Ama ebi is marketed here as "sweet shrimp", so i never bothered getting it.
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Jim S. wrote:
"Ken Blake" wrote in message ...

In ,
respite typed:


Yes and no. I have never seen shrimp or octopus served raw.


You've never seen ama-ebi?


I was just gonna mention that. The shrimp used for ama-ebi are pink/
brown cold water varieties. In Mass. they generally come from Maine
this time of year. I can get 'em frozen year 'round. I know of a few
fish markets that sell these beauties peeled for about 6-8 bucks a Lb.
The shrimp are not very big on size, but humongous on flavor. And if
you can get them with the shells, there is usually a good amount of
shrimp fat to be had for making stock.
The larger white/ tiger/ blue shrimp that come from elsewhere are warm
water varieties and are generally sold frozen if you are not really
close to the boats.

The only time I ever saw octopus live was in the open air market in
Pusan Korea. I have pics of them escaping out of their shallow pans.
The same guy had all sorts of live seafood... small fish, clams, giant
oysters, shrimp, sea cucumbers, a few varieties of snails, even some
good sized lobsters. Biggest thing he had was a tankfull of snow
crabs, and they were biggies. The smallest ones were about 3 lb each,
and the biggest ones were close to 10 lbs.

One thing that is served in the summer at a local sushi bar I frequent
is lobster. It is of course live. The sushi chefs will make a lobster
sashimi out of the tail meat, with the delegged body propped up as a
garnish. It's a bit strange to see the lobster's antennae and eyes
moving about while you are eating. The claws are cooked slightly and
made into Temaki rolls. The lower body and legs are are cooked. The
broth goes is strained, then is turned into suimono. Often with
asparagus tips and a few shitake. The cooked tomalley gets put into a
gunkan wrap. If there is lobster roe, it is placed on top as a
garnish. If not, they usually put on a bit of masago or other caviar
to brighten up the presentation.

Jim