"Sea" Bass and other televisual eccentricities

[Ian W]

OK, this has actually bugged me for a long time. Why is it on
television cookery progs, they are insistent on referring to bass as
"Sea" bass. On Saturday Kitchen this morning before I fled for the
hills, they had some guy on cooking up some seafood thing, with "Sea"
bass as the main ingredient, followed by Julie Golden or whatever
clone was on, hunting out the perfect accompaniment (wine that is) for
x's "Sea" bass.

Freshwater bass is only indigenous to North America, although I am
aware it has been imported to Southern Europe. We certainly don't get
it in the UK, making the "Sea" prefix utterly redundant. Is it just a
snobbish affectation, like Hyacinth Bucket sticking her pinky out when
drinking tea? Do you have to call "Sea" bass, or face being exiled
from the posh boy's club?

Also, why "pan" fried? What else would you fry it in? Anne Widdecome's
knickers? Granted, I'd be deeply upset if my dinner was fried in Anne
Widdecome's knickers, but as inpenetrable, and probably as
indestrucable as they probably are, I don't believe they can possibly
be so ubiquitous that every restaurant has to use "pan fried" as a
disclaimer.

Baffled.

Maybe TV's just full of dickheads...Oh well, there you go,

Regards,

Ian W

[GordonD]

"Ian W" <nob...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:laufr755vodohkupe...@4ax.com...

> OK, this has actually bugged me for a long time. Why is it on
> television cookery progs, they are insistent on referring to bass as
> "Sea" bass. On Saturday Kitchen this morning before I fled for the
> hills, they had some guy on cooking up some seafood thing, with "Sea"
> bass as the main ingredient, followed by Julie Golden or whatever
> clone was on, hunting out the perfect accompaniment (wine that is) for
> x's "Sea" bass.
>
> Freshwater bass is only indigenous to North America, although I am
> aware it has been imported to Southern Europe. We certainly don't get
> it in the UK, making the "Sea" prefix utterly redundant. Is it just a
> snobbish affectation, like Hyacinth Bucket sticking her pinky out when
> drinking tea? Do you have to call "Sea" bass, or face being exiled
> from the posh boy's club?
>
> Also, why "pan" fried? What else would you fry it in? Anne Widdecome's
> knickers? Granted, I'd be deeply upset if my dinner was fried in Anne
> Widdecome's knickers,

Thank you for a mental image that will not go away for a long time, if ever.
--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

"Slipped the surly bonds of Earth...to touch the face of God."

[Norman Wells]

I agree.

Only this evening we had, 'ingredient driven' cuisine, and 'respect for
the ingredients', whatever they are, along with the usual drivel of
obscure and unnecessary words which I can't remember but mean little,
like 'timbale'. And why everything needs to be towered, pushed around
by the chef's fingers, and frozen in liquid nitrogen, I have no idea.

Another question: could the judges actually tell it's a quail's egg or a
pigeon's breast if they tasted it blindfolded? If they couldn't what's
the point? Hens lay perfectly good eggs as far as I'm concerned, and
chickens and ducks have bigger boobs.

While I'm on the subject, why don't they ever cook their meat properly?
It does improve it from the raw condition in which it comes, you know,
witness Chinese crispy duck for example. Who wants it pink, flabby,
fatty and underdone? Call me a Philistine, but I don't.

[Andrew B]

On 21/05/2012 20:55, Ian W wrote:

> Also, why "pan" fried? What else would you fry it in?

Pan-fried (minimal fat) as opposed to shallow-fried (partly submerged in
fat) or deep-fried (fully submerged in fat).

[MC]

I agree. Using the word "Sea" in front of bass is totally unecessary
for us in the UK. However, I believe "sea bass" is now an
internationally accepted generic term (probably started of by the
Americans) not only for cooks but also for biologists, when referring
to the many species of bass type fish that inhabit the seas of the
world . There are, indeed, some freshwater species, far less than
saltwater species, but I suppose the term "freshwater" bass does not
roll of the tongue as easily for those Americans, hence why they just
refer to them as "bass".

I suppose we all have to accept that this is just another case of the
world sucking up to the American way. :o)

MC

[The Other Mike]

On Mon, 21 May 2012 22:31:58 +0100, "Norman Wells" <h...@unseen.ac.am>
wrote:

>While I'm on the subject, why don't they ever cook their meat properly?

Because they haven't got a clue. 99% of photographs and film footage
of 'cooked' meat is simply mildly warmed meat running with blood.
It's almost enough to turn this carnivore to a vegetarian.

--

[Mortimer]

"MC" <a...@any.any> wrote in message
news:xn0hydsa...@news.usenetmonster.com...

