Surf and turf or surf 'n' turf is a

main course A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course. Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...

combining

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

and red meat. A typical seafood component would be

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

(either lobster tail or a whole lobster),

prawns Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

, squid or scallops, any of which could be steamed, grilled or breaded and fried. The meat is typically

beef steak A beefsteak, often called just steak, is a flat cut of beef with parallel faces, usually cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers. In common restaurant service a single serving has a raw mass ranging from . Beef steaks are usually grilled, pan ...

, although others may be used. One standard combination is lobster tail and filet mignon. Surf and turf is typically served in steakhouses in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. Surf and turf is sometimes referred to as Reef and beef or Reef 'n' Beef in Australia.

Etymology

It is unclear where the term originated. The earliest known citation is from 1961, in the '' Los Angeles Times''.

History

In late 19th-century America, combining large portions of lobster and steak was popular at "show restaurants known as lobster palaces," favored by nouveau riche "arrivistes." This became unfashionable by the 1920s and only regained popularity in the early 1960s. Surf 'n' turf was featured in 1962 at the Eye of the Needle, a revolving restaurant atop the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. Surf and turf is often considered to symbolize the middle-class " Continental cuisine" of the 1960s and 1970s, with (frozen) lobster and steak as replacements for the middle class.

Variations

A variation is the surf and turf burger, which is prepared with ground beef and various types of seafood, such as lobster, shrimp, or crab.

Reputation

Surf and turf is often considered as an example of

conspicuous consumption In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen co ...

and kitsch, as it combines two expensive foods which are not normally considered to be complementary:

References

External links