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RedJohn
04-05-2011, 10:21 PM
For our friends living near the seas, I was wondering if cooking pasta with seawater was the same as cooking with salt added water in order to conserve fresh water. Looks like there are plenty recipes for seawater cooking.

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New Potatoes cooked in Seawater
Serves 4-5
2 lbs (900g) new potatoes e.g., Home Guard, British Queens
2 pints (1.2 litres) seawater or 2 pints (1.2 litres) tap water plus 1 teaspoon salt
a sprig of seaweed if available
Bring the seawater to the boil. Scrub the potatoes. Add salt if using tap water and a sprig of seaweed to the water, and then add the potatoes. Cover the saucepan, bring back to the boil and cook for 15-25 minutes or until fully cooked depending on size.
Drain and serve immediately in a hot serving dish with good Irish butter.

Note
It’s vitally important for flavour to add salt to the water when cooking potatoes.

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How to Cook Crab
Put the crab/s into a saucepan, cover with cold or barely lukewarm seawater, alternatively (use 6 ozs (175g) salt to every 2.3 litres (4 pints). This sounds like an incredible amount of salt but try it: the crab will taste deliciously sweet. Cover, bring to the boil and then simmer from there on, allowing 15 minutes for first 1 lb (450g), 10 minutes for the second and third (I’ve never come across a crab bigger than that!). We usually pour off two-thirds of the water as soon as it comes to the boil, cover and steam the crab for the remainder of the time. As soon as it is cooked remove it from the saucepan and allow to get cold.

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French Beans Cooked in Seawater
Serves 8
We’ve got a wonderful crop of French beans this summer. I find that they need a lot of salt in the cooking water to bring up the flavour, so seawater works perfectly. They don’t benefit from being kept in a hostess trolley, so if you need to cook them ahead try the method I suggest below. I think it works very well. The proportion of salt to water is vitally important for the flavour of the beans.
900g (2 lb) French beans
1.1 litres (2 pint) seawater or tap water plus 3 teaspoons sea salt
30-50g (1-2 oz) butter or extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Top and tail the beans. If they are small and thin leave them whole, if they are larger cut them into 2.5-4cm (1-1 1/2 inch) pieces at an angle.

Sniper-T
09-21-2011, 02:45 PM
I spent a few months working as crew on a sailboat in the Caribbean, and given an extremely limited amount of fresh water, we cooked many meals with saltwater:

All seafood that was boiled or steamed
Potatoes
Rice
Pasta
beans
veggies
etc etc etc...

some things like the rice or beans we would give them a quick rinse or soak in fresh water once they were done.

Some things had an inherrently salty taste even after rinsing (potatoes), but not so much that you couldn't eat it... It just didn't need any more added - lol!

RedJohn
09-21-2011, 08:08 PM
Thanks. I can't wait to try to cook with salt water.

izzyscout21
09-21-2011, 08:20 PM
sounds pretty cool. I might have to try it sometime. (as I am NOWHERE near a beach)

piranha2
09-21-2011, 11:14 PM
It is the very best way to steam lobsters, crab, clams or shrimp.

ravensgrove
10-08-2011, 05:44 AM
We live by both a canal and a large bay. I prefer to use salt water to do shellfish...but have never even thought of using it to cook anything else. Mark this under: now Ima have to try that!

izzyscout21
10-09-2011, 01:13 AM
So, being ignorant of the whole process, I'll go ahead and ask:

What makes cooking with seawater so different from cooking with non sea water. (Don't just tell me salt and sand;)

bobthe
10-09-2011, 12:25 PM
So, being ignorant of the whole process, I'll go ahead and ask:

What makes cooking with seawater so different from cooking with non sea water. (Don't just tell me salt and sand;)

there actually is a whole slew of minerals in sea salt (or water) that you typically dont find in the mined veriety, and some snooty falooty chiefs will claim you can taste the difference. i cant.

JustAPrepper
10-15-2011, 09:30 PM
This is a slap the forehead moment! I had never even considered doing this and I'm right on the coast!

DH works on the beach so I'll have him bring me home a small bucket of ocean water. Also, our well has a high salt content and as much experimenting as I've done around here I haven't tried cooking with the well water yet.

RedJohn
09-19-2012, 09:37 AM
This is a slap the forehead moment! I had never even considered doing this and I'm right on the coast!

DH works on the beach so I'll have him bring me home a small bucket of ocean water. Also, our well has a high salt content and as much experimenting as I've done around here I haven't tried cooking with the well water yet.

Bringing this thread back up as I am interested in knowing if you finally tried it and what was the result. Can you update us?

Taz Baby
09-20-2012, 12:47 AM
For 2 1/2 years I lived in the jungle with no fresh water except rain, so yes I cooked everything in sea water. But don't just go to the beach with a bucket and dip some up. You have to get it from the deep undisturbed water to keep from getting the algae and slime, fish poop and sand, and stuff that is being carried in it. I sent the kids out in a canoe for the water and then ran it thru cheesecloth, then a clean coffee filter, then boiled it for 10 min. before I used it for cooking. what ever was left over I stored it in a bucket with a tight lid. Strained it every time I used it out of the bucket because it would still have particle's in it. As far as taste goes, you never have to add salt and once you do it you will never want to use fresh water again.

Gunfixr
09-20-2012, 03:51 AM
Hhmmm. Our groundwater is brackish.
I wonder how that would work?
Wouldn't be as salty. I got a very efficient filter, it would remove all particles, fish crap, etc.