Olivers

Jeremy Henderson extrapolated from data available...

    > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 23:41:32 +0000, devil wrote:
    >
    >> On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 22:07:06 +0100, Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    >>
    >>> Jeremy Henderson <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>
    >>>>Speaking of which, I remember reading that "scampi" that you buy
    >>>>deep fried in pubs is usually actually "monkfish". Supposing the
    >>>>dictionary is correct, and "monkfish" is the stuff we buy as
    >>>>"lotte", that makes no sense to me, snce lotte is delicious and
    >>>>scampi is ... well ... pub food.
    >>> First, I (and my taste-buds) agree with your dictionary.
    >>>
    >>> I think the story about scampi is no longer true, that it goes back
    >>> to a time when monkfish was not known and liked by many. Its hideous
    >>> appearance counted against it, and it was then known as angler fish.
    >>> It was more recently rebranded as monkfish.
    >>
    >> Scampi are supposed to be a prawn from the Adriatic. With round tail
    >> fans. Best ones I ever had was in Rijeka in the early seventies, when
    >> Tito was still alive and Yugoslavia still existed.
    >>
    >> Sounds like your pub was gauging you?
    >
    > Could be - most Britons, me included, probably wouldn't know an
    > Adriatic prawn if it beat them on the head with a round fan tail.
    >
Actually, "scampi" can be pretty generic, usually describing a method of
cooking, sauteeing w/garlic and oil or butter, and applying to shrimp from
different oceans. The origial recipe used the spider prawns (w/big fan
tails)from Venice and the Adriatic, but no more.....


In some markets, "prawns" describe a tiny shrimp, in others, enormous. The
greatest atrocity is the term "popcorn shrimp", applied to tiny, usually
prebreaded and fried Pacific Coast shrimp. These days, restaurant shrimp,
even in markets with well developed shrimping, are likely to come from
China, Thailand or Ecuador, home to big shrimp farming operations.

TMO

Olivers

Even political correctness plays a part, In warm waters, especially around
off shore oil rigs (the greatest of fishing holes, absolute marshalling
yards for big'uns) and wrecks used to lurk the big, firm fleshed, white
meated "Jewfish", a type of grouper. No more, lost to the sensitivities of
PC.

I'm always amused when a group of environmentalists are hauled out to an
offshore oilrig, a cursed anathema in their eyes, to see it (and abandoned
rigs) as the great havens for sport, game and food fish.

....and talk about American workers displaced or their earnings destroyed
by foreign competition, there are the VietnameseAmerican shrimpers of the
US Gulf Coast, their earnings destroyed by imports from the "Big 3" shrimp
farming countries (which fill your plates in the chain resaurants and in
Europe).

True shrimp lovers avoid frozen shrimp, escpecially those bright coral
precooked and shelled "Hotel" shrimp.

TMO

Olivers

Donna Evleth extrapolated from data available...

    >

    >
    >
    > It's interesting to read about Mahi-Mahi, which seems to have come
    > full circle. When I visited Hawaii in 1950, it was called -
    > Mahi-Mahi. Not "Dolphin Fish." In fact, I would hear about this
    > "Dolphin Fish" and had not a clue that it was my old friend Mahi-Mahi.
    > I'm glad things have gotten back to the way they used to be here.
    > Hardly anything ever does.
    >
Occuring in all sorts of warm waters, they were dolphin fish (or sometimes
dorado, a cousin) everywhere but Hawaii, until the combination of pro-
dolphin lore and the popularity of Hawaii took over.

TMO

barney

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Jeremy Henderson) wrote:

    > Speaking of which, I remember reading that "scampi" that you buy deep
    > fried in pubs is usually actually "monkfish". Supposing the dictionary
    > is
    > correct, and "monkfish" is the stuff we buy as "lotte", that makes no
    > sense to me, snce lotte is delicious and scampi is ... well ... pub
    > food.

I think that's more down to the preparation than the fish. There's a fish
restaurant (not a chippie) round the corner from me that serves exquisite
scampi. Blame the pubs!

(And I also believe Devil is right - scampi are properly large, succulent
prawns - but the term has come to mean "shaped fish meat" in British mass
catering.)

barney

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Ken Blake) wrote:

    > I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've seen only
    > in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian) was
    > simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I wrong? Is
    > there actually a distinct fish with that name?

ISTR grouper has a number of different common names around the world.
Isn't "hammour" (sp.?) in the Arabian Gulf grouper?

Des O'Donoghue

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    > "Des O'Donoghue" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Please don't continue. think of those of us who acan't et abroad
    >> right now (though I have a 2 hour visit to paris scheduled for
    >> September).
    > Do you want the r.t.e. academy to work on an itinerary for a two hour
    > visit? Give us some indication of your range of interests -- fine
    > arts, popular culture, history, sport, gastronomy, what? We need to
    > know, because two hours is a short enough time, and you should plan
    > very carefully.

I know what I'll be doing - taking a wander around Gare du Nord and its
environs !
Plan is Cork - London (Ryanair) - Paris (Eurostar) - London - Cork.

