[Sca-cooks] back to food was PETA

[Lorenz Wieland]

With all the poking fun at PETA going on, I think your food questions got
lost in the noise.  Answers, as best I know them, below:

Nambeanntan at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 1/15/2004 10:30:44 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> vhsjvs at gis.net writes:

>  I have a few questions if someone could help with,
> I tried making a seafood salad but couldn't find plain squid, only a
> bag of IQF squid, cuttlefish, mussel and shrimp.
> What is the difference between a cuttlefish and a squid?

Culinarily speaking, not a lot if they've already been cut up and frozen.
Biologically, they are from different orders (Sepiida for most cuttlefish
and Teuthida for most species of squid you'd actually eat).  There are many
dozens of species of squid and cuttlefish, and I imagine a true connoisseur
can distiguish between them on the plate.  For most applications, I'd
consider them interchangeable.

> In the supermarket a jar of risotto rice (12 oz) goes for 6.99,
> pearl rice, one shelf down, sells for . 59 per LB
> Can any short or pearl rice be used for risotto?

Depends on which short grain rice and who you ask.  California pearl rice is
starchy enough to be cooked like arborio or carnaroli, but you would be able
to tell the difference between them.  Other short-grained rices may not have
enough starch to produce the creamy texture you want out of a risotto.

My best advice would be to try the pearl rice from your store and see how it
works out.  I wouldn't try and pass it off as risotto to anyone from
Piedmont, though :)

For what it's worth, you can order superfino grade arborio rice online for
under $3/lb. if you order in quantity.  My local market sells it for about
$5/lb.

See http://www.foodsubs.com/Rice.html for a good overview of many different
types of rice and their suitability for different uses.

-Lorenz