Catching & Cooking GIANT LOBSTER + SEA URCHINS on a LOBSTER CRUISE in Tasmania Australia

Here we are everyone, this is the Sea Dragon, so feel free to grab a seat on board or stand up wherever you feel comfortable. So I'm on a full day seafood boat tour, so this tour takes us I think about an hour out from the marina. And then we're gonna dive, not me personally, we're gonna dive for abalone and urchin and lobster. So it's gonna be a fresh seafood excursion, because of course when you come to Tasmania, it's all about the seafood. So these are the famous mudstone configurations in Tasmania. It's orange, I've never seen a color like this on a stone before. Also, look at all that mussels right there. I just want to soak that in some garlic wine sauce. So we're docked on the side of this little island because the water's really calm right now. And it's oyster time. Oh that's so fresh and nice. Very buttery, a little briny, but the flavor is so clean. That's a plump, plump oyster. And with the shells, they say you can just toss in the ocean. Let's go get some more. Pretty high heat to start with, and then you just pour a nice healthy amount of the sparkling wine. Put the lid on, and we'll just leave it like that for about two minutes. It's a little bit easy to open, and you have that amazing broth on the inside. So make sure you drink the broth, it could be salty, but have some of the wine in there as well. And you just have to cut the little mussel. Turn it over because it looks nicer. There's sometimes a little bit of shell. But yeah, that's ready to go. So these are cooked with just the juice inside the oyster and some white wine. Oh that's good. I think I like that one more. The briny juice with the wine just makes that into like a delicious oceany soup in the best way possible. These are the Tasmanian rock lobsters. They're both males as well. So the females will have sort of an extra little swimmerette here. Course number two, they just brought out a couple ginormous rock lobsters. And they have four of them total. That's for lunch as well. Can't wait for that. There we go. So that's the knife that I use to get the abalone off the rocks. Slide it underneath the abalone and twist, and it pops them off the rocks. So the abalone have to be at least that long. If they can fit through there like that, that's too small. If they can't, if it's like that, if it's touching either side, that means it's over 142mm. And that's the minimum size that we're allowed to take. Here you go. That's my shopping bag. See you later. So Luke has already got all the urchin. Now just getting the abalone. That only took about 10 minutes. That's impressive. And while waiting, there's fruits, there's salmon, there's cheese, all local products. Especially this yellow cheese. That's so good. Oh, it's different colors. Yeah, so they're amazing different colors. I've never seen the white one before. It's the same species. It's kind of just like we had it with him. Fresh uni from the waters. Wow, this is so good here. The urchin here is kind of like a combination between Santa Barbara urchin, which is the sweetest, and Hokkaido urchin, which I think is the creamiest. Best of both worlds. It's so good. It's got a beautiful umami aftertaste too. That's just spectacular. There's also salmon sashimi. Very fatty salmon sashimi. We're just going to do the tails as sashimi. So if you haven't tasted sashimi crayfish before, out of everything that we've eaten raw today, this is actually my favorite, personally. I find it really beautiful. So these two whoppers we're going to cook. We're probably going to cook them for about a minute longer than what we normally would with these ones. You can see that. That's actually the new shell coming through. So it's an exact replica of this one. It's actually about five times a year they'll shed their shell. And this is the, like soft shell crab, that same sort of thing. So this is the new shell about to come through. Now that's really chewy, so we're actually going to cook it separately as well. The lobster or crayfish they call it here, it's been cooked in three different ways. One is sashimi, which is the top end right here. Then the piece behind that, it's the lobster back. It's basically the newly unformed shell of the lobster. And this one will just cook for maybe 10 seconds. Oh my god, it's sweet. That is really, really sweet. A little more chew, a little more brininess. Such a nice texture. Don't really even need much dipping sauce. That natural sweetness, perfect. I think it has a little more brininess than the Atlantic lobster, but it's so good. This is the cooked lobster. Oh, get out of here with that. Sweet, it has its own unique umaminess to this fish. Oh, it's very sweet. I don't think it has kind of like a sharp sweetness like the Atlantic lobster. It's more of a savory sweetness. And it just leaves a really nice savory aftertaste on your tongue too. There's a sauce made out of the guts of the lobster. Oh, that's gonna be good. Whoa. The piece that I just had, even more tender than, I think the first piece I had was from the tail. The second piece, I think maybe more towards the body. So tender. Melts in your mouth. Absolutely pure sweetness. And that miso, just so much flavor. This is some amazing lobster. I mean, it's fresh as can be, of course. So good. I'm gonna try this. This might be the first time in my life I'm having a leg of a lobster. And look how thick it is. Oh, gosh. So, so sweet. That's the biggest lobster leg I've ever seen. Thank you. All right, nevermind about the lobster leg I never had before. This is a lobster antenna. Definitely never had this before. This might be the sweetest part of the lobster. Sweetest and one of the most tender part of the lobster. Each piece is so succulent and amazing. This is literally eating every single part of the lobster. Especially dipping it into the miso, into the innards. It's an experience. Again, look at the size of this leg. Almost as thick as some snow crab. Do not sleep on the lobster legs. Incredible. Today's piece as well. These are the joints. The legs come out. These are really nice. Really easy way to do it. Squeeze. You can eat all of that on the inside. There you go. And these are essentially the lobster elbows or the lobster joints. Just as tender, a little more savory. I don't think I've ever broken a lobster down this carefully before. Definitely not with the legs and antennas and stuff. But there's a lot of meat and all these joints and extensions and crevices. And really good meat too. And it's really interesting how different parts of the lobster. You do taste a difference. Especially the legs are more tender. The joints are more succulent. The tails are more firm. And the degree of sweetness will change as well. This is very high up on the tail section. Almost connecting to the body, the head. That's the richest, most flavorful section. Because that has a little bit of the miso, the innards attached to that. Less sweet, more flavor. Oh my goodness. I've never seen abalone this big before. Seriously, ever. Usually it's just like maybe a third of the size. Maybe a fourth of the size. This is ginormous. It's one abalone. One abalone could be one meal. So these are the giant abalone I've never seen before. The texture doesn't even taste like abalone. This breaks apart very easily. A little sweet. Yeah, a little tiny bit of brininess. That is a tender piece of abalone. Sliced abalone. Wow. Just a little butter and lemon juice. That's really nice. Get that natural sweetness from the abalone. A little smokiness from the fire. That's great. This is the last course of the abalone. This one is the main body of the abalone. It is cubed. It's cooked with scallions, garlic. Oh. It's like an Asian-style stir-fry abalone. The abalone is very tender. I feel like the ingredients added doesn't at all hide the sweetness of the abalone. This has been a pretty awesome seafood trip. And that's it for the seafood feast at sea. This is a really cool tour. We started at 10 a.m. It's about 3.30 p.m. right now. And it's going to take at least an hour to get back. So by the time you get back, probably 5 o'clock. But they give you a ton of food. I think there was oysters, salmon, bread, cheeses, fruits. Of course, the lobster, the uni, the abalone. So you're really getting a taste of Tasmania because seafood is such a huge part of the Tasmanian food scene. On top of all that, it's so beautiful. You get a beautiful tour of the Tasmanian coastline. Also, the guys. Shout out to Luke and Emma. Some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. Now, just relax, head back, and find some dinner. Dinner time. And there's a surprising number of Chinese restaurants. Not just Chinese restaurants. Vietnamese restaurants, Thai restaurants. There's even a Xi'an noodle restaurant. This place, a lot of people recommended. A lot of Chinese people recommended. So I came here and got a whole fish. This is a roasted bear mungy with cumin and chilies. Oh, this fish is nice and crispy too. The sauce is delicious. The meat is tender. Also, got some cumin beef. Also, double cooked pork. Australia has some really good Chinese food. And this town is so charming. It's not a big city, but it's so clean. People are really nice. The seafood is awesome. Just take a boat out, you'll be dining like Aquaman. So, I'm only in Tasmania for two nights. And I came primarily for this tour. I think I booked this tour almost half a year ago. And been looking forward to it ever since. And this is a pricey tour. So when I was booking it, I wasn't sure if this was something that would be worth it. And for me, this was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But they literally give you oysters until you say stop. Also, unlimited wine, unlimited soft drinks. There's a chef on board. So they're cooking you a feast from the seafood that they fish out of the ocean. That was a pretty spectacular tour. Also, what's really unique about this tour is that today we had a full boat. It was like 12 people. But if there's only one person that booked the tour or two people that booked the tour that day, they pretty much give you the same amount of food. I think they grab less abalone from the ocean. Probably a little less uni. You're gonna get your fill of seafood. I think that's gotta be some of the best lobster I've ever had. I think that's my favorite thing on the tour. I love the uni. Abalone was good. But that lobster, outstanding. Oh, also the oysters. The oysters are what Tasmania is really known for. Those were some plump, juicy, delicious oysters. Alright, plan is tomorrow hitting to Auckland, New Zealand for the first time where the food tour will continue. And as always, all the places I went to are listed down below for you guys. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again, see you later.