{"id":16912,"date":"2019-01-20T16:11:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T23:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/?p=16912"},"modified":"2023-06-03T19:38:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T02:38:00","slug":"buying-fresh-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/buying-fresh-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips:  Fresh Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>How to buy a whole fish<\/h2>\n<p>Sea bass is the best for whole-fish cooking.&nbsp; Also called a bronzini (bronch zino)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>How to tell that it is fresh<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fish should be whole and fresh.<\/li>\n<li>If you know your butcher, you can just ask for sushi-quality fish, but otherwise buy a whole fish.<\/li>\n<li>Eyes should be clear.&nbsp; Cloudy eyes indicate an older fish.<\/li>\n<li>Gills should be bright red.<\/li>\n<li>Fish should never smell fishy or like bleach.<\/li>\n<li>Flesh should be firm, not be mushy.<\/li>\n<li>If you are using meat from a large fish, you can tell it is fresh by the firmness and visual texture of the flesh.<\/li>\n<li>It should glisten.<\/li>\n<li>Go shopping with a cooler because it will degrade really quickly.<\/li>\n<li>Should have bulging, but clear eyes<\/li>\n<li>Scales should be close to the body &#8211; tight, not relaxed<\/li>\n<li>Fish body should have no bruises or soft spots<\/li>\n<li>Buy your fish at a market that does a big volume, otherwise you may get older fish<\/li>\n<li>Trust your fish vendor.&nbsp; Ask<br \/>\n&#8211; What is in season<br \/>\n&#8211; What do you have that is local<br \/>\n&#8211; Is this wild or farmed&nbsp; (Wild is better)<br \/>\n&#8211; What do you have that is line-caught<\/li>\n<li>If you are buying squid, it should be shiny, have clear eyes, and the ink should not be dried<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to handle fish<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Cut off all fins (except the tail) early so you don&#8217;t stick yourself. A fish wound gets easily infected.<\/li>\n<li>Scale and clean fish immediately.&nbsp; Store fish on ice in a baggie, but allow it to drain. You DO NOT want your fish to set in water for any time at all.&nbsp; If it is properly handled, a fresh fish could last for six months<\/li>\n<li>Scale fish outside, or somewhere that the zillions of scales will not cause a problem.&nbsp; Just hold it by the tail and go back and forth with a knife held perpendicular to the body.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Fish that are high in oil<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Smelt, mackerel, herring and orange roughy<\/li>\n<li>Rinse, dredge, fry in film of peanut oil 3-4 minutes per side, then drain<\/li>\n<li>Serve with slices of lemon<\/li>\n<li>To dredge: dip in lemon then roll in crumbs with salt and pepper (or toss)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Fish that are good for the grill<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Whitefish or trout is the best choice for PLANK COOKING<\/li>\n<li>Soak wooden plank overnight, using brick to keep submerged.<\/li>\n<li>Grill with INDIRECT HEAT at 375-400 degrees and cook until wood begins to char (about 20 minutes)<\/li>\n<li>Internal temp will be about 125 degrees<\/li>\n<li>Serve right on the plank<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Good summer fish<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Flounder and fluke are good fish to eat in the summer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Good round fish<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Snapper, porgy, tile fish, sardines, mackeral<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What types of wood should I use<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>DO NOT USE plain wood, as it may have chemicals.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure your wood is natural, untreated and kiln or air dried.<\/li>\n<li>Good woods are: Cedar, alder, maple, hickory, cherry, pecan, apple, white oak, mesquite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Fish Characteristics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Slow moving fish (such as grouper) have a light meat and subtle mild flavor. They also overcook very easily.<\/li>\n<li>Fast fish (such as tuna) have an oily steak-like texture.&nbsp; Sharks and Tuna are examples of fast fish<\/li>\n<li>Striped bass is the most versatile, and is firm but stil flakey<\/li>\n<li>Shark and Tuna are long-lived fish, and will have a higher concentration of mercury in the meat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Processing<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>To scale, run your knife against the scales<\/li>\n<li>Gut the fish and run under cold water<\/li>\n<li>Pat the fish dry<\/li>\n<li>Remobe the gills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to buy a whole fish Sea bass is the best for whole-fish cooking.&nbsp; Also called a bronzini (bronch zino) How to tell that it is fresh Fish should be whole and fresh. If you know your butcher, you can just ask for sushi-quality fish, but otherwise buy a whole fish. Eyes should be clear.&nbsp; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/buying-fresh-fish\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tips:  Fresh Fish&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-tricks-and-tools","category-book-meat-to-eat-seafood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16912"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22884,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16912\/revisions\/22884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}