Whelks? Anyone Tried Them??

[cjs]

Oh my, this really looks like something to look for and we're headed to Central Market next Wednesday!!



http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/sustainable-seafood

I am so on the lookout for these little goodies!!!

Has anyone heard of or tried???

[Trixxee]

Never heard of them before. Interesting.

[Gourmet_Mom]

I haven't either! I'll be interested to hear what you learn.

[farnfam]

Love the attractive shells are they some kind of seafood?

[cjs]

Whelks - cis, there's a link to the article about them.

Per my friend, Janice, who has a Japanese restaurant in Portland -
"Worth trying if you haven't before but really nothing special. The best season for them is past rigth now-generally you want to use them late fall&winter. If using fresh make sure to purge them really well."

and

"We don't do any sushi. Generaly what I've seen done with whelks is to treat them like escargot (compound butter) or in commonwealth countries at breakfast with a but of vinegar splashed over and served with hot buttered toast, In west indies countries and caribbean youll see them stewed in coconut milk, or ground up and done in curry sauce. When I was EC at Ezuli in Chicago we did them as fritters and drizzled them w/tabasco honey."

"in Chicago we did them as fritters and drizzled them w/tabasco honey" - oh yeah!!!!

[farnfam]

Not much chance I'll ever find them here in northern New York but I will look

[labradors]

Remember seeing the shells on the beaches when we lived in New Jersey, but never considered whelks as possible food. I guess, with escargot and conch, why not whelk?

Just don't tell me if you find one named "Lawrence."

[Lorraine]

I've never had them, but have seen them done on Iron Chef.