One of the best things about a blog is I can talk about something I thought was interesting and perhaps others wouldnt. Its extra carthartic to write about this because I dont have any friends here. And who ever I meet might just not be interested in this stuff... I told Stephen, and he was actually interested in this one.
We dont have cable tv yet, but we do have the free to air tv, all in Japanese only which Nathan and I watch. We are growing to love their children's tv - and thats another post. This particular evening there was something about this a sea shell. It looked like a pipi but much bigger - perhaps a 'lala' but black. There were lots of diagrams and visuals. The one that got me watching was: while a handful of the ordinary sea shells could be bought for Y600, this particular sea shell from this particular beach were sold for Y600 for 4.
All this was because it tasted terribly "Oyiiiii shiii".
They demonstrated that it tasted good but it tasted extra good if they were cooked in a particular way. It couldn't just be cooked anyhow. It needed high heat from ALL directions for the shell to produce its own water and hence the meat would be cooked in its own water with all its taste remaining inside. This is best cooked with the sea shells placed on a hot barbecue or something and placing accorns around the shell and setting fire to the accorns. This produced the all round heat necessary to cook these dry shells to produce the water/sauce that tastes so good.
This show also had 2 pretty tokyoite girls with their gems stuck on their nails, raincoats and gum boots to their knees trying to find these sea shells on the muddy beach with gardening forks. To no avail. Later on in the show, a scruffy Japanese man explains that you have to remove their gum boots (heaven forbid!) and walk around in their socks (phew!) so they can feel with their feet where the colony of shells are. Then they found more and more.
The show also demonstrated how these shells could float to other shells and form clusters. If you distributed 4 shells around the beach, they would eventually find each other and form clusters. Then they showed how after they were inseminated, the shells would bury themselves in the sand, a tongue like thing would come out of the shell into the sand and later baby shells would be produced. It is this similar tongue like thing which allows the shell to be carried by the current to colonies of other shells and anchor themselves there to grow a bigger colony. So if you walked around in your feet and not boots, you can find these colonies and lots of shells.
This show featured a lot of tasters of this sea shell and ALL their faces would show how Oyii shii they were. Aparently it is fantastic. It must be for Y150 each shell! I was taken with all the 'Oyii shiis'.
They had different chefs cooking this shell. All of them knew about it and had it on their menus. The French Chef grilled it over an open bbq with wire mesh and turned it very quickly for it to get their overall heat. It seemed the important thing was to encourage the shell to produce this water where all the taste was.
I was very convinced with this method of cooking because I remember Rick Steins program showed how some fishermen in the mediteranean cooked their mussels: they arranged the mussels hinge side up over a concrete base. The shells had to support each other. Then they put dried seaweed all over it, then set fire to it. This smoked the mussels which they then ate. I doubt if this produced any 'water' or if it did, it would all drain away. But it had that 'all over cooking' which would produce the best taste to the mussel. I want to try this way of cooking once.
A few weeks later, we were browsing the channels when they showed this beach very similar to the beach with all the sea shells scavengers. It was crowded, much more than on the initial show and full of people on a muddy beach - was this the same beach after the program they aired about the sea shells. The crowds were definitely not swimming nor enjoying the sun. This program was about the lost kids. The beach was sooo crowded, they were focussing on the mothers who lost their sons and how they were franticly calling people to find them and how the life guards had a room full of lost kids (mostly boys) crying for their lost mothers. [Where else would they have gone?] The reunions were loverly.
Nathan and I watched it and I told him,'if you ever get lost look for these yellow dressed people - the life savers'
Oyii shiii - delicious
