British BBQ Society Forums

YetiDave wrote:Nah it was in the Philippines although Woo Sang supermarket in Chinatown does have them in occasionally. Red 'n' Hot is a lovely if you fancy some Szechuanese food! I'm a total Szechuan pepper addict

Aye, I tend the deviate between red 'n' hot and red chilli. Both v good.
Been wanting to try the Japanese place Yuzu for some time too.

Could try sea urchin (chance to pick them up anywhere?) but balut would take so me ditch courage I think...

I know urchin's served in some high end restaurants, but I'm not sure you could just go out and buy them. The ones I tried had literally just been pulled out of the sea by a couple of locals and had the bottom hacked off there and then on the beach. Balut is worth a try once, but only once

YetiDave wrote:I know urchin's served in some high end restaurants, but I'm not sure you could just go out and buy them. The ones I tried had literally just been pulled out of the sea by a couple of locals and had the bottom hacked off there and then on the beach.

In Greece you use to be able to find them quite easily by rocks near beaches, but much more difficult now. The Mediterranean ones there are two types. Both the size of a tennis ball, one jet black the other very dark brown. Ignore the black ones - they have nothing inside (well not worth the effort). The brown ones - yes yum. pull them out by hand - they are prickly but not overly so -you can pick them up with no gloves. Put them in a bucket of fresh water, let them cough their guts out for a few hours, then take them and open with scissors from their 'mouth' a small hole on the one side. Do so over a basin so you catch all the liquid which comes out (delicious), and then scrape the orange fleshy bits off the inside of the shell with a teaspoon. If you are lucky - you find a sack of roe too - keep that, it is delicious too.

Put all your takings in a shallow bowl, add lemon juice, olive oil, and some seasoning - and dip fresh crusty bread into it and eat away. So yes, you eat it raw, a bit like sashimi.

Yeah the locals were saying that some you can drink like a soup, the ones we had were kinda purple-ey. Tasted like a really sweet prawn

YetiDave wrote:I know urchin's served in some high end restaurants, but I'm not sure you could just go out and buy them. The ones I tried had literally just been pulled out of the sea by a couple of locals and had the bottom hacked off there and then on the beach. Balut is worth a try once, but only once

You can buy them in a place called the Japan Centre in central London (Picadilly) on occasion.

I have in the back of my mind the orange bit you eat is the gonad

http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-sashimi-i ... ea-urchin/

"While colloquially referred to as the roe (eggs), uni is actually the animal’s gonads"

Strongarm wrote:

YetiDave wrote:I know urchin's served in some high end restaurants, but I'm not sure you could just go out and buy them. The ones I tried had literally just been pulled out of the sea by a couple of locals and had the bottom hacked off there and then on the beach. Balut is worth a try once, but only once

You can buy them in a place called the Japan Centre in central London (Picadilly) on occasion.

Fresh or canned?

aris wrote:

Strongarm wrote:

YetiDave wrote:I know urchin's served in some high end restaurants, but I'm not sure you could just go out and buy them. The ones I tried had literally just been pulled out of the sea by a couple of locals and had the bottom hacked off there and then on the beach. Balut is worth a try once, but only once

You can buy them in a place called the Japan Centre in central London (Picadilly) on occasion.

Fresh or canned?

Fresh. Not in there every time I go but I see them on occasion.

This balut doesn't look so bad. No feathers.

http://youtu.be/Xus017yflMo