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Old 04-08-2010, 05:24 PM   #1
Surfer1313
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Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

So I just watched Bizarre Foods. Andrew Zimmern just ate some Chitons. It looked like he ate some raw, and boiled a few. Anyone ever try this? Are they good to eat? I always see these things and never thought about eating them. I remember eating gooseneck barnacles when I was a kid but I dont remember where my neighbor got them from. Suggestions for either of those weird creatures? Anything else I can harvest from the sea that will freak-out my girlfriend? Most things will be harvested from the shores of La Jolla.
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Old 04-08-2010, 05:55 PM   #2
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

When I was getting a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology at UC Davis, there was a guy who was doing his PhD dissertation in the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory area. Cheap housing and all that since it is owned by the University...

Anyway, he wanted to find out if chitons were a sustainable food source. Back in the late 1990's, there was a concept known as the "Optimal Foraging Strategy". In other words, you want to find the most nutritious, most easily obtainable, and most easily prepared food, or the most bang for your time investment/harvest buck.

He harvested the heck out of the chitons in the area, cleaned them, prepped them, took copious notes on chiton versus other easily taken shellfish and marine wildlife in the area in ease of acquisition, cooking, etc.

Apparently you can live on them as a main food source, but you have a high harvest and prep time for minimal nutrition. IIRC, he came to the conclusion that they make a nice side dish, but wouldn't be a feasible base staple. Too much input for the return, although the native American shell mounds have a lot of chiton shells in them, huge amounts actually.

This is a gumboot chiton (one of the biggest species out there), found in the Pacific Northwest. I don't know about the flavor of these guys, but the common prepping method is the clean them and eat the foot, similar to prepping an abalone.




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Old 04-08-2010, 07:03 PM   #3
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

If you can't eat them, you can at least make love to them. I mean, look at that picture and tell me you aren't thinking...
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Old 04-08-2010, 07:10 PM   #4
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

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Originally Posted by Daryl Bulloch View Post
If you can't eat them, you can at least make love to them. I mean, look at that picture and tell me you aren't thinking...
Sweet Jesus. No, I for one was not thinking that.
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Old 04-08-2010, 09:56 PM   #5
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

look at the foot of the chiton the meat from it will be about 1/4" thick including the sucker portion. I brought one home that was about a foot long and 5 or 6" wide I ended up with a piece of meat about six inches long and about two inches wide and 1/4" thick. The rest was all shell casing and guts. You get more meat from three large clams or 1/4 of a 7 inch abalone. You can eat sea cucumbers that should fit your requirments.
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Old 04-08-2010, 09:59 PM   #6
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

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Sweet Jesus. No, I for one was not thinking that.
Seriously, that looks like something from alien vs predator.
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Old 04-08-2010, 10:30 PM   #7
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

It's the predators vagina.
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Old 04-09-2010, 12:52 AM   #8
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

I'll eat just about anything, but they sell sea cucumber at my local grocery store. I just can't even imagine that they would taste good. It is sure to freak out your girlfriend though.
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Old 04-09-2010, 01:00 AM   #9
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

I didn't know people ate sea cucumber. What parts? How does one prepare it? How does one cook it? I want to eat one.
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Old 04-09-2010, 01:16 AM   #10
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

All I know is that the whole thing is on a white Styrofoam tray, wrapped in plastic. Its just wrong.
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Old 04-09-2010, 01:28 AM   #11
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

you eat sea cucumber and chiton, while i eat white seabass and halibut. let me know how that works out for you

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Old 04-09-2010, 01:37 AM   #12
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

ok seriously. owl limpets are bomb. gather a big bowl of them, larger ones 1.5-2inch+. take a razor, and cut a semi circle around the foot leaving the head intact. do this with all of them. now that you have all of them scored, pull a trash can up next to you, and one by one, pull the foot off, leaving the head and guts in the shell, and chuck it in the trash. once you have a nice pile of feet, batter and fry. looks like fried pickles, tastes kind of like abalone. serve with your choice of dipping sauce. you should end up with something that looks like this...

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Old 04-09-2010, 01:41 AM   #13
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Re: Chitons and other weird shoreline creatures

limpets are tasty
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