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Many people have heard about the benefits of fish – here you have omega-3 polyunsaturated acids (the notorious fish oil), and a number of nutrients, which are much more difficult to obtain without eating fish and seafood. And nothing to say about the variety in nutrition, which will give the inclusion of fish in your diet.
I adhere to the point of view that you need to eat fish in one form or another at least 2-3 times a week, and, of course, I follow this rule with pleasure myself – hence the number of fish dishes in my Catalog of recipes.
Tip one: buy live fish
The surest way to buy fresh fish is to buy it live. In some large stores you can find aquariums with carp, and the fish just brought in may still show signs of life. Well, if it was not possible to get live fish, then …
Tip two: inspect the gills
The gills are one of the main “tools” in determining the freshness of fish. They should be bright red in color, although in some fish species they may be dark red. Bad smell, gray or blackened gills? Goodbye, fish.
Tip three: sniff
When buying fish, trust your nose more than your ears – the seller can assure you that the fish is the freshest, but you can’t fool your sense of smell. It’s a paradox, but fresh fish doesn’t smell like fish. It has a fresh, subtle scent of the sea. The presence of an unpleasant, pungent odor is a reason to refuse a purchase.
Tip four: eye to eye
Eyes (not only yours, fish eyes too) should be clear and transparent. If the eyes became cloudy, or, even more so, sunk or dried out, the fish definitely managed to lie on the counter longer than necessary.
Tip five: study the scales
Shiny, clean scales are a sign of freshness. If we are talking about sea fish, there should be no mucus on the surface of the scales, but for freshwater fish this is not at all an indicator: such fish as tench are often cooked without cleaning, along with mucus.
Tip Six: Elasticity Test
Press lightly on the surface of the carcass – if after that a hole remains on it, then the fish is not fresh enough. Freshly caught fish meat is dense, elastic and quickly re-forms.
Seventh tip: Choosing a fillet
It is much more difficult to control the freshness of a fish fillet than a whole fish, therefore unscrupulous sellers often use not the best specimens for filletting. The best way out is to buy the whole fish and make the fillet yourself, it is profitable and easy. But if you nevertheless decide to buy a fillet, be guided by the signs that are still available to you: the smell, elasticity of the meat, the appearance of the scales.
Tip Eight: You Can’t Foo Us
Often, sellers use various tricks, such as selling fish carcasses without a head, to make it more difficult to determine freshness, or even trying to pass off thawed fish as chilled. Even if you shop only in trusted places, be extremely careful.
Tip Nine: Meat and Bones
If you have already bought fish, brought it home and started butchering it, remember: if the bones themselves are lagging behind the meat, it means that your intuition in choosing fish still let you down: this happens only with not the freshest fish (although here there are some nuances – for example, in whitefish this stage occurs literally a few hours after the catch).
Tip ten: In a restaurant
When ordering fish dishes in a restaurant, you can be cruelly deceived in your expectations. It is great if the restaurant has a showcase with ice in which fish is laid out, and the waiter can expertly advise on the freshness of fish and seafood. Whether to order sushi – decide for yourself, I’ll just say that most of the fish – except, perhaps, salmon – comes to our sushi bars frozen. Well, complicated rules? Nothing of the kind! I hope you will use them with pleasure and benefit in practice, and to make it easier for you, here are links to some of my favorite fish recipes: Fish in the oven
Fish cutlets in tomato sauce
- Heck more Galician
- Grilled mackerel fillet
- Crucian carp in sour cream (and without bones)
- Fish with lemon sauce
- Fried sea bass
- Pomeranian baked cod
- The most delicious flounder
- Perfect salmon fillet