🔍
How Steven Wong Moves 80,000 Pounds of Lobster a Week — Vendors - YouTube
Channel: Eater
[0]
selling lashes is definitely a
[2]
complicated process
[4]
[Music]
[5]
i've eaten so much options in my life i
[8]
can actually taste the difference in
[9]
where they are i caught it
[12]
my name is steven my company is aqua
[14]
best
[15]
and my job is to source the best seafood
[18]
for
[18]
chefs and restauranteurs
[23]
do i have any nicknames um the seafood
[27]
sorcerer come here and pick this one up
[30]
[Music]
[43]
a lobster is not just a lobster a
[44]
lobster is just like a diamond
[47]
there's different cuts there's different
[48]
grades there's different size
[51]
there's different areas where you catch
[53]
lobster has different
[54]
qualities certain times of the year in
[56]
maine is a little bit better
[58]
and massachusetts is a little bit better
[60]
or canada is even better
[62]
you must go through millions of pounds
[64]
from different areas and figure out what
[66]
area has the best lobster and what time
[69]
of the year has
[71]
the best quality of the lobster we used
[73]
to go
[74]
through about 60 to 80 000 pounds per
[77]
week
[78]
on a holiday week we can go up to 150 to
[80]
200 000 pounds of lobsters
[82]
there's many types of lobsters in the
[84]
world but there is one which we are
[86]
familiar in the northeast
[87]
that's the american lobster or homarus
[89]
americanus it's with the two claws
[91]
for the pandemic we were servicing over
[94]
175
[95]
restaurants just in new york city itself
[97]
we can basically ship
[99]
to anywhere in the world in less than 24
[101]
hours even singapore which has the
[102]
longest flight like 19 hours
[104]
japan korea china spain
[108]
france and italy all over the world
[112]
so alaska is just not a lobster
[120]
these are your greek branzinos so they
[122]
want a backside butterfly it's
[125]
it's not hard it's just different so
[127]
we'll just do a couple
[128]
how to cut off the gills the fins
[133]
we always have to improvise our tools
[136]
this
[136]
is actually a fabric sheer
[142]
we're not just the restaurants fish
[144]
longer i mean we'll do as you say we'll
[146]
customize anything for you
[148]
and i'm trying to make at least work
[151]
as possible for the chefs and the prep
[154]
guys in the in the restaurant
[158]
i think just through trial and error i
[160]
figure what's the easiest way
[162]
to kill a fish
[165]
you have to sort of develop your own
[167]
style or you kind of have to
[168]
adapt
[171]
[Applause]
[174]
so cutting fish is also about repetition
[177]
and feel you got to feel where the bones
[180]
are
[180]
backside butterfly let's do two simple
[183]
cuts
[186]
and then you'll have just a spot
[189]
i used to do this a long time ago
[193]
but since the pandemic you kind of have
[196]
to do
[197]
everything all over again which is great
[199]
i do miss cutting fish sometimes
[201]
very clean very simple
[213]
that's my brother every night my brother
[215]
free man he goes to owen space market
[218]
morning around 10 p.m to 2
[221]
a.m we'll check his email he'll see
[224]
what the orders are for the restaurants
[228]
restaurants do like to have all their
[230]
deliveries
[231]
as early as possible in the morning
[234]
right now there's about like
[235]
four or five thousand pounds of seafood
[236]
right now due to the pandemic
[239]
outdoor seating rain knows everything is
[241]
dependent on
[243]
the weather pattern the restaurant tours
[246]
are just like us sifu people
[248]
we gotta look at the weather to
[249]
determine if we are able to sell
[252]
anything
[255]
fresh ice is important every day
[258]
[Applause]
[261]
so here's freeman he's my brother he
[264]
looks like me
[265]
with glasses everybody in the market
[267]
knows him and he deals with all the
[269]
chefs
[270]
good morning
[273]
this is jimmy what's up guys he does a
[276]
lot of my
[277]
lobster buying in canada hey jimmy how's
[279]
it looking
[280]
looks like money no you gotta say 81. he
[283]
handles all my lobsters
[285]
you got fish you got pen you got this
[287]
trick
[287]
[Music]
[289]
family business he's my nephew he's my
[292]
other right-hand man
[293]
even though he looks younger he knows
[295]
almost everything about lobster
[296]
as much as i do i have a couple guys
[298]
over here that's
[299]
great team many of them been with me
[302]
over 10 years
[306]
there's a giant tile fish over here
[308]
we're going to stake that in today
[311]
kingfish
[315]
[Music]
[316]
one of these caravel jack when people
[320]
say i can't find stuff i'll try to find
[322]
them whatever they want
[326]
yeah one person asking for like that
[327]
specific fish
[329]
he looks more than 25 pound but he's
[331]
pretty heavy
[333]
cermak is just the brand when you have
[335]
really fresh salmon
[338]
there's almost this smell that's almost
[340]
like watermelon i can't describe it
[343]
these are really beautiful coffees
[346]
louisiana's mudbugs i got everything i
[350]
have
[351]
seafood from around the world in new
[353]
york city
[356]
we sell almost every variety of seafood
[359]
but our main specialty is lobsters
