How Fresh is Fresh

Whenever you can, buy fresh seafood, you'll get top quality and the best taste experience. The best way to buy fish for preparation ease, is in fresh fillet or steak form.  Fillets are normally bone free and steaks are usually cut into serving portion sizes making your prep time shorter.  Most "light cooking recipes" call for 6-ounce raw fish fillets or steaks, which yield approximately 4 1/2-ounce cooked portions.  Choose only fish of the right size for your planned meal if you can.  If there are only larger fillets buy 12 or 18 once sizes etc. and cut them into 6 once portions (most counters will also cut them for you).

Don't buy anything more than one day or at most a couple of days old, especially if you don't plan to cook it that night.  Pick fish that are blemish-free with the outside skin being neither slick nor soggy.  Fresh fish should be firm and the flesh should spring back when touched.  The fish should smell subtly of the water from which it came.  If it has a strong "fishy" smell, it is not fresh and not for you.  Ask at the counter when the fish came in.

The most economical way to purchase fish is in the whole.  When you buy a whole fish, look for clear glossy eyes; shiny red gills and a firm body.  Again make sure that the skin is free of any dark blemishes.  The tail should not be dried out, brittle or curled. Ask the counter person to fillet and portion it for you, or wash and cook it as is.  Whole fish are great for BBQ or banquet affairs.

If you have a whole fish you can cook what you need and freeze the rest.  Use the bones to make fish stock for soups and stews.  The bones will freeze and the stock will also.  Fish stock packed in plastic tubs with tight fitting lids freezes well.  It's a good idea to date everything you freeze and use it as soon as you can.

No matter the form, avoid seafood that has been in a display case for extended periods, even if it is on ice.  If you are unsure ask if there is more in the back.  If there isn't fresh fish available buying fish that has been frozen at sea is your next best alternative.