Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking Wonder what the poor folks are eatin' tonight?

About 11 million individuals are infected with Trichinella; Trichinella spiralis is the species responsible for most of these infections. Infection was once very common, but is now rare in the developed world....The number of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw meat garbage to hogs, increased commercial and home freezing of pork, and the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork products....
Larvae may be killed by the heating or irradiation of raw meat. Freezing is only usually effective for T. spiralis, since other species, such as T. nativa, are freeze resistant and can survive long-term freezing.
* All meat (including pork) can be safely prepared by cooking to an internal temperature of 165 °F (74 °C) or more for 15 seconds or more.
* Wild game: Wild game meat must be cooked thoroughly....
Freezing wild game does not kill all trichinosis larval worms. This is because the worm species that typically infests wild game can resist freezing.
* Pork: Freezing cuts of pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5 °F (-15 °C) or three days at -4 °F (-20 °C) kills T. spiralis larval worms but will not kill other trichinosis larval worm species such as T. nativa if they have infested your pork food supply (which is unlikely).

I have to say that there is one exception to my "no shellfish" rule. I'll eat crab, if it is not in the shell and mixed with something else(crab cakes are a favorite), and I'll eat clam chowder(both styles).

Those who are squeamish about eating sushi should consider that there is greater danger from eating other meats, particularly wild game and pork.

Dungeness crab (those large ones in CA?)? I'm familiar with blue crabs. I love crab. I once made a wonderful crab (blue crab backfin) cake. I also purchased soft shell crabs at a farmers' market where I could buy fresh (live) soft shell crabs. Large were about .75 to a buck and jumbo about 1.50. I also made a decent crab soup and omelet.

'
It is sad that freshwater fish are more prone to dangerous parasites than sea fish.

Be sure to cook that delicious trout thoroughly.

Many moons ago I was in San Francisco, I hit the Fisherman's Wharf with a passion. Loved the place. I intended to try to Californian crab, but never got around to it. The red snapper, etc. got in the way. Stayed in Tiburon (sp?) to save money and took the ferry in morning. Drove up along the coast. Had a great time. Ate a lot of good food and drank the world's best wine! Met a lot of wonderful people. What a great area!