interesting 60 Minutes piece.

[hoeboe]

don't know if anyone caught 60 Minutes the other night...

they had a segment on this wicked chef from California that could possibly be the worlds greatest. to say that he was a perfectionist would be an understatement.

anyway. they were showing how he prepares his food and such and they touched on how he handles his fish. he said most places or people pack their fish in ice laying on their side. this he says basically bruises the meat. he insists on keeping his fish upright the way they swin and packs ice around them. being that he was so particular in the way his food was prepared and how it tasted, i wonder if there would be a slight difference in the taste of a fish that was packed upright instead of crushed between the ice.

any thought?

[something_fishy]

That has got to be the dumbest thing ever!!! This "chef", must like to toot his own horn, sounds like an eccentric who likes the sound of his own voice.

[Cancatchbass]

Methinks there is a fine line between genius and madness.

This fellow may well have crossed over the line.

Does he also store his steaks and chops vertically?

CCB

[Rideaufish]

Wouldnt that cause the blood to pool in the belly or the waste of the fish and keep some of the fishy taste away a little longer. Just to stir the pot

[CNs]

Good point CCB. What does he do with ducks? use helium balloons to float them around?

[hoeboe]

^^^

well he did have individual cooling temps for every type of product he kept. didn't see steaks there, but each drawer of veggies and stuff were kept at their ideal temps.

he did seem a bit overboard but then again people thought the same of many other genius/madmen.

... and about the blood pooling... i'd assume that they were gutted:)

[UrbanAngler]

You can't be sure he's not right about that. Being a fly fisherman, I know that normal fisherman would think some of the ff'ing notions are insane, but when you get into purity and obsession, you start to think or learn things that may seem odd to people, but may be well founded with logic.

Some people wash fish out when they gut them, other's don't. Some people soak fish in saltwater to get rid of the "fishy" taste, others wouldn't dream of it. Some people cook the crap out of everything they eat, which doesn't bode well for Prime Rib or steak, but some people would never notice.

Packing ice around fish instead of on top sideways sort of makes sense. The spine will keep the fish and meat in its original form whereas piling ice on may well bruise it.

Does anyone know the difference in taste between a fish that's been bludgeouned to death with one of those billy-bats before filetting versus one that's been filetted alive? I suspect that chef would know.

Keeping a fish on a stringer for the day where it gets stressed etc, versus killing him and putting him on ice asap probably makes a difference too.

I guess how much sense that chef makes depends on how obsessive compulsive you are