When I am not quoting UHF (1989), I am trying to fit more fish into my diet. Ignoring the recent doomsday warning about fish (because the warnings were over-inflated), I have decided to start experimenting with fish using allrecipes.com recipes. If you haven’t been to this website, you must open a new tab or window and go now. The ratings and reviews are really what makes this recipe site so special.
There were red snapper fillets sitting lonely in my freezer. What’s a girl to do? Well, make some Spicy Red Snapper Fillets. The result was a very tasty dish that had only a hint of fish flavor. If you are thinking at this moment “I hate fish flavor”, I can’t say that I blame you. The trick to any good fish meal is getting fresh fish – thawed or unthawed. I found that Trader Joes has the least fishy tasting frozen fish, especially the sockeye salmon which is notorious for tasting fishy from other stores.
If you aren’t sure if the fresh fish you want to purchase is fresh, smell it. Does it smell like the ocean – clean and slightly salty? Or does it smell like something that washed ashore? If it’s the latter, that fish is no good and you should throw it back. Quickly. Fresh fish will almost never smell fishy.
Obviously, this method doesn’t work as well with frozen fish. I typically find good frozen fish by trial and error. The location of where it was farmed or caught might help in your quest. And don’t forget to check the expiration date – even frozen stuff expires eventually.
The last thing to remember is that frozen is often fresher than “fresh” thawed fish for us Midwesterners because they freeze it right away where they caught/farmed it instead of either shipping it without freezing it or thawing it at the store. Bon appétit!