[363]
we can hold about seven thousand pounds
[365]
of losses over here
[367]
only the best quality comes in here so
[368]
people can hand pick their own lobsters
[371]
in our tanks we always separate by
[374]
region and size
[375]
i have customers who prefer new
[378]
brunswick lobsters
[379]
this is a canadian hardshell you can
[381]
tell by
[382]
the striations over here it's nice and
[386]
dark
[387]
and imagine this is a sea floor and this
[390]
lobster is walking
[391]
and the claws are heavier so they're
[393]
actually dragging their claws
[395]
onto the floor these are pi lobsters
[398]
peis majority of the times you can't
[400]
really see as much on the bigger ones we
[402]
call them popeyes
[403]
because they tend to have bigger claws
[405]
and smaller tails
[406]
nova scotia lobsters over here some main
[409]
lobsters
[410]
up here and i also have massachusetts
[413]
lobsters down there as well
[415]
we keep our waters about 36 to 38
[418]
degrees
[420]
lobsters are carnivorous and they will
[422]
eat each other
[423]
so once you hibernate them they won't be
[425]
as active
[426]
so the secret to keeping good lobsters
[428]
is to have cold cold water
[430]
our standard for a lobster crate is 100
[433]
pounds net weight
[436]
almost everyone in my company by just
[439]
lifting
[440]
a crate we can really tell if it's
[442]
overweight or underweight
[443]
we just do it so much that we really
[445]
know this guy
[447]
is dangerous sometimes they can't
[451]
unband it when we get lobsters from the
[454]
fishermen
[455]
if there is one female big lobster
[457]
unbanded you put in a crate
[459]
they will pretty much tear off every
[461]
single other claw
[463]
don't mess around it does hurt i mean if
[464]
you're dealing with millions of pounds
[466]
every year
[466]
you're gonna get caught one time i'll
[468]
show you the difference between a male
[470]
and a female lobster on
[474]
this this hand is a male and this hand
[477]
is the female you'll see that
[479]
the side flares out a little bit more to
[481]
protect the eggs
[482]
if you look at the first appendage this
[485]
is a male
[486]
you can tell by this is a hard fin on
[489]
the female this is a softer
[492]
bin that's a female this is a pei
[495]
lobster but an old shell
[496]
in any lobster there's actually a line
[499]
down the middle you can see that it's
[501]
starting to split over here
[503]
so between spring and summer when the
[505]
water temperature turns about 58 degrees
[508]
they know i need to change shells now
[510]
that's how you get soft shell lobsters
[512]
every year
[513]
when i pick a lobster out i like to see
[515]
that it has nice
[516]
dark colors on the bottom side of the
[519]
claw just because i know the old shell
[521]
of hard shell lobster
[522]
on your main soft shell lobsters you
[525]
cook 100 pound of lobster you might get
[527]
11 to 14 pounds
[528]
if you cook 100 pound of canadian
[530]
lobster you'll get 22 to 24 pounds
[534]
for chefs food costs everything and this
[536]
is something we need to be
[537]
very wary about we need to keep them
[539]
happy
[540]
and give them the best product
[550]
these are your new york chicks
[553]
the bigger in size we're gonna bring
[556]
these over to the district right now
[558]
and uh we'll see you there
[565]
chef omar how are you how are you good
[569]
what's going on baby how are you doing
[570]
sir you got your
[572]
main calls today
[585]
these came down last night from down
[587]
east main so it's really when it's like
[589]
down east main is actually the tip
[590]
of maine the northern part of maine so
[592]
this area and all these islands have
[594]
really good rocky bottoms
[596]
where a lot of these lobsters have a
[598]
sweeter taste
[599]
right so these came in the last night
[604]
literally they're from the ocean to you
[606]
going into the weekend
[608]
about 150 a day going into the weekend
[610]
we usually go about
[612]
maybe three to four last week was quite
[614]
busy you almost ran out so
[616]
we're trying to up it a little bit
[620]
we'll wait about 15 minutes getting nice
[621]
and cold and then we'll uh
[624]
put a couple lobsters up here break them
[626]
down get the meat out we'll show we do a
[628]
couple cocktails which is a
[630]
split lobster in the shell we'll just
[632]
crack the claws
[634]
so people can get into the meat and then
[636]
we'll break the lobsters completely down
[639]
and we take that lobster meat out
[640]
waiting for our lobster roll
[644]
the other trick that you can do most
[647]
people will crush it this way
[649]
i know that's the consensus but i
[652]
actually
[652]
push if you can see from this angle
[655]
up or like that push down a little bit
[659]
oh that's
[660]
perfect that's the road right to me
[663]
that's my favorite part
[668]
perfect great awesome
[672]
perfect top this is our meat that we
[676]
just got from downstairs
[677]
so we're looking for five ounces worth
[679]
of meat
[681]
there you go i'm generous today what do
[683]
you think about a lobster is you
[684]
definitely want to toast either side
[686]
to have the bun warm take a little bit
[688]
