Well present in the St. Lawrence and exported en masse abroad, the sea cucumber is one of the foods that Quebecers will be able to taste from now on. A hitherto untapped local flavor that can be supplied province-wide through the Fourchette bleue program.
On the sidelines of the second Salon Fourchette bleue — intended exclusively for the Quebec market — the chef and co-owner of the fish market L’Espace marin, Chloé Ouellet, prepared a sea cucumber escabèche to introduce artisans in the industry to the full potential of this intriguing food. “My goal was to keep it as simple as possible, for people to taste the real flavor. Both consumers and chefs have a lot to learn; hardly anyone has cooked this before. »
To those who are going to prepare it for the first time, she advises “not to eat with your eyes! (laughs) It’s really ugly! The texture is sticky, but don’t stop there! Once you get over the first impression, the texture is rubbery like bourgot. And the flavor is fairly neutral; it really takes on the flavor you want it to have. I recommend cutting it into small pieces so that it is pleasant to eat. »
And a sign that the treasures of the St. Lawrence, such as sea cucumbers, are increasingly subjects of interest, the Metro chain has announced Fourchette Bleue certification to some fifty of its stores. After a pilot project in five grocery stores in Gaspésie and Bas-Saint-Laurent, the chain has put everything in place to facilitate access to seafood products for its consumers over the next year.
Sandra Gauthier, general manager of Exploramer and Fourchette bleue, remembers the premise of this certification. “When people visited our museum, the first question they asked was: ‘Can this be eaten?’ Fourteen years later, some 200 restaurants and fishmongers offer the answer to the question. One of their tasks is to highlight at least two marine species according to a directory updated each year. “When there are species that are in difficulty, we remove them from the Blue Fork list. In 2012, that’s what we did for blue mackerel because we noted a decline. It was only 10 years later that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food officially put a stop to this fishery,” says Ms.me Gautier.
According to her, promoting more actively other species such as sculpin or pout would have made it possible to maintain and diversify the resource. “I would like us to eat a bit of everything when it’s the season, lobster, yes, but also squid, which can be caught at the end of summer, sea urchins when the water is cold. For a long time, Quebecers arrived too late to get their hands on anything. Now we can help ourselves first, ”rejoices the initiator.
Resources to value
In this sense, the creation of the Salon Fourchette bleue allows local merchants, fishmongers and restaurateurs to pre-order various marine resources from the St. Lawrence before foreign customers. In 2022, there were 47 species to be valued. In the batch, the green sea urchin had experienced a good recovery; many chefs have offered this emblematic local element, a big star in Asia. This year, the presence of sea cucumbers on the shelves will also draw attention to its counterparts whelks — also called whelks —, Stimpson’s surf clams and shortfin squid. “There are nuggets of gold in our marine products that we don’t know about and that we send abroad without even knowing that it exists. It’s important to ask for and eat these products,” argues Sandra Gauthier.
A sentiment shared by Jean-Philippe Lessard, chef at Buvette Scott in Quebec City, who focuses his menus on local ingredients. A member of the Fourchette bleue, he is delighted with the growing variety of local fish and seafood “which brings great novelty and a feeling of pride. And also its share of surprises and challenges! he says, recalling his team’s long drudgery to shell 90 pounds of rock crab. “The people at the service told the story to the customers and explained how lucky and happy we are to have this product. It definitely creates an interest like for all the other local products we use and their stories that come with it. »
At her rustic table, Au Pâturage, in Sainte-Perpétue, chef Ouellet works with everything that comes to hand, from redfish to various seaweeds. “Little step by little step, we are moving forward. People are more and more open. “Educating consumers and people in the food industry about local marine resources” is the fight of my life, adds the one who began her career in a fish market in Matane. Ever since I was a teenager, it’s been bugging me. It’s in my values, it’s anchored in me. I feel it’s our generation that will make a difference,” she says.