Fish Is The New Beef

This quarantine has given us some tough times. Now our food chain is being threatened. Beef and chicken are starting to become scarce. Thankfully there is fish and seafood to provide  us with protein and sustenance. Americans are rediscovering them and becoming adventurous with cooking.

Pete Wells, usually the restaurant critic for The New York Times wrote this informative piece in yesterday's New York Times Food section. he interviewed the Rozzo family , famed for their seafood company F.Rozzo And Sons which goes back decades and generations. Luckily the fisheries haven't suffered like the meat processing plants where whole swaths of workers came down with the Corona virus.Yet the usually $5.6 billion industry has not escaped the fall out. Restaurants and other food service establishments normally amount for about two-thirds of the sale of fresh seafood in the country. When nearly all the restaurants closed save for take or delivery, the entire seafood distribution network froze. Along the Atlantic coast, some fishing boats were dumping fish they couldn't sell. It was also a terrible spring, rife with storms and high winds. Luckily there is a bright spot and that's retail. Home chefs are discovering fish as a great sub in for red meat and poultry. Then there are the seafood lovers who can't dine at their favorite seafood restaurants. They bring that home, as they try new recipes or recreate their favorite ones.

Fish is an easy cook. Many home chefs never want to cook it, because of the smell or they have no knowledge of how to cook it. Then they're afraid it may go bad.Yet any fish is relatively easy to make. What Mr. Wells found out is that a few home chefs are adventurous. It also helps that other fish companies like Pierless FIsh, owned by Robert DiMasco, have begun home deliveries. His new clients are even  buying fish collars which are the area right next to the head. He sold thirty pounds of them in one day , although they are tasty and actually full of fat.They're also versatile which would appeal to the adventurous cook. In addition to the dried anatomical scraps it markets as pet scraps Pierless also offers  Spanish mackerel, skate, silver dory and catfish. All have been sold out. Famed chefs are also big fans of Pierless. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the famed chef and owner of many restaurants from New York to Las Vegas, raved about the company's squid. Frank Rozzo and Sons are also enjoying the uptick in sales. It sold one hundred pounds of drumfish from the Gulf Of Mexico.

There will always be fish when there is no more chicken or beef. It's tasty and easy to cook. Consider it on your next shopping trip.

A New Kind Of Deli

Walk into any deli and you're going to see the usual stuff. There's a display case of mayo drenched salads, and an array of deli meats. What you won't find is chaga or even a tank of live eels. Where could you be? At Harry & Ida's , a deli restaurant mash up that's an East Village staple.

Jeff Gordonier  wrote about this interesting and mind blowing deli in Wednesday's  New York Times Food section. It was created by Will and Julie Horowicz and named for their great-grandparents who were deli owners themselves. The newest generation keeps certain culinary traditions such as hefty brisket sandwiches, fresh killed and smoked eels and brined beef tongues. The first won Mr. Horowicz the top prize in the Brisket King of NYC competition. The deli's restaurant division Ducks is also garnering attention for its' barbecue, also winning recognition and second place at the Kingsford Invitational barbecue contest.The Horowicz's didn't come to their family's business easily.Ms. Horowicz was a Vassar grad , teaching English on the island of Reunion, off the coast of Madagascar. Her brother, a ping pong enthusiast (who has a fondness for playing the game au natural) had to come up with a snack heavy menu for the Flatiron district table tennis hangout SPIN New York.After garnering knowledge at SPIN, they opened up Harry & Ida's , definitely a homage to the family business

What makes them different than their great grandparents deli is their choice of foods.It's not just traditional Jewish deli foods but others that are from the American South, Native American and Asian traditions.Chaga sits marinating in a jar as Will Horowicz turns this Russian fungi into a tea. It's certainly not the traditional Dr. Brown's celery and cream sodas that are standard issue at any New York City deli.There is skate(!) jerky along with cattails (!!!) marinate in brine,.  The last is a standard in indigenous cuisine and tastes like cucumber Pickled ,it'll fit in well in the Horowicz's deli, standing in for the traditional dill pickle. There are also brining crab apples, a sight not seen at any other eatery . Spruce , another North American food is also on the menu.. The brother and sister are big into foraging as well as fermentation, This is what makes the deli a stand out.They experiment, not selling for the everyday stuff like cole slaw and potato salad.

Harry and Ida's is a blend of new and old thanks to Will and Julie Horowicz. They blend traditional deli foods with new spins and ancient techniques. It's what makes their deli unique in a city full of the usual pastrami sandwiches.