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feature

waveon a

By Deanne Moskowitz

Sourcing its seafood as close to home as possible, Waters Fine

Catering presents a dish of Mano de Leon diver scallop crudo, San

Diego sea urchin, Santa Rosa plums and Rainier cherries.

Reel FreshBuying local often is best for maintaining

seafood sustainability and optimizing fresh-ness and flavor. But chefs sometimes must look farther afield, since indigenous species are not immune to overfishing or unscrupu-lous capture practices, and fishing seasons may conflict with event dates.

always supporting local purveyors and avoiding what he calls “petroleum remorse,” spurgin stays as close to home as possible when planning seafood menus, exhausting san Diego, Baja (Mexico) and west Coast sources before looking elsewhere in the United states. among his wild seafood favor-ites are sea urchin and pole-caught albacore from san Diego; mano de leon diver scallops and hand-lined white mackerel from Baja; Dungeness crab and oysters from California, washington and British Columbia; and halibut, black cod, salmon and lingcod from alaska. among wild choices, only striped seabass (which he calls the “poster child for recovery”) comes from the east Coast, while frozen MsC (Marine stewardship Council) certified Cape Capensis, a popular alternative for some unsustainable species, is trans-ported from south africa by ship, consuming much less gas than it would by air.

Elgin woodman, executive chef at a Joy wallace Catering Production & Design team in Miami, recently took a course in sustainable seafood taught by andrew spurgin, executive director of waters Fine Catering in san Diego. Co-founder of Passionfish (a nonprofit organization that works to

safeguard the future of fish and fishing), and a tireless participant in such related initiatives as Chefs Collaborative, spurgin has been a standard-bearer for sustainability for 14 years. Under spurgin’s direction, waters has developed an adoring following, due to its unwavering sustainability standards, not in spite of them.

“But what if you’re not andrew spurgin?” woodman wonders. inspired by the class to work even harder toward offering an unassailable seafood menu, she suspects that doing so will be a bigger challenge in Miami, a market that isn’t as sustainably sensitive yet as California.

Joel thevoz, chef d’ cuisine for Main event Caterers in arlington, Va., also walks a fine line between giving customers what they want and wor-rying about environmental consequences. Convinced sustainability can be achieved with “constant attention to everyday decisions,” he seeks suppliers with compatible philosophies and strives for the smallest car-bon footprint, but admits that he can’t afford to lose business by taking an uncompromising stand.

working toward sustainability—which means serving fish caught or farmed with consideration for the long-term viability of the species and for the ocean’s ecological balance—can be like swimming upstream, impacting such critical factors as pricing and client satisfaction. But view-ing sustainability as their ethical responsibility and detecting increasing interest from the public, many caterers are diving deeper into the issue. they’re educating themselves, staying informed, trying new species, lin-ing up conscientious suppliers and convincing clients to come on board.

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Mar

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the sustainable seafood MoveMent is starting to crest in catering. so what’s the catch?

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andrew spurgin

three of the four main varieties of wild fish on woodman’s menu in Miami are local: grou-per, mahi-mahi and snapper. the last, halibut, hails from the Pacific.

at Main event, rockfish from the Chesapeake—a delicious alternative to Chilean seabass, snapper and halibut out of season—is becoming depleted, so thevoz is substituting farmed rockfish and experimenting with other varieties. He tried carp, which has been touted as an abundant alternative, but did not like its taste or “gritty” texture.

since fin fish were not affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, southern Hospitality Catering in new orleans still serves many of the local favorites, reports John Rowland, president. they include mahi-mahi, red snapper, yellowfin tuna and puppy drum, also known as channel bass. Grilled, pan-sautéed or baked, the drum is accompanied by sauces incorporating crawfish, an inland species, or frozen shrimp, since shrimp and crab are not available locally now.

among the most popular items on catering

menus, shrimp often entail habitat destruction and unconscionable quantities of bycatch (animals caught unintentionally) in their cap-ture. as substitutes, thevoz and spurgin both are proponents of spot prawns from the Pacific northwest, which are not subject to bycatch since they are trap-caught.

spurgin treats the prawns to simple but impressive preparations. one is cooking them for three or four minutes in salt that has been flavored and heated in the oven to 500 degrees; a second is serving them raw as crudo, in an heirloom tomato essence; and a third is grill-ing them alive with the heads on and serving with a sauce of saffron aioli or piment d’espelette (a type of French chili).

also extremely popular but a common offender is salmon, especially from atlantic waters, so many caterers now prefer farmed. woodman sometimes serves farmed salmon and tilapia. thevoz buys farmed salmon, which he often prepares by short-smoking and finishing with fruit glazes, such as cranberry/Dijon. and, when wild is unavailable, even spurgin is a farmed-salmon aficionado, patron-izing only the most well managed operations, such as Loch Duart in scotland and Mt. Cook alpine in new zealand.

