Live Christmas Uni

Depending on your perspective, uni (sea urchin) is either delicious or disgusting. While Donald, Michelle, and I were preparing a "traditional" Christmas dinner for the family (turkey, stuffing, etc), my dad prepared a decidedly non-traditional Christmas appetizer: live uni, which he bought from a large chinese supermarket in Calgary called T&T for only about $6/lb.

Many people complain that uni can have a bit of a funky taste (my friend Peter once told me it tasted like "foot"). In my experience, it really just depends on the uni you get. In this case, some pieces tasted pretty clean, but others definitely had a little funkiness.

Here are some pictures for the non-squeamish.

Poor unsuspecting urchins:



The inside of the sea urchin is really not very attractive or appetizing:



Each sea urchin produced about 5 strips of the sea urchin "roe" (which apparently is actually the gonads of the sea urchin) that we eat, so it's a great deal relative to regular sushi bar prices.



My dad's preparation consisted of endive, chopped red onion, and boiled egg: