A dead fish can think?

There's no physiological process going on. Buy frozen, defrost at home.

I won't buy fish at the regular supermarkets here, they say it's fresh( previously frozen)but most of it has a brownish or grey color to it. I have bought it in the past only to bring it home and be disappointed when it has that strong fish smell, I won't eat it. I will take it back or it get thrown out .I will buy salmon from sams club, and some frozen fish and frozen shrimp.as far as fresh the wife and I fish a lot that's the only way I can get true fresh fish in this area

Buy fish at a fish market instead of the grocery store. We frequently go to Santa Monica Seafood Market - perhaps they deliver to your area - they go as far as Las Vegas and Arizona. Some regular markets, such as Gelson's and Bristol Farms have good fish departments, but I also go to Japanese markets for fish - especially sashimi. Mitsuwa is the closet Japanese market to us, but it has a horrible parking lot (as does SM Seafood), and so we often drive up the street to Marukai, which is larger and has a better parking lot. Sometimes we shop in Little Osaka, if we decide to have lunch/brunch there, and it is easy to find good fresh fish there.

We have to travel 2 hours to Orange County for fresh fish and by the time we get it home, it's once again, old. Sucks to live rural, but a majority of the US is rural, and we deal with what we have locally.

I've driven to knoxville just to go to a fish market, still the fish had been previously frozen and still had a bit of a smell to it. I used to buy fish at Point Loma Seafoods when I lived out west. Also used to catch my own yellow tail and albacore , I really miss that

In my opinion asian fish markets are the best because they almost always have fresh fish swimming in tanks and dead fish that are whole the easiest way to see if the fish is still fresh are the eyes and gills

According to a friend who works in fish marketing, "fresh" doesn't mean fresh the way it does in vegetables when you're talking about fish. It officially just means never frozen. It could have been sitting in the sun for two days and still be legally "fresh".

I do not understand why they would defrost frozen fish! As soon as you unfreeze it, it starts to decay. I'm allergic to fish, but I can eat it if it's right out of the water (no chance for decay), or if it's cooked, smoked or frozen on a factory ship, and sealed. Because it doesn't have a chance to decay.

When they advertise "Fresh (previously frozen)" what they're saying is "Decayed (previously preserved)."

Smugung, I challenge you to find an Asian fish market within 15 minutes of Hemet, CA. We don't even have meat markets here. I can't spell it, but Carnacerias? Got that, but not excited about going there. Stater Bros ( the king of gourmet..NOT) and Sprouts (So organic it rots on the way home) are about all we have.

Good point, plllog. If you're not buying it right after it's caught or harvested, just buy frozen.

That way, you ensure freshness and quality.

Challenge accepted, where are you close to?

I only buy from a local seafood shop. They have their own commercial fishing boats and supply restaurants and other seafood stores. I know that their fish is as fresh as it gets. In the spring, I buy live spot prawns, right off their boat.

"The fish thinks it's back in the ocean and responds accordingly." I some how doubt this. :D

"I also do this for chicken breasts." Just the idea of chicken that smells makes me gag. I would never try to revive chicken by washing it.

I'll check it out in a day or two. Hopefully they have one of those tanks so we know the fish is fresh. TY Smugung

No problem

'The Great Fish Swap': How America Is Downgrading Its Seafood Supply

Purchasing fresh or frozen fish has become such a gamble that I've given up. I've bought previously frozen and "fresh" varieties from Whole Foods, Gelsons and various farmers markets and have been mostly disappointed. Since I'm always silently praying as I unwrap the package, I've resorted to using canned fish (which is always reliable).

CindyMac, thanks for the article. It was very interesting.

Many fish that is sold as filets are fake and fish of lower quality fish like escolar can be sold as tuna because of how similar it looks frozen fish fillets such as swai are farmed and pumped full of antibiotics, if you actually pan sear swai fillets you can taste the antibiotics in it. Farmed salmon looks amazing but the flesh is nothing compared to the real thing. Farmed trout is always muddy and rough. The bottom line is wild caught fish I always the best.

I think it depends on what you are making.

Some dishes have considerable spice or sauce, and for those I find it doesn't matter so much if the fish is really "fresh" or just "tolerable". After a piece of fish is seasoned, battered and deep fried, or wrapped in a taco and loaded with lime, cheese, and pico de gallo, I really have a hard time telling if it was frozen from the supermarket's freezer case or came straight from the hook. I made salmon mousse pies a while ago, and after you've cooked salmon then pureed it with soft cheese and baked it in dough, the quality of the original salmon is - well maybe one could guess, but I think most people couldn't guess reliably.

But for other dishes, it matters, and then I'm more selective about where I'll buy the fish. It helps to be flexible - buy the best looking fish that day, whatever it is, and make a dish around it.

Yep! The whole deal behind world exploration was to bring spices to Europe to cover the taste of decay in the food.

Ahem, we call it "fermentation."

LOL!

Hubby is in Montana fishing today. That whole catch and release thing. He caught a 9 lb trout, gave it a wave and sent it back. This drives me nuts when I have to revive grocery store fish with ice and salt. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

We've all experienced fish with that "fishy" smell.

Here is how to remedy that. Put the fish in a bowl of ice and salty water. Stir them around and keep adding ice for a couple of hours. The fish thinks it's back in the ocean and responds accordingly.

You're sadly misinformed.

CindyMac, done this for about 20 years. It works.

Just the thought of taking smelly fish or chicken and trying to revive it makes my stomach do a flip. Glad it's going in yours and not mine. ;)

We're a long way from the ocean here, so if it's ocean fish, it's definitely not fresh, I'd prefer that it come to me frozen after that trip inland! Lake fish can be fresh, like Lake Michigan salmon, lake perch, walleye, whitefish. The stuff from the supermarket, though, is seldom/never actually fresh, the only really fresh fish that I've ever purchased was from the fish market.