Finicky Farmsseventy-five percent of fisheries are threatened, in decline or

collapsed, according to spurgin, which is why he and other experts view aquaculture (raising seafood in a controlled environment), assuming that it is well-managed, as the future of the seafood industry. increasingly, farming seems to be the answer for sustainable-minded caterers.

Five years ago, tasty Catering in Chicago decided to serve only farmed fish. Larry walter, director of operations for the com-pany, says the resulting sustainability and positive carbon footprint were welcome side effects of the decision’s main purpose: consis-tent quality and pricing.

keeping in mind popularity and durability between the

Viewing sustainability as their ethical responsibility and detecting increasing interest from the public, many caterers are diving deeper into the issue.

Above: For this stunning house-made gravlax with black mustard, lemon crème fraîche and trout roe,

Waters Fine Catering begins with the best wild Alaskan king salmon. Right: A Joy Wallace serves a

farm-raised mussel with pickled onions.

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commissary and the off-premise site, tasty chose catfish, salmon and tilapia as staples, sparking its menu with recipe diversity. Catfish is cornmeal-breaded and fried; tilapia, baked Provencale-style; and salmon, grilled, with white wine, capers and lemon, or in Japanese-style barbecue sauce.

Determined to lessen impact on local waters, thevoz is turning to aquaculture for rockfish, Rappahannock trout and tilapia. aware that many farms are the worst offenders, polluting waters with feces, food waste and other toxins, he says he did his homework in select-ing the farms. the rockfish is open-flame broiled and served with mint and honey gastrique. the trout is pan-fried or baked, and the tilapia is buttermilk-brined, pan-fried, and accompanied by chipotle beurre blanc.

Rowland, who applauds farming as an effort to maintain seafood diversity and proliferation, buys farmed tilapia and catfish.

spurgin sees mariculture (a branch of aquaculture in which fish are cultivated in net pens off the coast) as the best hope for a healthy and sustainable seafood supply and, assuming better government support, as a thriving american industry. Currently, however, 80 percent of seafood consumed in the United states is imported, half of which is farmed, and spurgin bemoans money going to countries with “loose regulations, poor compliance, and a host of environmental and cultural ramifications.” when poorly managed, mariculture drawbacks include the introduction of non-indigenous species, which can escape and cause detrimental ecological imbalance and pollution, due to overcrowding and slow current flow.

Most bivalves are farmed, and are shipped with a ticket indicating when, where and by whom they were harvested. By law, it must be

A favorite appetizer on Woodman’s menu at A Joy Wallace in Miami is the Diver Scallop on a Falafel Cake, topped with a fennel and tangerine raita.

The Spill:WashingOver Catering

The BP oil spill has affected seafood business

in the catering world both on and off the Gulf

Coast, judging from conversations with some

chefs and owners. Pricing, availability and

demand all were victims.

Even caterers who don’t source their sea-

food from the Gulf noticed price increases on

shrimp and other shellfish within days of the

disaster. Larry Walter at Tasty Catering saw

shrimp prices rise 12 percent within 20 days of

the spill. Elgin Woodman at A Joy Wallace noted

increases on lobster not sourced in the Gulf.

Joel Thevoz of Main Event Catering, who

had been buying shrimp, crab and oysters

from the Gulf, reports that prices “skyrocketed,

and for good reason.” He informs clients of an

additional charge on Gulf-produced items now

and is limiting shrimp usage to help reduce the

strain on fisheries and farms. Meanwhile, he’s

importing more shrimp and increasing oyster

orders from the Northeast and Pacific Coast.

In New Orleans, John Rowland of Southern

Hospitality eliminated fresh shrimp, crab and

oysters from his menu, due to astronomical

pricing and lack of availability. Oysters, previ-

ously priced at $26 a gallon, quadrupled in cost

to $26 a pint, he recalls.

At press time, the shrimping season was

just getting underway, and it’s too early to

predict how soon supply will be restored.

However, demand for Gulf seafood has been

pushed in opposite directions by the spill.

Thevoz says some customers are willing to

pay a premium to help, while others complete-

ly veto seafood, possibly fearing contamina-

tion. But safety should not be a deterrent to

buying Gulf seafood, Rowland assures. “The

seafood in Louisiana is so scrutinized,” he

says, “it’s probably the safest thing you’d want

to eat anywhere.”

