 |
Matt Griffin
Brown-Trading Company
I’m on my way to Portland, Maine via Philadelphia from Las Vegas. I have a few precious days to work at Browne Trading Company. What work entails is a mystery. I’ve heard rumors of halibut dayboats, caviar factories, and something about baby eels. A lamb burger at a local brewery, then a nap, then seafood chowder and beer-steamed black mussels before I turned in for the night... I arrived at Browne Trading at 9 in the morning and met Luke Myers at his office. We shook hands and he handed me a “PICK LIST.” The Pick List is a compilation of the previous night’s orders. A small team of Browne employees gathered in the second floor office to go over the orders. Monday’s are typically light as “chef’s like to see what’s in the walk-in on Monday,” according to Luke. Luke went down the list and the Browne team answered what orders they could fill, what they could not, what substitutions they could allow. They weren’t sure they’d get red mullet in, “hopefully on the first truck.” Luke said with a wink to “save the shitty Barramundi for RM Seafood,” where I work. As I would later come to witness – “shitty” seafood, so to speak, never even makes it onto the loading dock at Browne, very much the opposite!
After the meeting, Luke gave me a tour of the facility and then I was dropped off at the caviar room. I worked with Richard, the caviar guru, and Bitsy, a part-timer who started working with Browne two months prior. They started me with a tasting, not a bad breakfast. I would taste eight different caviars before I left:
Desietra – Farmed Osetra Sturgeon – German
Persicus – Wild Black-nosed or Persian Sturgeon - Iran
Sturia – Farmed Siberian Sturgeon - France
Imperial – Wild Black-nosed or Persian Sturgeon - Iran
Black Sea Caviar Guelden-Baeri - farmed hybrid of Siberian Sturgeon and Osetra Sturgeon - Bulgaria
Royal Osetra – Farmed Osetra Sturgeon – Bulgaria
The Original – Farmed Siberian Sturgeon – Italy
Calvisius Transmontanus – White Sturgeon – Italy
Browne Trading Company is exactly that, a trading company. It imports caviar and purchases caviar from domestic farms. It then repackages the caviar and labels them with Browne stickers. Caviar is a dicey game with only a few global players. There is plenty of money to be made, as supplies are limited and prices high. Countries have quotas for the amount of caviar they can harvest in any given year (see CITES.org) and there is plenty of poaching within countries that are restricted by the quotas. Black market caviar is not uncommon. Nor is document falsification to hide certain facts from government authorities (e.g., purchasers must pay a 15% tariff on any imported caviar).
Richard had to testify several years back due to his involvement with a company that was proven to falsify documents. They would import caviar from a company that they would arrange to change the documentation, basically reduce the number of kilos imported in the documents, so that they could pay fewer tariffs.
Currently sturgeon is only farmed wild from Iran, who has a good system in place to sustain the wild population in the Caspian Sea. Nonetheless, several countries poach the sturgeon, further hurting the local populations. Sturgeon are fertile every 7 years. When a fertile female sturgeon is caught, its roe sack is removed and washed with a brine solution. The eggs are put through a screen to separate the egg and remove impurities. The eggs are then salted (malossol means low salt and is preferable to high salt content) and placed in tins. Some caviar is pasteurized and can be kept at room temperature. Non-pasteurized caviar can be kept refrigerated for up to a year. Browne has a use-by date of 100 days, just to keep it safe. Once opened, caviar should be used within 3 days.
Caviar companies receive most of their revenue (30-50%) in November and December. Browne either “selects and packs” (Astara) or “distributes” (all others). Browne grades the Astara caviar that they bring in: 2 is labeled Asetra and is the lowest grade; 1B is Persicus and light in color; and 1A goes by Imperial and has a yellowish tint. Figuring out what type of caviar is actually under the label can be confusing, similar to trying to find a French Chardonnay if you’re not familiar with the regions.
After tasting and learning about sturgeon caviar, I helped weigh out and package salmon caviar. The process:
1.) Affix stamp with the use by date and lot number on the bottom of the tins or jars being used.
2.) Place the tin or jar on the scale and weigh out the proper amount of caviar (some scales had 100ths of a gram).
3.) Affix stickers on the lids of the tins or jars and screw them on.
4.) Place the tins or jars in a vacuum sealer.
I was impressed by the squeaky cleanliness of the room, the exacting measurements, and Richard’s depth of knowledge of all things caviar. At some point owner and legend Rod Mitchell came into the caviar room and said, “Are you Mr. RM?” and handed me a strange looking metal rod. “Do you know what this is?” he asked. “No.” “Well now you’ve got a homework assignment.” He warned Bitsy and Richard not to help me out and promptly left the room. After offering to weigh out some more caviar tins in exchange for a clue, it turns out Mr. Mitchell handed me a shasebo, an instrument used to obtain samples of tuna for grading purposes. I’d see it come into play several times over the next few days.
I went to the production meeting and then put on waterproof boots, rubber overalls, and a hairnet (the height of fashion!) and hit the cooler with Scott. Scott got the job at Browne through the paper. He got the job as cooler guy when the previous guy threw out his back.
I learned first about the Browne Grading System. Fish is graded between 0 (highest quality, pristine, exceptional quality, 5-6 days shelf life) and 5 (not acceptable).
We went over what Scott looks for when grading the quality of a fish:
look for the pigment of the eye to match the color of the skin
look for the eye to protrude, not sink in
most eyes should not be cloudy or red (some fresh fish will have this characteristic, e.g., barramundi)
smell the fish – should not smell fishy (exception black Portuguese grouper)
look at the gills, should be red and bright
touch the fish – the flesh should spring back (older fish will leave an indentation)
look at the flesh, should be bright and vibrant
look at the skin, should have a shimmer
some fish can be slimy, which means it’s fresh
I looked at and graded:
Tautaug, yellowfin tuna, swordfish bullets (“some of the nicest” Scott’s seen), groper, black grouper, marble grouper, loup de mer, farmed barramundi from Taiwan, farmed barramundi from Australia/U.S., john dory, atlantic halibut (“amazing”), rosefish, hake, tuna loins on racks, monkfish tails, Mahi Mahi, boneless trout, skate, cod, black Portuguese, wild turbot, and farmed turbot, Terakihi, St. Pierre, mullet, mackerel, baby octopus, some small herring; shellfish – Bouchot mussels, littleneck clams, mahogany clams, periwinkles, Maine oysters (pemaquids, winterpoints), and Belon oysters.
I shucked a Pemaquid and Belon. The Pemaquid tasted like the ocean, plump and briny, a wonderful treat, a blessing from the oyster Gods. The Belon tasted like a nickel.
I noticed that the cooler is not that large and the company doesn’t keep that much fish on hand. Everything moves out very quickly. Fish is kept in totes or Styrofoam boxes with flaked salted ice. Each box is labeled with the name, date, grade, and lot number.
Orders are listed on an invoice and Scott goes through each order, marking the weights of fish and pulling shellfish and crab, etc. Orders are stacked in totes and the invoice is affixed to the totes. The packaging guys then pull the totes into the packaging room and pack it all up.
Rosefish and hake came in on an afternoon truck and the specimens were extremely fresh, “as good as it gets,” according to Scott. Mackerel, baby octopus, and small herring came in as well. I cut the head off a monkfish - a face only a mother could love.
We filled a couple of orders and then iced down the totes, changing the information on the tags to register changes in weight and numbers of fish. Inventorying the fish, I was surprised at how little fish remained in the cooler. As Luke said, “At the end of the day, we only want tumbleweeds blowing through our coolers.” We hosed down the floor and called it a day.
Smokemaster Ken and Joe taught me the ins and outs of the smoke room today. Browne is responsible for a variety of smoked products, including salmon, haddock, trout, oysters, mussels, shrimp, scallops, and tuna. Salmon is the fish they work with most, variations including Scotch whisky, citrus and basil, and pastrami. They use Scottish salmon that comes in filleted and boned, which they get cases and cases at a time. Ken and Joe learn from trial and error how long to cure and smoke and are responsible for developing new recipes. The curing process used to take 24 hours, but they’ve cut it down to 13 hours. Every protein is cherry wood smoked.
Lab coats and hair nets or hats are necessary at all times in the smoke room to ensure sanitary conditions. Product is sent to a lab quarterly to ensure they meet health code regulations. Swab samples from various places in the smoke room are taken and tested for listeria as well.
I learned about the specifics of hot and cold smoking. I took a peek at Chef Daniel Boulud’s secret salt mix for curing salmon and tried to commit it to memory. I cryovacked hot smoke maple salmon. I got the rundown from Ken on the products Browne offers and the type of smoking process each necessitates, from cold smoking haddock and salmon to hot smoking sturgeon and rainbow trout.
After lunch, I cleaned up some smoked salmon, about 80 sides. Took the skin off the salmon with a skinning machine, sliding it over the metal spokes. We trimmed the bloodline, then the top of the fillet, then a check for pin bones and removal of any scales on the flesh.
While I was making trout brine in a huge yellow bin, word spread that a 350 pound Bluefin tuna just arrived on the afternoon truck. The tuna was caught around Italy and would go out the door at a very high price. I watched Gregg, the resident butcher, break the tuna down into four loins with a few strokes. He pointed out the quality of the toro, the belly and most prized part of the tuna. Bluefin tuna can command a high price because of their increased popularity relative to their declining population.
Luke later pulled me from the smoke room to attend a nearby fisherman’s auction. A boat called the Harmony brought in a large amount of haddock, also some rosefish, sole, sanddabs, fluke, and skate (25,000 pounds in total). The entire catch is iced down in totes in a large warehouse right on the pier. The auction takes place in a small room right next to the lot. In this case, there must have been about 500 totes of fish, each containing about 6 fish. These bins are laid out at about 4 AM and the auction takes place at noon. That leaves about 8 hrs for bidders to inspect the wares, picking out their best fish.
Fish purveyors bid on fish by the pound, the bids increasing by 1 cent. The highest bidder gets to choose which lots (bins) of that particular fish he wants. He could take one lot or all of them. Steve was bidding for Browne and secured the first haddock bid at $2.77 a pound. He then took 300 lb of the lots he thought were the best. Browne Trading prides itself on quality fish… I witnessed Steve secure every one of his bids in the initial round, in essence, securing the best lots of each type of fish for Browne.
Fewer fish come in to the Portland auction every year, partially because fishing boats can’t sell lobster bycatch in Maine (so they go to the Gloucester and Bedford auctions in Massachusetts, where they can) and also because there are simply fewer fish out there. Everyone I spoke to at Browne seemed to agree on this. Ken stated matter-of-factly that someday there won’t be any more wild fish to be caught. Auctions in the Portland Harbor used to be minimum 200,000 lbs; nowadays, it’s about 1000 pounds.
Thursday is the busiest day in the cooler as “chefs gear up for the weekend rush,” according to Luke. The coolers are as full as I’ve seen. Notable product includes the hallowed Bluefin tuna… I noticed Rod Mitchell touch the toro, or belly, which was oozing with fat, and say “$50 a pound” with a hint of a smile; a monster 107 pound halibut… Rod mentioned that they bleed out Atlantic halibut, which they don’t do to Pacific halibut, preserving freshness and allowing the consumer to get more for their money; and a slew of U-10 dayboat scallops… I tried flicking a scallop with my finger and watched it flinch – these babies were still alive. Product this fresh comes with a cost. Browne paid $11.00 a pound for the scallops and they might turn them over at $17.00 a pound including shipping.
Most of the day was spent filling orders and sorting fish in the cooler. I witnessed a bit of butchery and packaging before having a chat with Rod Mitchell. He loaded me down with some study materials: of note, a personalized copy of Cooking with the Seasons and Jean Louis Palladin’s hand-written recipes from the Watergate (1985). As much as I appreciated the gesture, I couldn’t wait to return these items to Mr. Mitchell unharmed.
Luke set up an internship (aka stagaire or stage) at Hugo’s, a renowned restaurant in Portland. Chef Rob Evans is a very talented chef (and nice guy to boot) who runs an impressive operation. Upon entering the kitchen, I noticed microgreens and herbs sprouting from soil in shallow plastic bins, neatly lined white tubs with labels like “maltodextrin,” a clean cutting board running the length of the room, and a handful of kitchen staff working away quietly amidst it all. Rob has run the restaurant for 8 years with his partner Nancy Pugh. They also manage and own a restaurant named DUCKFAT down the road.
