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I have recently developed this huge passion for cooking, even though I've been cooking since i was 15 and have been a chef for the last 10 years. I think I am addicted to it. Or am I addicted to eating my cooking? Either way, I want to share my experiences with whom ever is interested. That is why I started this blog. Currently I am self employed as a private/personal chef and a stay at home dad. I am very thankful to have ended my restaurant career not so long ago! It's a hard life, especially when your trying to raise a family! I live in Naples, Florida where I met my beautiful wife while working at a yacht club about 3 years ago. We now have a little 6 month old daughter and life as we know it has changed forever ( for the better)! There is something going on in the food world that is very exciting! People are starting to open their eyes a little. We're going back in time, back to the farm, back to the dinner table. Something that has to be done in my opinion. I spent a lot of time at the dinner table as a child and thought is was very beneficial in how I ended up. The thing I like best about being a chef is that I will never learn it all. Ever!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Stone Crab: Florida Seafood and Aquaculture

Stone Crab: Florida Seafood and Aquaculture

Joe's Stone Crab Dinner

Hello everyone! I thought it would be fun to blog about Stone Crab Claws today. I have some friends from Asheville, NC that are staying in SW Florida for the season (Jan.-Mar.). They've never had them and I'm thinking most people haven't. Especially if you live in the mountains like they do. I'm going to prepare them dinner Friday night and we will be having stone crab claws as an appetizer.

My first encounter with stone crab claws was when I was working as a sous chef at Tarpon Cove Yacht club in Naples, FL. about 3 years ago.  For Friday night Happy Hour we would prepare a huge platter of cooked crab claws served ice cold with cocktail sauce, fresh lemon and fresh horseradish.  The members would flock over them like buzzards over fresh road kill.  They are available fresh or cooked.  I suggest the cooked.  They cook them right after harvest to keep the meat from sticking to the shell and to crack these things open is an art, especially if your trying to get the entire claw out in one piece.  But if your interested in learning, here's a video on how to crack the claws: http://www.ehow.com/video_2335959_cracking-florida-stone-crab-claw.html.
There's a million things you can do to these, but I think I will be having mine with a little dijonaise sauce and probably an ice cold glass of chardonnay! Perfect for a hot winter day in Southwest Florida.

Cheers,

Chef Don Paleno

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1 comment:

  1. Beau Lotus 涟March 18, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    Is that what's it's called in English? Stone crabs...

    In France we call this crab le tourteau. You can find this easily at any fishmonger's.

    Friends living in Brittany and Normandy may even have special cages to fish them with.

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