angelskates's Blog

Archive June 2008

June 24, 2008

Succulent Alaskan Seafood... nutritious, delicious, wild caught,and expensive. The fishery there is well managed and sustainable.... and the seafood is some of the best in the world. Sadly, the price tag is going up every day.... Here are some tips on saving a little money on that glorious King Crab, Snow Crab, Salmon, Trout,Coho, Halibut, Cod, Pollock and Turbot.

Your seafood from Alaska will almost always be frozen shortly after being caught. The fewer times it is handled between the catching and you buying it, the less money per pound it will cost you. So look for seafood that is still frozen and that has not been repackaged.... That means larger sized packages.

Buy your fish fillets raw and frozen. Pre-cooked portions will be more expensive.

Crab is cooked before it is frozen.... so look for large packages or boxes that contain full leg portions or clusters. King Crab is usually packaged by the leg with the claw still attached and Snow Crab is usually packaged in leg clusters.

Avoid fish portions that have been breaded or sauced. This involves more steps, more handling and more expense. Learn to make parchment packets of your fish fillet, some veggies and seasonings and bake them off yourself... It only takes a few minutes to prepare, tastes better than what you will find already sauced, makes the whole meal in one packet and has less salt, fat and fewer chemicals than the already sauced fish portions. It will cook just as fast and cost you much less money at the register.

Invest in some heavy duty freezer bags and plastic wrap or in one of those home vacuum packaging gadgets... When you open your large package of seafood, make sure you package the unused portion well for the freezer... Just putting it in a freezer bag and closing the bag almost all the way and sucking the air out with a straw will bake a big difference in the freezer life of the seafood... Seafood can be kept for 3 months in the freezer if properly wrapped.

Comparison shop. You may find that Halibut is cheaper at one store and that Crab costs less somewhere else.

Watch out for sales. King Crab is frequently run as a loss leader at seafood counters... Although they usually sell it thawed in the counter, my fishmonger will go to the back and get me product that is still frozen.. buy a good supply when it is on sale and package it well for your home freezer.

Shop in the internet... You can sometimes buy direct from the packer and save money.

Frozen seafood is not as good as fresh seafood... but unless you live near the ocean, frozen seafood is usually fresher than fresh seafood and difference in quality is minimal.

Once exception to that is scallops... It is almost impossible to get a really good sear on a frozen scallop... once frozen they weep when thawed and searing a wet scallop just does not work...

Seafood should never smell fishy or like ammonia. If it smells fishy at the fish counter.... buy hamburger.

Always ask the fishmonger if Fresh seafood has been previously frozen... for some reason fresh frozen has become synonymous with Fresh... as in never frozen...

Read the labels carefully. Look for chemical additives which make the frozen seafood retain water... and inflate the cost per pound. You want to pay for seafood... not retained water.

The label, by law must state the country of origin. Carefully consider that fact