Fresh Fish

[Feathers and Fins]

So I got in an interesting discussion with a friend of mine about “fresh fish” and started researching it. Marketing of “fresh fish” is a broad term when it comes to buying from a store I have learned for researching it.

So let me define “Fresh” in my opinion. Fresh Fish is fish I caught that day and ate that day or that I caught a day and marinated for no more than 24 hours prior to cooking. The handling of it is as important as anything. Typically I will fill my live well and try to keep them alive till I get home and often fillet them still flopping. There are times in cold weather I may just throw them in the hold if I am not going to be out to long.

Part of keeping them alive till cleaning is keeping the meat as fresh as possible without allowing rigor- mortis to settle in which can cause chewiness in meat. If you have ever had a shore lunch or kept them alive till you cleaned them you will notice a big difference versus fish that have expired then cleaned.

What I found in my researching the subject when it comes to stores is at best the fish is 48 hours old (time of catch to at market) That is in no way fresh in my book, as I believe freezing fish and allowing rigor mortis to set in disqualifies it from being fresh.

But on average most the fish that are caught on “trip boats” or “day boats” A trip boat can be out to sea for days or weeks and they have to flash freeze the fish to keep them fresh. Most those fish can be weeks old by the time they hit market. The day boats may stay out a day to three and they as well must ice the fish down to keep it from spoiling. At best case scenario those fish are 48 hours to 5 days old. Does anyone call that “fresh”?

So I thought about fish farms! Hey they should be fresh, but in searching on them they like day boats still have to harvest the catch then process it get it boxed and to a distributer who then sends it to his buyer who then has to get it to market. Best case scenario its 48 hours old and most often 72 hours.

Now living in the heartland of the country any seafood would have to be caught in the ocean brought back to a processor then sent to a buyer and then to a vendor who needs to get it send to the distribution center then to the store all frozen during this time. At very best I would say no less than 4 days old when it hits our local stores and it could be weeks old.

Is it a wonder people say they don’t like fish? Unless you have had truly fresh fish you caught and prepared I can see why people say it. I have bought fish in the store and it tasted horrible. Yet that very same species I have caught myself, prepared the same and it was awesome.

One of my favorite ways to cook fish is when I get home first thing I do is pour a bottle of picante sauce in a large pan and grab the most active flopper in the sink and fillet it up and slice it in to chunks and drop it in cover and cook while I’m filleting the other fish. By the time I’m done filleting the ones cooking are done and ready to be served with some buttered bread.

When I hunt birds or game I always take time to insure the meat is taken care of the best I can and that rubbed off on me in fishing. While living in Florida it was common practice to slit the gills and gut the fish and pack ice in it to cool the meat for many species. Snapper and grouper in summer we would slit the gills and ice without gutting so when we got back to the ramp the fish was firm and easily filleted then we would pack it in ziplock bags on ice.

I must admit though there are days I get to caught up in a good bite to take care of the meat as well as I should, after all if I’m going to eat it I should take care of it better on the water. So I started thinking while writing this how can I do better?

I went to the AGFC Regulations to see what is allowed and this is what it says

“Fish Cleaning – While fishing in waters designated as having a length or slot limit on sport fish, you may not possess a fish that has been filleted or had its head or tail removed while fishing from shore, boat or while being transported by boat. Check your destination to see whether length or slot limits apply.”

I am blessed to get out more than most but when taking other anglers who don’t I had to think of how to do my best to insure the meat is prepared so for me it is simple, Only Keep what I will eat within 24hours and keep those fish alive in the well that may mean adding ice during summer, but keep them alive till I get the knife to them. If one dies gut it as soon as possible and ice it down.

Now if I have people with me I plan to slit the gills, gut the fish and ice it down before anything else. