Seafood Dishes

China

Scallops with bok choy is a traditional dish that's especially popular in Shandong as a banqueting dish. Although there are variations, it's usually made with a combination of fresh scallops, bok choy, ginger, garlic, vegetable oil, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine or sherry, salt, sugar, and black pepper. The bok choy is blanched in boiling water and drained, while the scallops are blanched in water for a few seconds before they're drained. The ginger and garlic are fried in oil in a wok and then mixed with the sesame oil, salt, pepper, sugar, and wine or sherry. Bok choy and scallops are added to the wok and the dish is stir-fried shortly before it's served hot. Sometimes, the dish is served with the bok choy arranged to resemble the spokes of a wheel, while the scallops are served on top.

Scallops with bok choy

Seppie con i piselli is a traditional dish with unknown origins &ndash; some say it comes from Liguria, some from Marche, Romagna, or Lazio. The dish is made with cuttlefish, onions, tomatoes (which are omitted in some versions), peas, white wine, and olive oil. The onions are saut&eacute;ed in olive oil, and the cuttlefish pieces are then added along with white wine. When the wine evaporates, the tomatoes are added and the dish is slowly simmered until the cuttlefish is tender. The peas are added near the end of cooking, and seppie con i piselli are usually served with crusty bread on the side for mopping up the flavorful juices.

Seppie con i piselli

Italy

Seppie in umido is a traditional dish originating from Venice. The dish is usually made with a combination of sliced squid, onions, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, rosemary, oil, salt, and black pepper. The onions and garlic are saut&eacute;ed in oil until soft, and then mixed with the rosemary and squid. The mixture is covered with water and simmered for more than half an hour, and the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, salt, and pepper are then added to the pan. The dish is slowly cooked until the sauce becomes thick and the squid is tender. Seppie in umido is typically served over polenta.

Seppie in umido

Stuffed cuttlefish, often replaced with the smaller and more available squid, is a traditional dish whose origins are claimed by many Italian regions, including Liguria, Campania, Apulia, and Sicily. Following this, many regional recipes have been created that use a different combination of ingredients to create various flavorful fillings. However, all of them employ Italian and Mediterranean classics such as various herbs, garlic, prosciutto, capers, pine nuts, and ricotta, parmesan, or pecorino cheese. When filled, the cuttlefish is usually pan-fried, grilled, or baked and finished off with the addition of white wine. The first written recipe for this classic is found in the De re coquinaria, an ancient collection of Roman recipes that was collected around the 4th and 5th century.

Seppie ripiene

Seppioline con piselli is a traditional dish consisting of cuttlefish and peas as the main ingredients. Other ingredients typically include onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, parsley, tomato sauce, white wine, salt, and pepper. The cuttlefish is cleaned and cut lengthwise, while hte onions and garlic are finely chopped. The onions are saut&eacute;ed in olive oil with the cuttlefish and garlic. White wine is added to the pan and the dish is simmered until the liquid evaporates. The tomato, peas, parsley, and basil are added to the dish and it's cooked until the cuttlefish is tender. Before serving, seppioline con piselli are seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Seppioline con piselli

Mexico

Sere de pescado is a traditional dish originating from Quintana Roo. The dish is usually made with a combination of grouper fillets, achiote, garlic, tomatoes, onions, plantains, coconut milk, hot peppers, and oil. The garlic and achiote paste are boiled in water and removed from the heat. The tomatoes and onions are processed into a paste, strained, and saut&eacute;ed in oil. The plantains are boiled until soft and mixed with hot peppers, coconut milk, and tomato paste. The fish is placed in a pan with the sauce on top, and the dish is then simmered until the fish flakes apart easily. Sere de pescado is traditionally served with white rice on the side.

Sere de pescado

Serre la sus is one of the native dishes of the Garifuna peoples living in Belize. It is a hearty and rich fish soup that is enjoyed by numerous locals and tourists. The fish is simmered in a combination of coconut milk, onions, and selected seasonings until it is ready to be consumed. When served, serre la sus is usually accompanied by cassava bread with fresh plantains.

