Shellfish masterclass: “Irish people always think seafood will kill us. But it's very safe now”
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Now, Niall Sibonghi, good afternoon. Good afternoon, how are you? Good. So Niall, you're a chef, you're owner of the Seafood Cafe, you're CEO of Sustainable Seafood Ireland, and you are, it has to be said, you're a great champion of Irish fish and shellfish. And like, the thing is, people love a bit of shellfish when they're out and about in the summer and stuff. can be slightly nervous of cooking from scratch at home. So you're going to calm us all down. I'm going to calm you right down, yeah, hopefully, yeah. You grew up around food and seafood, of course. Your dad was the legendary George. That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't say I ever ate the food. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Enjoyed the wine in the late nights, though.
Late night. Now that it's over, we can say it may not always have been legal, but... A luxury. Yeah. But it was a great spot in the day.
Yeah, it was great. And I was very lucky to kind of grow up in that kind of environment. And my dad and just eating and seafood was always a big part of what we did as kids. So very lucky, you know.
Okay, so look, people can be afraid of raw seafood particularly, right? Even though like... We eat it in lots of other contexts and stuff. So buying it first.
I think people are very fighting with seafood in general. They all think that they're going to get sick. And in Ireland, the likelihood of getting sick is so slim. So in Ireland, we have a thing called deprivation. So first of all, all the waters where the seafood is grown, harvested and farmed from is all AAA waters. And every single bit of water is monitored by the Marine Institute. And every week they test the water to make sure that it's perfect and that everything in it is safe to eat. And then we export all that in that state. After that state, in Ireland, and only in Ireland, we do a thing called deporation, which means that we actually filter all of the seafood again, all the shellfish again, through these big tanks of seawater with ultraviolet lights to double down on making sure that they're safe.
So the likelihood of getting sick from some shellfish out there is pretty slim. So the old way of thinking that you're going to get sick from it is very much in the past. Okay, so we can take it to whatever's in the shop. Whatever's in the shop is delicious and safe and absolutely you can enjoy it without that kind of fear of being unwell. and when we take it home how should we keep it the best way to do it so if it's shellfish and things like that or even your fish the bottom of your fridge in a container and if it's shellfish with a damp cloth on top of it and it's perfect for two or three days oh is it yeah because a lot of people again would think I need to eat it the day I buy it Eat it daily, but I mean, obviously it is seafood.
It is going to smell stronger, you know, so the longer you leave it there, the stronger, you know, it will get in your fridge. So you don't necessarily want that in your fridge. So, you know, eat it within a day or two would be my way.
Okay. So look, why don't we talk about how we deal with different kinds of seafood through you've given us recipes. So a nice, simple recipe with clams to start. This is the kind of a classic linguine a la Vongolea. So in terms of, we get good clams in Ireland?
Amazing clams in Ireland. At the moment, we're getting ours from Dollar Bay down in Waterford. Really, really nice guys. Stephen fishes them down there. And yeah, they're beautiful and sweet. And they need to be what?
Shut tight?
What insights does Niall Sabongi share about the safety of Irish seafood?
Yeah, so when you buy them, they will be shut tight. If they're a little bit gaping, a little bit open, all you've got to do is just... Give it a tap on the table and it should start to close again slowly. If it doesn't close, that means it's dead and you can just discard it.
Okay, and then talk me through the linguine al vongole.
So, linguine al vongole is so, so simple. A little bit of really thinly sliced garlic. So think, you know, of those old mafia movies where they cut the garlic super, super thin. Really, really thin. A little bit of chilli, just warm it up.
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