Alan \

In the message : news[email protected]...
"devil" <[email protected]> wrote:

    > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 01:04:09 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:
    > > Tim Kroesen writes:
    > >
    > >> Mmmm... What makes the Couscous 'Royale'???
    > >
    > > It means "with everything," i.e., the pasta, the sauce, merguez,
    > > chicken, lamb, peas, raisins, vegetables, and so on.
    > By "pasta" you presumably mean the semolina meal, i.e. the true couscous?
    > BTW, I think the meat is supposed to be lamb/mutton, the other meats you
    > mention being kind of like a recent invention. Chiken, yack. In paella,
    > yes it's the main ingredient after rice; but I digress.
    > As to peas, presumably you men chick peas (garbanzo beans)? "Only rich
    > folks can afford chick peas in their couscous."
<SNIP>

BTW, 'chick peas' is the (anglicised) translation of 'pois chiches'. Nothing
to do with young hens...

Regards,

Tim Challenger

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:38:34 +0200, Alan (in Brussels) wrote:

    > In the message : news[email protected]...
    > "devil" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 01:04:09 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:
    >>> Tim Kroesen writes:
    >>>> Mmmm... What makes the Couscous 'Royale'???
    >>> It means "with everything," i.e., the pasta, the sauce, merguez,
    >>> chicken, lamb, peas, raisins, vegetables, and so on.
    >> By "pasta" you presumably mean the semolina meal, i.e. the true couscous?
    >> BTW, I think the meat is supposed to be lamb/mutton, the other meats you
    >> mention being kind of like a recent invention. Chiken, yack. In paella,
    >> yes it's the main ingredient after rice; but I digress.
    >> As to peas, presumably you men chick peas (garbanzo beans)? "Only rich
    >> folks can afford chick peas in their couscous."
    > <SNIP>
    >
    > BTW, 'chick peas' is the (anglicised) translation of 'pois chiches'. Nothing
    > to do with young hens...
    >
    > Regards,

It's from Middle English, from Old French ultimately Latin cicer. If you
call that "anglicised" then fine.


--
Tim C.

Miss L. Toe

"Mxsmanic" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Miss L. Toe writes:
    > > When I was there in March, last years sand was still around, blowing in
my
    > > face and eyes :-(
    > The sand must have paled in comparison to the cars you had to dodge.

Actually There were no cars, I was standing on a bridge near Notre Dame, and
the road below (where the sand was blowing up from) was full of roller
bladers, cyclists and walkers.

barney

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Miss L. Toe) wrote:


    > Actually There were no cars

Paris has gone car-free! Count on it! Try and prove I'm wrong!

Jenn

Thomas wrote:

    >>Speaking English:
    >>It is often said that the French, particularly Parisians, either can
    >>not or will not speak English. This seems to have changed. Both
    >>herself and I speak French moderately well, albeit not quite fluently.
    >>In our hotel, in restaurants, in cafés, and in shops we found that
    >>almost everybody with whom we dealt switched into English even when it
    >>was clear that our command of French was sufficient for the purpose,
    >>and where sometimes their English was less good than our French. So
    >>the new complaint seems to be that the bloody Parisians won't speak
    >>French.
    >
    >
    > France, more specifically Paris has always been like this. If you make the
    > effort, and the person you are talking too reckons they can speak English
    > better than you can French, they will speak back in English. However if you
    > just Grunt something in English, they mostly, even if they speak fluent
    > English, will refuse to speak it.
    >
    >

absolutely -- the French are wonderful to Americans [and presumably
others] who make and effort and respect their culture and language

my husband got wonderful treatment from an assortment of French
emergency personnel this summer when he split his head open and needed
to be patched up --- one of the first questions was always 'is this your
first trip to Paris?' when he said 'oh no, I love Paris we come back as
often as we can' they were uniformly thrilled. and he got excellent and
friendly treatment. while we don't speak French, he of course has basic
politeness French and can understand a bit -- and has the good sense to
be apologetic about not speaking their beautiful language.

Frank F. Matthews

OK Dummy! Try the following web cam site.

http://www.abcparislive.com/traffic.htm

[email protected] wrote:

    > In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
    > (Miss L. Toe) wrote:

    >>Actually There were no cars

    > Paris has gone car-free! Count on it! Try and prove I'm wrong!

Jesper Lauridsen

On 2004-07-24, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

    > I know this, and my sympathy lies with those French people who bristle
    > at the assumption some visitors make that they can expect to be dealt
    > with in English.

My sympathy with mono-lingual people working in the tourist industry
is very limited.

Jenn

Jesper Lauridsen wrote:

    > On 2004-07-24, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    >>I know this, and my sympathy lies with those French people who bristle
    >>at the assumption some visitors make that they can expect to be dealt
    >>with in English.
    >
    >
    > My sympathy with mono-lingual people working in the tourist industry
    > is very limited.

exactly -- tourists are likely to visit dozens of countries with
different languages in their lives -- do the French master dozens of
languages for their travel? Tourists shouldn't be boors -- but neither
should French people in the tourist industry.

Mxsmanic

Jesper Lauridsen writes:

    > My sympathy with mono-lingual people working in the tourist industry
    > is very limited.

You must have very little sympathy for the American tourist industry as
a whole.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.