California Sea Urchin

The Fish-As a natural inhabitant of the cold, crystal-clear waters of Spencer Gulf off the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Hiramasa Kingfish are locally fed year round in the clean, crisp Antarctic currents that flow freely from the Great Southern Ocean. Hiramasa is the Japanese word for the species, where it’s highly prized as a superb sashimi fish. Increasingly though, Hiramasa Kingfish is also being acclaimed for its extraordinary versatility; whether served as sashimi, cured, smoked, grilled, fried or roasted as a cutlet or poached as a fillet in broth. So it’s little wonder that the world’s leading chefs revere Hiramasa Kingfish for its exquisite flavour, texture and consistency and have come to rely on fresh deliveries of it twice weekly, 52 weeks of the year. Local pride, careful Australian nurturing and global recognition make it easy to see why award-winning Hiramasa Kingfish is indeed, The King of Kingfish. Hiramasa Kingfish is renowned for being one of the finest eating fish in the world. Its firm white-to-pale-pink flesh boasts a fresh, sweet and clean flavor that’s superbly moist and silky unadorned as sashimi, yet rich enough to hold its own when paired with more robust ingredients and flavors, including meat. Its broad-flaked texture and minimal bone structure is also favored by leading restaurant chefs for its easy eating, consistently high standard and exquisite mouth feel. The skin crisps brilliantly too, reflecting its higher fat content. All of which means that Hiramasa Kingfish is a fish for every season; performing magnificently as a warming winter dish as well as clean, classic summer fare. Whether it’s haute cuisine or haute casual, Hiramasa Kingfish’s versatility makes it a veritable palette for the palate.

One of the stars of Alaska is the brilliant Coho, the Silver Salmon. The mildly flavored Coho has a brightly colored flesh that is leaner in texture than that of King Salmon. While market weights range between 6 to 8 lbs, the fish of the Cordova Direct program with Capt. Tim consistently offers fish above 10 lbs. Larger Cohos tend to be a wider fillet and are readily apt to accept any cooking methods warranted by the chef. The slightly lowered fat content of Coho lends itself to a silky mouthfeel that doesn’t over encapsulate other ingredients. It is a perfect species for house-smoked applications and house-cured representation. It finds a home on the grill, in the broiler, simply sauteed, or even sous vide. Its vibrant coloration pops in crudo, tartare, sushi, and sashimi. Coho has a reputation as one of the best flavors in the Salmon kingdom.

Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water forage fish. Anchovies are native to the Mediterranean and thus very popular in the local cuisine. When preserved by being gutted and salted in brine, matured, and then packed in oil or salt, they acquire a characteristic strong flavor. The miniscule scales are virtually non-existent and the skin is perfectly edible.