I put on an apron and helped out as much as I could. As service began and dishes were assembled, I began to notice how small the workspaces were in the kitchen. The walk-in refrigerator was small, just large enough to “walk in,” but then you’d have to knock on the door in order to prevent knocking a waiter down as dishes are run right in front of the walk-in door. Chef Rob and two of his crew perform a culinary dance with dishes of farm fresh eggs poached in duck fat, sumptuous short ribs braised in wine, local-caught fish sizzled in cast-iron with butter and thyme, and finally those microgreens snipped as a garnish right before the dishes leave the kitchen. The restaurant does all tastings menus – a four course, an eight course, and a seventeen course chef’s tasting for the hedonistic epicureans.
I learned quite a bit from two days at Hugo’s, from sous-vide, to pickling, to curing, to a bit of molecular gastronomy (bacon powder anyone?). I think Chef Rob does things right – using local, fresh ingredients and preparing and presenting them in a way that allows their flavors to come through. I look forward to eating there, if not stopping in to put on an apron, once again.
I return to a mellow Browne Trading packing floor, where Sarah was sorting scallops dragged off the coast of Massachussetts. “Most are going to Per Se,” says Sarah, weighing each scallop individually from the 227 pound load and saving the ones between 2 and 2.5 ounces for the heralded New York City restaurant. I asked Sarah about the treasured diver scallops, which are picked from the ocean floor by hand and I was surprised to hear that divers sometimes “bring in twice as many scallops as here,” as in 450 lbs.
The packing floor runs quietly and efficiently. Lobsters were packed for Picholine… walu, halibut, sea scallops, and uni to Le Bernadin… more lobsters to Restaurant Daniel… terakihi to Esca… barramundi and loup de mer to Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood… John Dory to Charlie Trotter’s… Hokkaido scallops to Sea Grill… Browne’s roster of quality clientele runs deep.
An auction of 69,000 pounds, mostly Pollock, didn’t yield anything for Browne. Andy said, “The quality was not there,” with fish leftover from a few days prior. Dragged fish will not have the same shelf-life as long-line. Dragged fish get caught by the gills and dragged along the sea floor, drowning and getting beat up. Long-line fish get pulled up while still alive. Dragged fish have a mark around the gills that is prominent.
I went to the caviar room to weigh out a few tins of salmon roe. I watched a little butchery and filled out a few orders in the cooler with Scott and called an end to this quiet day…
I arrived at Browne and found Rod Mitchell leaning back in his chair. “Maybe we’ll catch some lamprey eel.” He brought out the North American Seafood Guide so I could read up on the eels, then handed me Cooking with the Seasons and showed me what Jean-Louis would do with them.
He told me about the scromboid toxins in tuna, the red tides and goneplax, a harmful plankton. Live scallops cannot be sold in Maine during the summer due to their ingestion goneplax when it’s a spore. I asked Mr. Mitchell what he’d look for in a fish if he were a restauranteur and he railed off a laundry list of questions to ask a purveyor… How long ago was the fish swimming? What are they feeding it (if aquacultured)? Is it protein or vegetable-based?, etc.
We spoke about the economy, exchange rates, and their role on the availability of caviar. For example, no bowfin caviar was available this year due to unfavorable market conditions.
After speaking with Mr. Mitchell, I eventually hung up my rubber boots and hair net, gave my thanks, and said goodbye! Thank you Rod Mitchell for allowing me to hang out and around your facility and for bestowing esoteric seafood knowledge on me. I love it.
Thanks Luke Myers for your guidance, setting me up at Hugo’s, and furthering my appreciation of Maine oysters. Thanks Matt Brown for the hook up at The Front Room (awesome meal!) and at 555. You were both gracious hosts.
Thanks to the Browne Trading employees who have proven to be the best in the business. I learned so much working with you and can’t wait to return to Portland.
Thanks especially to the Jean Louis Palladin Foundation and Ann Brody Cove for making this internship possible. The culinary world needs you!
Browne Trading Internship
Caviar Room
The Cooler
The Smoke Room
The Cooler Part 2
Hugo’s
Packaging Room, etc.
|
|
Order