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retained for a period prescribed by local government, so lineage can be traced in case of food-borne illness. spurgin buys oysters from British Columbia and washington state to Carlsbad, Calif., show-casing the Hog island sweetwaters, Fanny Bays, and kumumotos with vinegar- and

shallot-based Mignonette sauce and such flavored granités as cucumber, lemongrass and melon.

Upscale Dishesit doesn’t take complicated

preparations to show off stel-lar seafood. For caterers, the challenge is to keep a limited fish repertoire exciting and to maintain moistness in transition to the site.

olive oil poaching is among spurgin’s favorite techniques for fish. He flavors the oil with aro-

matics, letting them infuse at 200 degrees. then he reduces the temperature, and at 140 degrees drops in the halibut or salmon, leav-ing it to cook for 10-12 minutes.

spurgin also likes smoking with anything, from mesquite to Lapsang souchong tea. He avoids drying the fish by employing a brief hot-smoking process, removing the fish while still raw, and keeping it covered. For maximizing flavor and drama, he also likes

baking in a salt crust, which is cracked open at the table, and grilling on a cedar plank.

Born in Peru and having access to the freshest fish, woodman serves lots of ceviche. she uses a variety of species (corvina, mahi-mahi, squid and octopus, among them), peppers and citrus components, including lime alone or combined with passion fruit.

Pan-searing with light sauces is the approach she prefers for fish. a new appetizer favorite on her menu is seared diver scallops on falafel cake with tangerine raita.

Baking, grilling or steaming, according to fish texture, thevoz also favors simplicity in preparation. Dense and strongly flavored, swordfish (no longer on the endangered list, he notes) is marinated in sweet chiles and grilled.

the recession has dampened customer enthusiasm for sustain-ability, but there are ways to circumvent cost concerns. Depending on demographics, it’s possible to reduce portions, serve something lower on the food chain, or be creative about restricting protein use.

Bait and SwitchChefs have begun to realize that “they can save the oceans’

wildlife with the stroke of a pen,” spurgin says, since 67 percent of seafood in the United states is eaten out. so when clients request troubled fish, caterers try to enlighten them.

But it’s important “not to overwhelm customers with doom and gloom,” he cautions. if a client insists on serving something from his list of offenders, spurgin tells them that waters won’t serve it, gently explains why, and always provides an alternative, following up with additional information, if requested.

ignorance, not obstinance, is most likely behind many requests for non-sustainable fish. thevoz says only about 5 percent of clients are aware of the situation. woodman finds that customers want to do the right thing if told that a fish is going into extinction.

when Chilean seabass was “hot” a few years back, Joy wallace

feature

Main Event’s Thevoz serves tilapia that’s buttermilk-brined, pan-fried, and accompanied by chipotle beurre blanc.

www.cateringmagazine.com >> Catering Magazine  39

banned the highly endangered fish from its menus and offered alter-natives, such as halibut, at tastings. Media coverage of the problem supported the company’s resolve, woodman believes.

noting strengthening interest in seafood sustainability, next year tasty Catering plans to highlight its pride in serving only farmed fish on its menus.

On the Horizonafter finishing her course, woodman did more research and

signed up for FishChoice.com, a site that tells chefs where they can find sustainable fish in their areas. “you have to get educated and see how you can make it happen,” she observes.

Getting educated is easier now, as new educational sites and lists of best and worst choices surface. Lists are good tools but limited ones, spurgin warns, citing that the issue goes deeper than simply which species are depleted or endangered. it also encompasses the enormous loss of wildlife through unintended capture, 25 percent of which is wasted, and tragic cultural and anthropological impacts, such as the loss of fishing livelihoods in poor nations and their inevi-table ramifications on families.

sites today offer online education and step-by-step guidance on how to become sustainable; for example, “seafood solutions: a Chef’s Guide to sourcing sustainable seafood” from Chefs Collaborative (www.issuu.com/chefscollaborative/docs/seafood_final_complete); and the Blue ocean institute’s interactive tool (www.oceanfriendlychefs.com), offering first-hand views of capture techniques. there are even free iPhone apps to keep chefs up-to-date on best choices, including seafood Guide from the Monterey Bay aquarium and Boi’s FishPhone, which provides recipes and wine pairings.

as seafood sustainability becomes more publicized, restau-rants take up the gauntlet, and the public grows savvier, caterers are getting hooked, too. thevoz compares the movement toward

sustainability to the “green” movement, which took some years to catch on, but now has completely taken hold. “it’s going to take many people in our industry to start com-mitting, so we can all move in that direction,” he predicts. But he’s convinced that “little by little” it’s going to happen.

A seared Halibut with a Grilled

Nectarine and Poblano Salsa

tempts customers of A Joy Wallace in

Miami.