old Bay version. I was going to take these out and then basically what you do is like you just post them until they're opaque, just cook through and then you put them in the refrigerator because you don't want to serve hot

strip com I mean, who wants that. Actually, what I do in my restaurants, which is something that I have not seen anybody else do, is I take the shrimp that are poached and cold, and I um, I season them with a little olive oil and salt and pepper on the outside. Oh it sounds good. It's a little bit nastier than like regular shrimp contain because the shrimp cocktail like this is just it's dry. It's not that it's dry, it's just that doesn't have any like oil

on the outside of it. But I like the idea of season it with salt and pepperges because I season everything with salt and pepper. Why wouldn't I see my shrimp? But you just never see it? Interesting? All right? So I'm gonna put this in the middle of our table. Yeah. The FIM Always Hungry is created by Bobby Flay and Sophie Flay. Our executive producer is Christopher Hasiotis Always Hungry is produced, edited and mixed by Jonathan hoss Dresser. Always

Hungry is engineered by Sophie Flay. For more podcasts in My Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.