of old bay mayonnaise
[691]
big dice because people want to see the
[692]
meat key thing right here
[694]
is clarified butter last little bit we
[698]
do a little celery seed on the top
[699]
homemade bun plenty of lobster little
[701]
salad tastes great
[702]
every single lobsters that we've gotten
[704]
we actually have to decorate
[706]
and create it right one by one we had to
[708]
put on the scale one by one
[710]
we had to feel for the firmness the
[712]
hardness really you're good
[714]
we actually do our quality control is
[716]
pretty much the best
[721]
my mother and father they started this
[723]
business when i was just a baby
[727]
my father passed away when i was eight
[729]
coming from the ground up being poor we
[731]
used to eat
[732]
leftover for three days in a row and
[735]
working as a kid i remember eight nine
[738]
years old
[740]
you get off of elementary school and
[743]
around 2 30 3 o'clock and we used to
[745]
work until midnight
[746]
every day even as a kid just to help out
[749]
the family
[750]
and it went on for years until we
[752]
actually got a stable footing to make
[755]
you know ends meet
[762]
and we saw that uh doing safe it was
[764]
lucrative
[765]
i mean it kept the bills going so we
[767]
kept on building upon that
[769]
and since that was our only lifeline we
[772]
actually put all our energy into it
[774]
and that just became a passion for us to
[777]
really
[777]
hone our craft and be really good
[780]
seafood people
[782]
so just came off the boat it's been
[785]
purged today
[786]
so it looks like these are clean
[790]
and just give it a little soak and they
[792]
should be ready for service
[794]
this is funny now but when you're
[797]
younger you don't understand
[798]
but now that i'm older i do appreciate
[801]
you know the stuff that i went through
[804]
and i think a lot of people don't
[807]
realize how hard work
[808]
you need to put in to get to where you
[810]
are success is not just
[813]
instantly overnight you have to build
[815]
upon it layer by layer by layer
[820]
so right now we're just setting up
[822]
stations for different grades
[825]
every size we'll have a different crepe
[828]
and this way after we finish we're going
[830]
to color code them
[832]
so we're going to take some lobsters off
[836]
check for heart lobsters check for firm
[837]
lobsters and then we're going to grate
[839]
it by size we're very meticulous
[842]
on the sizing because lots of different
[844]
restaurants they want to use
[847]
place specific ones food cost is
[850]
important
[851]
so we actually scale everything one by
[854]
one
[877]
over here you have your traditional
[881]
in-ground tank it's almost built like
[885]
the style that it had in maine
[889]
but the difference is that we built the
[890]
in-ground same thing a self-circulation
[893]
tank we're landlocked so all our water
[896]
is from the ocean on this tank right now
[899]
and we build a bio filter we'll have the
[901]
water sucked down
[903]
go into a pump go to a compressor shoot
[905]
out out of a protein skimmer
[908]
we made this ourselves we figured out
[911]
the math to make it as
[913]
good as possible to be efficient and
[918]
in this tank right here we can hold
[919]
about 25 000 lapses
[924]
you know we do handle a lot of lobsters
[927]
throughout the year but i'm still a very
[928]
hands-on
[929]
owner i do like to hand deliver stuff
[932]
still
[933]
[Music]
[938]
i got firm show shell lobsters and i got
[940]
some hardshell lobsters
[944]
i still need to feel a lobster like is
[946]
this quality up to spec i need to see
[949]
if my guys are packing it correctly if
[951]
they're not packing correctly i need to
[952]
make sure that hey you got to change
[954]
this out
[954]
you're not doing it correctly let's give
[956]
them the best losses take it back we got
[958]
to do something about this
[959]
experience is everything in the seafood
[961]
business
[962]
you need years and years of experience
[965]
years and years of practice
[967]
you need to take a little bit of this
[969]
guys what they say a little bit of what
[971]
this fisherman says and put it all
[973]
together to make your own
[974]
assessment i know chefs try to recreate
[978]
or mimic a flavor or
[982]
or dish somewhere that they have seen
[984]
before or they've tasted somewhere when
[985]
they travel it out
[987]
but i think one of the key ingredients
[989]
in cooking
[990]
is fresh ingredients it's what kind of
[994]
ingredients you get
[995]
when you get it so you can create the
[996]
best dish and that's something we
[999]
we try to do for every restaurant and
[1001]
every chef
[1002]
[Music]
[1005]
there's definitely people who are
[1006]
smarter than me in lobsters but
[1009]
i think i'm uh i'm probably not one
[1010]
percent it's a never ending story but
[1013]
i'm still learning
[1014]
even if you wash your hands and
[1017]
you're about to head home and
[1021]
you think you don't smell and you go
[1023]
home and you take the elevator or
[1025]
something and then you start smelling
[1026]
something weird
[1027]
as yourself
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage