Conch Acumen

   Conch is plentiful in the Jumentos but I came up empty during my first few hunting expeditions.  I found shells inhabited by sea urchins and small fish.  I found empty shells.  I couldn’t find an edible conch at all.  Finally , we went snorkeling with Steve and Kim from Fine Lion.  Steve pointed out about a dozen conch about 10 or twelve  feet down.  I surfaced triumphantly holding the one I thought he indicated only to have him take it from my hand and toss it back.  "The big one" he said " not that one".  I found the big one and four more that were acceptable.  I was now a successful hunter.  I had conch acumen . Almost.   The bigger deal is once you have these guys what do you do with them? Making these  tropical escargot relinquish their homes is a bit of a project.    The first step is to make a hole in the shell  with the claw of a hammer.  The best place is on the back and up fairly high.    Then a sharp knife searches through the hole for the  parts that hold the conch in its rather lovely home.  Then cut and cut and cut.  It was a bit gory but cracked conch and conch fritters were a good incentive.  After the cutting, I tried to grab the conch  from the front of the shell and yank.  Easier said than done.  The Bahamians make this look really simple.  It is not.  But maybe some day it will be.  I used    pliers.  Eventually I yanked the conch from it’s home and handed it to Tom pliers and all.  He cleaned it.  The guts  and head etc. are truly disgusting and so slimy.  The rest though,  is as good as a bay scallop, if prepared correctly.  After trimming and peeling and trimming,  the conch still needs to be pounded into a tenderized  treat.  We beat it with a wooden mallet until it sounded like we were building a  house.  Finally, we had a conch feast.  Cracked conch is just breaded with cracker crumbs and pan fried.  Fritters are made with lots of conch,  onions and peppers in a batter and fried  in a fair amt of oil.  A bit of hot pepper seems to be in order for almost all these dishes.  Next Conch chowder ........