How to Select Fresh Seafood

Knowing how to choose fresh fish or seafood is a vital skill for a seafood cook. Unless you caught the fish yourself, you really have no way of knowing exactly how fresh it is. But buying fresh fish is easy if you know what to look for. Here are tips on choosing fresh fish.

Whole Fish

• Look for bright, clear eyes. The eyes are the window to a truly fresh fish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. Dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime.
  
• Next look at the fish. Does it shine? Does it look metallic and clean? Or has it dulled or has discolored patches on it? If so, it is marginal.
  
• Smell it. A fresh fish should smell like clean water, or a touch briny or even like cucumbers. Under no circumstances should you buy a nasty smelling fish. Cooking won't improve it.
  
• Look at the gills. They should be a rich red. If the fish is old, they will turn the color of faded brick.

• Recipes for Whole Fish

Fish Fillets

• Look for vibrant flesh. All fish fade as they age. If the fillet still has skin, that skin should look as pristine as the skin on an equally good whole fish – shiny and metallic.
  
• Smell it. The smell test is especially important with fillets. They should have no pungent aromas.
  
• Is there liquid on the meat? If so, that liquid should be clear, not milky. Milky liquid on a fillet is the first stage of rot.
  
• If the fishmonger lets you, press the meat with your finger. It should be resilient enough so your indentation disappears. If your fingerprint remains, move on.

• Recipes for Fish Fillets

Live Things

The best way to choose a live fish or crab or lobster is to look for, well, life. Is it scampering around in its tank? Swimming happily? Or is it sulking in a corner or hanging motionless and panting? If so, don’t buy it. Lobsters and crabs starve themselves in tanks and often can be almost empty inside when you crack open one that’s been imprisoned in a tank for weeks.
Your best bet is to make friends with the fishmonger and find out when the new shipments arrive. Plan on being there to meet it and buy then. You will be rewarded for your extra effort.

Source: HERE