@TLT Happy new year, my love! Thanks for taking the time to write. Kill your own food, that’s a challenge :)

Good on you! I am glad that you had a chance to go through that excercise, as I think you will now appreciate better what you are serving.
As a chef, I have to kill all sorts of things routinely, from lobster, urchins, shrimp, fish and the like. I agree it is not exactly fun, but one gets a sense of the level of respect you can get from being connected to your food. It is far easier to get the uni from a Japanese supplier frozen. It is also easy to see that abused, discarded, allowed to go rotten etc.

@Jason Thanks! In the home kitchen, it can be a bit more messy and daunting but I’m all about connecting with my food so I totally agree with you!

I always feel terrible when I have to kill my own food, but that’s what you get for loving seafood ;-) For me, the worst ones to kill are crab, lobster etc. Looks like they know when you’re going to plunge them into boiling water!
I wish you a fabulous 2010, happy new year Mel!

@Veronique: I’m just glad they don’t have voices! Happy new year, my dear!

I have killed my own shell fish – a wide range, but not sea urchin. Maybe this will be the year I do it.

I just killed my first uni, too! Poor girl, you should’ve worn kitchen gloves!

Hello Mel
I wish you the best success for the new Gourmetfury and a happy new year
Pierre te french foodie in paris

@Pierre @Eric thank you so much! Happy new year boys!

mmmm… now if only live sea urchins would make its way to me down here in texas…

@ Pete No can do. Guess Texas will have to make it to Sea Urchins.

Have I killed my food? I gave a few lobsters a “hot bath.” Does that count? Other than that, it’s just one chicken.
Some friends and I, while camping in a remote area (no electricity or running water) in the north of Thailand, bought a live chicken from a hilltribal family as we ran out of canned food. As we chopped its head off, blood sprayed in every direction and we all freaked out and let go of the chicken. The headless chicken continued to run around the kitchen for almost a full minute and we had to chase after it. It only dropped dead after one of us whacked it with a rubber sandal.

I didn’t eat chicken for a looooong time after that.

@ Leela: girl you’re awesome! I hear chicken necks should be wrung, not chopped or something like that would happen. Hahaha One day girly, we’re gonna rip one of our cities apart together. Love you!

A long time ago, my brother-in-law went diving for abalone, and dropped off a couple of uni he had caught on our doorstep. (why he didn’t leave an abalone as well is beyond me) Anyway, they were still alive, but we cut them open, cleaned them out, and scooped out the gonads. They tasted really fresh, but the distaste of having to kill the animal first kinda took away the enjoyment of the food.

Now I just let the sushi chef put it on my rice.

@ Nate while I realize that this process may not be desirable or enjoyable, it is my challenge for everyone that eats animals to kill their own food this year. You may disagree but I wrote, “Making the choice to consume an animal after feeling it alive demonstrates consciousness and respect. This process causes us to consider where the animal is from and how it lived in order that we may enjoy it.”

Hey Miss Fury,

Thanks for the tip- we eat uni pretty frequently in Tokyo, but I’ve never actually thought about doing it myself because of the freshness and nice packaging of the uni at the store down the street. Since I rarely cook, the last time I really felt that “connection” to an animal was in my alone time with the Thanksgiving turkey. Just holding that bird made me far more grateful for what we would be eating several hours later. Plus, I may or may not have given him a little massage in the sink before putting him in the oven…

Maybe I’ll do an uni-pasta and guest post on Tokyo Terrace (my wife’s blog) sometime soon.

Reminds me of one of Rachael’s old posts: http://tokyoterrace.com/2009/05/25/i-love-surprises/

Keep up the good work- we love it.
-Brad

you are very brave! I do not think I can go through that process alone. But it does mean that the food is a lot fresher and tastier in the long run.

You rock! Although I’m not a hunter or anything, I’m a huge fan of being able/willing/experiencing killing your own food. You HAVE to know where it comes from and how it gets from alive to plated to fully value the food! Besides, bonus points on the uni – YUM!

[...] Cleaning Sea Urchins by Gourmet Fury – The link is not to a recipe, but a video on cleaning Sea Urchins (Uni) that I feel is important for everyone to watch and appreciate. Melody keeps it real legit in the video, and props to her! [...]

We catch fish and gather oysters, crabs and clams when in season. Love the Pacific NW for that!

brave one!! stick your hand inside the uni is terrible! is like touching the brains of a small animal….. and the dark water inside, and the insect some people eat…

BUT THEY ARE WONDERFUL!!!! LOVE THEM

Haha Oh Rodrigo you made me laugh out loud haha :) Horrible, but LOVE THEM TOO!!

[...] to pair with this luxurious ingredient, I picked up some fresh sea urchins. I know how to prepare (a.k.a. kill) them but had no clue of how to combine the [...]

thanks for the video i found some urchin of the green variety yesterday snorkeling and i’ve eaten them just needed to know how to clean them i also speared 4 flounder and cleaned those as well. i have a challenge for you: gather and catch your own food and kill it, at least once. it brings you even closer to reality of where your food comes from and not only that it doesn’t get any fresher!! thanks again