Fresh Fish Is Best Fish

I guess many of us have experienced the ‘excitement’ of going to a fish market. To me, I’d rather go to a supermarket to get a fish than …..  You see, it’s the wet filthy floor, the pushing, the haggling, the noise. But then if you really want fresh it’s off to the market for the ingredients for that special dinner.

Fish is only worth buying when it is absolutely fresh, and it is best if you eat it on the day you buy it. Fresh fish have shiny skin with a metallic shine and they are covered with transparent mucus that becomes yucky when the fish is old and stale. It needs to look like it just swam onto the table.

The eyes should be clear, bright and slightly bulging. The flesh should be firm, springy when you press it lightly with your finger. If it feels limp, and your finger leaves an indentation, the fish is past its best. If the eyes are sunken, it’s way past its best---keep clear!

                                 Check our EYES, DON"T buy us!

Pick it up and give it a good ‘sniff’! Sea fish should have a pleasant odor, a bit like seaweed; fresh water fish should smell like a stream or waterfall. OK, maybe not a waterfall! Just remember there should never been even a hint of that “fishy” smell.

The best test of freshness for whole fish is to open up the gills; they should be a clear red or rosy color, not a dull brown and certainly not grey. Look for a firm tail (that’s what we would all like to have) and lots of, shinny close-fitting scales. A fish which has been dead too long to be fresh, or which has not been kept the best way, will shed its scales everywhere.

If you can’t get to a market then head for the shops!

Ready- prepared white fish fillets should be trimmed of bits and pieces, with moist, firm, translucent flesh. If you must buy frozen fish, make sure that it is frozen solid, with no sign of thawing and the packaging is not damaged. Fish that is frozen in a covering of ice holds its flavor better in the freezer. Remember to never, ever re-freeze fish.

So bear in mind—eyes, skin, scales, gills, and smell!

We will look at shell fish another time. Now that we know how to find a fresh fish we can look at what to do with it. That’s up next.

There is a saying that guests and fish shouldn't be in your home after three days. It’s so true!