For me it is almost hard to imagine by now that not that long ago I was not the biggest fan of eating from the sea. I remember back in the days that when we ate fish at home as a kid that the dog also would always secretly enjoy the dish under the table together with me.
I guess this has something to do with development on the tasting palet but also that I never really had the fresh fresh fresh version of seafood. And that is actually what makes the whole difference.
The fresher the seafood, the milder the taste actually is. Or better said, the older the seafood gets, the more fishy and like the sea it will taste. And that is truly what I don't like.
So for me the way to go is to eat sea food when you are actually at the sea and the catch of the day is literally from that day. You need a coastline with either loads of boats departing from the beach on the daily, or an area with a lot of small harbours in the coastline.
That is where the North shoreline of France comes in. Every couple miles there is a harbour and a stinky little fish market. That is where you need to be!
We all know the seafood platters on the high etagieres which will cost you a fortune. But the smaller the town, the more regular they are. And with that....the better they are. Just look at these oysters and jumbo shrimps. I'm not the biggest fan of oysters and certainly don't consider them as a meal. But cheeking in one every now and then...why the heck not.
On to the other pearls of the sea
These 'whulks' or 'wulken' as we call them or'boutôns' in French are literally on every corner here. Sometimes they will be added as a side dish but when ordering some, you literally get this full plate. You need a tiny two teethed fork with these to get them out of the shell entirely, and it always ends up getting a lot more out of them than what you had expected. You eat them cold and raw.
I had never seen these guys before outside here in the North side of France and this was a big surprise actually.
Now for me the biggest winner were these small clams coming from the oven covered with a bit of garlic and butter and just a hint of cheese grinded over them. They are called 'palourdes' and I guess you also know them from Italy in the pasta vongole.
A plate of this for me was never enough and I could think about 10 fishes where I could use these in.
The food here in the ocean region was just a delight. But the funny thing is...I would never buy anything like this here on the country side. It just doesn't fit the picture.
Seafood is where it should be. At the sea.