Serre la sus

Easily identifiable by the patches of scruffy dark hair on its claws, the succulent, moist, and meaty Shanghai hairy crab is a delicacy that is large as an adult person's palm. Its flesh is firm, yet tender and delicate, so it is always steamed whole, without any seasonings, while the meat is much sweeter than regular crabmeat. When consumed, it is typically dipped into a combination of rice vinegar and soy sauce, then topped with sliced ginger. These crabs are traditionally eaten hot, and two to four crabs per person usually makes a satisfying meal. Hairy crabs are in season from September until mid-November, a time of the year when the city's neighbourhoods are interspersed with markets and high-end restaurants offering this delicacy. The Chinese people believe that hairy crab has a cooling (yin) effect on the body, so it should be paired with suitable warming foods and beverages such as the potent yellow rice wine.

Shanghai maoxie

United States

She-crab soup, somewhat of a cross between a bisque and a chowder, is a soup made with heavy cream or milk, crabmeat, sherry, fish or crab stock, and roe&mdash;a key ingredient in the dish that improves the flavor and is responsible for the color. The soup is thickened with a roux or pur&eacute;ed boiled rice, and it is usually seasoned with either mace, onions, or shallots. A regional specialty of Tidewater, Virginia, the South Carolina Lowcountry, and Georgia coast, it was first introduced to these parts by the Scottish settlers in the 1700s in the form of partan-bree, a famous seafood bisque, but it was not until the 1900s that the soup gained its present-day form.

She-crab soup

Fried eel slices is a Chinese dish that is especially popular in Hangzhou. It consists of eel slices that are stir-fried with garlic, creating a unique flavor in the process. These eel slices have a sour and sweet flavor and they are crisp on the outside while remaining tender inside. In recent years, Hangzhou cooks developed a new method of preparing the dish &ndash; the eel slices are deep-fried until partially cooked, and they are then braised to achieve a soft "skin".

Sheng bao shan pian

Shorshe ilish is a traditional dish that employs ilish fish as its star ingredient. Sliced ilish is slowly simmered in a thick broth consisting of ground mustard seeds and green chili peppers, as well as mustard oil and other spices such as turmeric, cumin, and red chili powder. The variation of the dish may include the addition of milk or yogurt (doi). This hearty fish dish is usually served with steamed rice on the side.

Shorshe ilish

Shrimp bisque is a smooth, cream-finished soup whose flavour comes from shrimp shells rather than shrimp meat: the shells and heads are roasted or sautéed, simmered into a stock, blended and strained, and the resulting liquid is thickened, enriched with cream and a splash of brandy or sherry, and garnished with a few whole shrimp. The form is French, from the lobster and crayfish bisques of the classical kitchen, where the thickener was originally rice and later a roux; the shrimp version is a fixture of American coastal cooking, especially in the Gulf states and Louisiana, where Cajun and Creole kitchens add cayenne, bell pepper and a darker roux and where it sits on menus next to gumbo and étouffée. Restaurant shrimp bisque ranges from a thin, elegant velouté served in a cup to a thick, rust-coloured bowl that eats like a meal, and both are legitimate.

The shells are the whole flavour. Heads and shells from a kilo or so of shrimp are dried, then either roasted in a hot oven or fried hard in butter until they turn pink and smell toasted; onion, celery, carrot and garlic go in, then tomato paste cooked until it darkens, a glass of brandy flamed or boiled off, and water or fish stock to cover. The pot simmers for forty-five minutes, no longer, since shrimp shells go bitter with long cooking, and the whole mass is blended, shells included, then pushed through a fine sieve. The stock is then thickened with a blond roux or with rice cooked in it and blended, brought back to a simmer, finished with cream at roughly one part to four of stock, seasoned with salt, cayenne and lemon, and the shrimp meat, poached separately for a minute, goes in at the last moment. A spoon of sherry or cognac at the end is traditional.

Judge the colour and the texture before tasting: a good bisque is a warm coral or rust shade, completely smooth with no grit from the shells, and pours thickly from the spoon without being gluey. The taste should be of roasted shellfish first, sweet and deep, with tomato and cream behind and a clear kick of pepper or cayenne, and the shrimp garnish should be plump and just cooked. Mark down a bisque that is pale and tastes mainly of cream, which means the shells were skipped or not browned, a floury or pasty texture from too much roux, grit on the tongue from a lazy strain, overcooked rubbery shrimp, a bitter or fishy edge from shells simmered too long or not fresh, and a soup served lukewarm, since the cream dulls as it cools. A bisque made from shrimp meat alone with no shell stock is a cream of shrimp soup and should be scored as a lesser thing.