Annie

Where I come from in England (Oxford) there's no fresh fish because it's quie a way from the sea but here, it's everywhere so I love it. I wouldn't dream of eating "revived" fish, sorry! It's such delicate matter. I was on holiday in Vail (Colorado) once and there was a sushi restaurant in the hotel. ?????????

IC, definitely not locavore, but it's Vail. Not Aspen, of course, but close enough. I'm assuming it's a fine dining establishment--if so, they fly fish in daily, and it's probably a lot closer to just off the boat than a lot of the fish you can buy near the coast.

A 9 pound trout and through it back? No way I would do that and if I did my wife would probley slap me :)

Islay, you echo my sentiments exactly! Eww……NO.

I recall trying to purchase shrimp for a party years ago, maybe 10-15. I asked for the frozen block from their freezer...comes in five lb blocks usually. After much hesitation and back room discussion i finally did buy it.

We always buy frozen for convenience and the knowledge that it is often frozen on the boat or quickly processed and frozen right off the boat for travel. Good friends, Father and three sons are commercial fishermen., coastal Newfoundland.

Fresh does not stink...even after a few days kept cold on ice in the fridge. . Frozen, then thawed, will stink in a couple days. We will not eat that.

Best to buy frozen if you are land-locked. It will thaw in a few hours in a zip-lock in an ice water bath in the fridge or counter-top in an hour.

Chicken is most often frozen for travel. Ask for frozen and let it thaw in your fridge. On your time so you know that it has not been sitting in a deli open cooler shelf for who knows how long and maybe not so cold.

I never buy from a 'live' tank. That method is a real art and science to get the waters correct...often the water tank is merky and off color...not at all a representation of a natural habitat. Only from a good source, and lobster are the exception from a good fishmonger.

I'm in NYC and have a few favorite stops for fresh. One fella was filleting some nice cod and i asked for the heads and spine for stock. Surprised that they were surprised i asked. They toss it in a 25 gallon bin probably for re-sale to pet food folk? They did sell it to me at a cheap made-up price. (and i got the tongues and cheeks from a few heads). Another famous NY market processes at a NJ location and no longer has in-house fish prep. I asked for fish body for stock and they were a bit rude about it. I like to make fish stock for fall/winter chowder...now harder to find.

Sleevendog. Have a friend that is in Union Square whenever they have the market. He is a commercial fisherman on eastern LI and has super fresh native fish and shellfish. In Nov. Peconic Bay scallops are available. Outstanding, they are pricey , but worth every dollar. If you are any where near, worth checking out.

Good to know! Union Square has been the best market for years. I was down on Wall St all day starting at 6am...I miss the old Fulton fish market from yrs ago. (2005-6 it moved?)

I don't mind the price for fresh. I'll look out for him. PE and DD seafood?

Will check with him for exact business name he uses. My dad was a commercial guy. Remember the problems with his fish going to Fulton. He finally opened a market in a small town and never shipped to Fulton again. That was in mid fifties.

I've been buying my fish from Costco, used to get frozen fillets but their fresh has been very good and often cheaper than frozen. I use it within one or two days. I would never try to "revive" fish (or chicken for that matter) which has gone bad. Even if it no longer smelled, I would know and I certainly wouldn't feed it to my family (just my view, not criticizing anyone else's situation).

Funny story, my mother in law left a package of fish out one time when she was sorting stuff in her freezer. Found it a day or two later, gave it a whiff and thought, fish is supposed to smell fishy...so, being a thrifty person, she cooked it...and immediately spit it out because it HAD gone bad.

"Yep! The whole deal behind world exploration was to bring spices to Europe to cover the taste of decay in the food."

"Ahem, we call it "fermentation."

I call it garbage and that is where it would go.

I can't imagine spicing something up in order to cover the "decay".

Has anyone had this experience? I purchased red snapper from WF. It looked and smelled good. I cooked it at noon, refrigerated it and by the time it was dinner, it had developed a strong ammonia odor. Unfathomable.

Ammonia? Nope! Just "fishy," and that's often why people don't like fish. Just soak that baby in salty ice water and cook it prior to dinner. It will taste and be fresh.

@donna_in_sask DH just called from Costco asking the usual DH questions. I didn't tell him to buy fish, but it's a 3 hour drive home since it's rush hour. He went for a doctor appt, and I gave him the Costco list. He's bringing home those nice lamb chops they have, but no fish. Tonight is just homemade pasta sauce over angel hair, Caprese salad with real buffalo mozzarella and some garlic toast.

The ammonia smell developed AFTER cooking.

Was there any chance it was under cooked or maybe there was still trace amounts of bacteria in the fish and when you put the fish in the fridge and the warm fish created a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

There are two different kinds of "bad". There's the bacteria which breed at room temperature and take a lot of cooking to get rid of. Yes, you can salvage a chicken that's been at room temperature for longer than it should have been. But then there's decay. Fish decays really fast. Much faster than meat or poultry. The cells rupture. When you freeze or cook it, more cells rupture. The commercial flash freezing is much better because it's so sudden that many fewer cells rupture.

After reading all this, I'm thankful I've lived near the ocean for 63 years...

My current go to for fish is five minutes away. If it was any fresher, it would still be swimming ;)

Lucky

sleevendog, Union Square people to check out . Seatuck Fish Company

Having lived close to salt water most of my life, I learned from old timers to never buy fish sitting on top of ice - the fish have to be buried in ice. Actually, now I mostly buy frozen fish.