Monday, May 07, 2012

Meet Bob Keese, Scalloper

7 comments:

Baydog said...

I gotta believe you posted this with me in mind.

My first restaurant job 34 years ago had me doing the daily breaded fish order for Jack Baker's Wharfside Restaurant in Point Pleasant, NJ.

I'd get up at 5:30 every morning, jump on my yellow Schwinn Varsity 10 speed, and ride the 3 miles to work, arriving by 6, to prep for the night ahead.

I'd be handed my order for the day. 100 orders of flounder, 200 shrimp, 200 scallops, 100 softshells, 200 belly-busters (flounder, shrimp, scallops, crabcake), and so on.

The scallops came in burlap sacks like the ones that were being filled on the scallop boat. I'd take a sharp knife and run it down the length of the sack, and the rock hard, sweet, super fresh scallops would burst out. I wish I appreciated their freshness then as I do now. Some of them were as large as hockey pucks, and I was instructed to cut them into four or six pieces (for deep frying it was less important to have them all whole.) These days they're called U-6s or 4s, meaning 6 or 4 or less scallops per pound. These beauties could fetch $30+ per pound presently, but then they were just too big to fry. Who knew?

'Lucky' was a maintenance man for the restaurant, and would occasionally saunter through the prep garage while I was portioning out the scallops. He'd pick a nice fat one right out of the sack and bite right into it. My co-workers and I were downright disgusted by the sight of this, and his usual response was this: "I was in Vietnam. I shit, pissed, and washed in, drank and ate out of the same helmet. If you did that too you'd know where I'm coming from when I eat these scallops raw. To this day I have a respect for food, fish, and raw scallops in particular, like few other people I know. Thanks Lucky! And Tillerman!

Tillerman said...

Great story Baydog.

Tillerwoman is growing fingerling potatoes in her garden this year and she loves scallops. So last night I was showing her the picture on your blog of the dish of scallops and asparagus and fingerlings, in the hope that she might cook it for us when her potatoes are ready. Also, I know next to nothing about commercial fishing so was interested myself to learn how scallops are harvested.

Sam Chapin said...

When Bob retires he will sail a Laser and make videos...

Tillerman said...

Why would he retire? Most men are dreaming about the day when they can retire and go fishing every day and at night go home to their wives and do it all over again. They are just dying to live like Bob. Wouldn't that be the life?

Sam Chapin said...

It looks nice a peaceful in the video, but when you hae to do it every day it is not like fishing for trout or bass on a littel stream or lake. Look at the arms on this guy --- this is not play-- this is work by the end of the day.

Tillerman said...

But so many men think that they have it made when the truth is they are really just dying to live like Bob. And just fish and play their guitar and laugh at the bar with their friends, go home to their wives, pray every night they can do it again - to live like Bob.

Jeavon @ pedal boat said...

Not bad for a living. At least this is clean fishing where there are no collateral damage to the sea. How many times of the week they go scallop fishing?

Post a Comment