Healthy Cooking Columns

In Your Pantry: Shellfish

What should I have in my kitchen?

Shrimp

Shrimp is quick and easy and delicious. Shrimp does have a a lot of cholesterol but that is not as much of a problem as you might think. It is very low in fat (especially saturated fat) and the more important thing in a healthy diet is not eating less cholesterol but limiting the amount of saturated fat.

Try not to purchase shrimp unless you are going use it pretty quickly. To keep it fresh use a medium sized plastic container that fitted with a steamer basket. Place ice in the steamer and then the shrimp on top of the ice. There’s room left over for the lid to seal the container tightly. The ice then melts into the bottom of the container so the shrimp don’t get water-logged. (More on choosing shrimp.) Try this shrimp recipe, Shrimp Primavera with Angel Hair Pasta.

Sea Scallops

Sea scallops are sweet, succulent, meaty and so satisfying. You should make sea scallops a part of your regular menus. A four ounce serving of scallops has only 100 calories and less than a gram of fat.

Sea scallops are widely available fresh these days. They should be a translucent creamy color (some are slightly pink). It’s best to look for scallops labeled “chemical free” because treated scallops have a bitter taste. For more on scallops visit the sea scallops ingredient page.

Bay Scallops

Certainly bay scallops are related to sea scallops, but there’s a great difference in choosing them as well as how they taste. In the 1980s most of the population of true bay scallops were killed off by a toxic algae.

Most of what is available today are “calico” scallops that are from the coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. These don’t have the same sweetness that Atlantic bay scallops are famous for. It’s very hard to find fresh bay scallops and what is in your fish counter have likely been thawed. Ask when they were and look for the same creamy white and translucent color as with sea scallops.

Like sea scallops, bay scallops are very good for you. Low in fat and calories but full of taste, like this Bay Scallops with White Wine and Herbed Butter recipe.

Mussels

Mussels are a fantastic choice. They are quick and easy to cook. They are inexpensive and you can use them in almost any recipe that you might use clams. Mussels are low in fat, calories and cholesterol and oh, so tasty. One pound of mussels in the shell is about 3.5 ounces of edible fish and there’s less than 100 calories with under 2 grams of fat (so eat a couple pounds if you like).

Most mussels that you will find in the grocery are grown on farms. They are cultivated on long ropes along coastlines and in tidal pools or bays. The most common variety is the blue mussel, which has a dark blue to almost black shell.

Mussels, like all live shellfish, need to be kept ice cold. Buy mussels only at fish counters where the other fish looks fresh. Look for clean mussels with tightly closed shells – open shells indicate that the mussel might be dead. Don’t buy mussels with chipped or broken shells.

Clams

Speaking of clams… These are also a great choice. Like mussels, they are low in fat and calories and are widely available now. They are great simply steamed but also wonderful in any fish soup, chowder or fish stew. Also like mussels you want to purchase clams as close to the time that you are going to cook them as possible. Keeping them sitting on top of a bed of ice will keep them fresh a lot longer.

Crab

It’s so easy to purchase crabmeat and let someone else do the work. You’ll find it sold in a variety of forms, but crabmeat will keep for only a few days in your refrigerator.

Lump crab is whole pieces of crab claws and the white body meat. Flaked crab is the smaller bits of both dark and light meat from both the claws and the body of the crab. The former is tastier and makes the best crab cakes. Pasteurized crabmeat is packed in cans and will keep much longer – about 12 to 18 months. The flavor of pasteurized crabmeat is not fresh tasting at all, so it’s best to simply avoid buying it.

As with other crustaceans like shrimp and lobster, crabs do have a moderate amount of cholesterol, but they are very low in calories and saturated fat. The key is to pair crabs in recipes with good fats like olive oil. Try this Crab and Corn Salad for a good example.