Nothing more true than the gastronomic label of “delicacies of the sea” to describe seafood. It is a pleasure to enjoy them at the table and they are distinguished from other types of meat due to their nutritional benefits. But what is seafood? According to INCAP and PAHO, they are a group of sea animals that, unlike fish, do not have a skeleton.
In the minutes of the National Academy of Sciences, it is reported that for more than 40,000 years, seafood has been part of the diet of man. In the case of seafood, there is a great variety; some have very hard shells, others a simple shell and even movable spikes.
But in the kitchen the most popular are mollusks and crustaceans. In gastronomy they can be used as a complement, preparing delicious pastas, creams, omelettes or as the star of the dish, steaming them, marinating and stewing. Are you curious to know more about these delicacies of the sea?
Types of shellfish
No shellfish has a bone inside. But externally there are some characteristics that differentiate them and, with it, their way of conservation and preparation. Some live inside very hard shells, others protect themselves with a shell and some defend themselves through their pointed body.
Crustaceans
According to the “Guide to the main fish, mollusks and crustaceans of Madrid”, crustaceans are a group of arthropods, since like insects they have an external skeleton made up of chitin, a type of fiber of animal origin. However, not all of them are edible.
They have a body segmented into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They are protected by a hard shell and a large number of jointed appendages or legs (the first two are usually pincers).
Within this group we find lobsters, prawns, shrimp, prawns, crabs, lobster and spider crabs. They are usually marketed alive, such as lobster and lobster, or dead as prawns and prawns.
It is important that you know how to select them according to their freshness. When they are alive they must move their legs and bend their tail when hitting the thorax. If they are dead, they should not give off ammonia odor, as it indicates decomposition.
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