Shrimp Bisque

Shrimp Chippewa is an American dish hailing from New Orleans. It was invented by Paul Prudhomme in a restaurant called Commander's Palace. The dish is a simple combination of saut&eacute;ed shrimp, shallots, mushrooms, and garlic. Other ingredients include butter, chicken broth, and chopped spring onions and parsley. Although it's technically a soup, shrimp Chippewa is more of a main dish. It's traditionally served with lots of French bread to soak up the garlic and butter sauce. The word Chippewa in the name of the dish refers to Chippewa Street in the Irish Channel.

Shrimp Chippewa

Shrimp Creole is a classic seafood dish with origins from South Louisiana, which has an abundance of gulf shrimp. The shrimp are traditionally simmered in a flavorful tomato sauce, while the whole dish is usually served over white rice. The tomato sauce typically consists of whole, diced, or canned tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, celery, and traditional spices based on hot peppers. According to many, the secret is in adding the shrimp near the end of cooking so that they don't become rubbery and overcooked.

Shrimp Creole

Small Baltic herring, called silakka in Finnish, is the key ingredient of this traditional fish specialty hailing from Finland. Silakat is typically made by dredging whole cleaned herrings (or herring fillets with their skin attached) in flour combined with pepper, salt, and sometimes lime zest before pan-frying them in hot oil or butter. The crispy herring fillets are then generously seasoned with crushed sea salt and accompanied by a side of mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, or lime wedges. After frying, silakat can also be pickled with vinegar, and served with carrots, bay leaves, and onions.

Silakat

Sild og poteter is a traditional dish originating from Norway. The dish is usually made with a combination of herring fillets, potatoes, pickled and sliced beets, onions, butter, dill, and sour cream. The herring fillets are placed on a platter and garnished with sliced beets and sliced onions. The combination is topped with sour cream and dill sprigs, and it's then served accompanied by boiled buttered potatoes sprinkled with dill. The dish is especially popular during summer.

Sild og poteter

Philippines

Sinanglay is a traditional dish originating from the Bicol area. The dish is usually made with a combination of fish (usually tilapia), tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, chili peppers, bok choy, coconut milk, and salt. The fish is typically stuffed with onions, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic. It is then wrapped in leafy greens (such as bok choy, mustard greens, or taro leaves) and cooked in a mixture of coconut milk, chili peppers, and salt. Sinanglay is simmered until the liquid is reduced, and it's then served with steaming hot rice on the side. The dish can also be made with other types of fish such as red snapper (maya-maya), pompano, catfish (hito), and milkfish (bangus).

Sinanglay

Sinigang na hipon is a Filipino shrimp soup characterized by its sour and strongly savory flavor. In addition to shrimp, this dish contains a great variety of vegetables, including onions, tomatoes, string beans, banana peppers, water spinach, taro, radishes, and ladies&rsquo; fingers, with ginger and fish sauce being added for extra flavor. Sinigang&rsquo;s signature sour flavor comes from tamarind, but other natural souring agents, such as green mango, guava, santol, calamansi, bilimbi, or pineapple can also be used. Sinigang na hipon is very popular in the Philippines, where it is considered a homemade specialty. It is traditionally served hot with rice and fish sauce on the side.

Sinigang na hipon

Croatia

&Scaron;kampi na buzaru is a traditional dish that is prepared with scampi as the main ingredient. The scampi are cleaned, but the shells are not removed, then stir-fried a bit and cooked in a sauce of olive oil, white wine, garlic, and breadcrumbs, seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley. The dish is served with bread for mopping up the juices. However, if tomatoes, most commonly in the form of canned tomatoes or tomato puree, are included, we&rsquo;re talking about the &lsquo;red&rsquo; version of &scaron;kampi na buzaru. Also, the dish can include onions, a splash of sweet dessert wine pro&scaron;ek and lemon.

Škampi na buzaru

&Scaron;kampi na gradele is a traditional dish that's especially popular in Dalmatia and the Kvarner area. The dish is made by grilling fresh Adriatic shrimp over an open flame on a metal grate called gradele. The shrimp should be as fresh as possible, and they're usually seasoned with olive oil and salt. After a few minutes (usually 3 to 6) of grilling on all sides, the shrimps are typically dressed with a mixture of olive oil, garlic, and parsley. The dish is served piping hot. If desired, add additional aromatic herbs such as basil or kozlac (Arum maculatum).