> I agree. Using the word "Sea" in front of bass is totally unecessary
> for us in the UK. However, I believe "sea bass" is now an
> internationally accepted generic term (probably started of by the
> Americans) not only for cooks but also for biologists, when referring
> to the many species of bass type fish that inhabit the seas of the
> world . There are, indeed, some freshwater species, far less than
> saltwater species, but I suppose the term "freshwater" bass does not
> roll of the tongue as easily for those Americans, hence why they just
> refer to them as "bass".
>
> I suppose we all have to accept that this is just another case of the
> world sucking up to the American way. :o)

If there are various forms of bass which taste differently (salty versus
non-salty, I'd imagine!) then it makes sense to specify which form you are
using. After all, you may be using freshwater bass imported from the US
rather than native sea bass from the UK.

As regards pan-fried, I'd never realised that there was a third way of
frying (shallow-frying). I'd assumed that pan and shallow frying were
interchangeable terms: that you either use minimal fat in the bottom of a
frying pan (not frypan, please!) or else you submerge the item in fat (eg
fried fish in a fish and chip shop).

[Norman Wells]

MC wrote:

> I agree. Using the word "Sea" in front of bass is totally unecessary
> for us in the UK. However, I believe "sea bass" is now an
> internationally accepted generic term (probably started of by the
> Americans) not only for cooks but also for biologists, when referring
> to the many species of bass type fish that inhabit the seas of the
> world . There are, indeed, some freshwater species, far less than
> saltwater species, but I suppose the term "freshwater" bass does not
> roll of the tongue as easily for those Americans, hence why they just
> refer to them as "bass".

I don't think they necessarily have to be bass at all. They can be
species of perch, cod, maomao, groper or Patagonian toothfish, amongst
others. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_bass

Perhaps the very vagueness is why the term is used. Got a bit of fish
left over? Fry it up and call it sea-bass. No-one can complain.

What's this obsession with unusual and usually downmarket bits of flesh
anyway? Like fish you've never heard of, liver, kidneys and sweetbreads
for example. Do they taste any better than a nice steak or bit of cod?

[MC]

Because in the "culinary" world you should cook it to maintain the
goodness, texture and flavour. Cooking longer than than this would not
only remove these elements but will mean money spent on a decent
product would be money down the drain. OK, so some meats need cooking
well for safety reasons but more often than not in this case, as with
chicken, the falvour can be improved. However, cook a joint of sirloin
or prime rib beyond the pink stage you may as well have thrown your
money in the bin and made a cheese sandwich.

MC

[Tennant Stuart]

In article <pjdmr7h3ehoqqk6ag...@4ax.com>,

As all big QI fans could tell you, it's *not* blood. :)


Tennant Stuart

--
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)( )__) ) ( ) ( /(__)\ ) ( )( friends & neighbours
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[The Other Mike]

On Tue, 22 May 2012 18:02:00 BST, Tennant Stuart
<ten...@orpheus.co.uk> wrote:

>In article <pjdmr7h3ehoqqk6ag...@4ax.com>,
>The Other Mike <rootpa...@somewhereorother.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 21 May 2012 22:31:58 +0100,
>> "Norman Wells" <h...@unseen.ac.am> wrote:
>
>>> While I'm on the subject, why don't they ever cook their meat properly?
>
>> Because they haven't got a clue. 99% of photographs and film footage
>> of 'cooked' meat is simply mildly warmed meat running with blood.
>> It's almost enough to turn this carnivore to a vegetarian.
>
>As all big QI fans could tell you, it's *not* blood. :)

So lets call it 'red stuff' instead because I can't stand QI anymore,
it used to be good but it turned to shit sometime around series 2 or
3.

--

[The Other Mike]

Cooked correctly and rested correctly you can have a beef joint that
is quite uniform in colour, with a proper browned crust, not dripping
with 'red stuff' half an inch below the outer edge and still retain
all the 'goodness texture and flavour'

If I wanted to eat mildly warm raw meat I'd get rid of the oven and
eat the meat straight from the animal

--

[GordonD]

"The Other Mike" <rootpa...@somewhereorother.com> wrote in message
news:t9ees79rgf9a3641o...@4ax.com...

Don't they wriggle about too much?

[The Other Mike]

On Thu, 31 May 2012 11:59:03 +0100, "GordonD" <g.d...@btinternet.com>
wrote:

>"The Other Mike" <rootpa...@somewhereorother.com> wrote in message
>news:t9ees79rgf9a3641o...@4ax.com...
>

>> If I wanted to eat mildly warm raw meat I'd get rid of the oven and
>> eat the meat straight from the animal
>
>
>Don't they wriggle about too much?

Nowhere as much as as 'cooked meat' served up by so called experts.
I've heard that a good vet can revive a piece of this so called
'cooked meat', such that it can walk out the door, across an entire
county and back to the field where it came from.


--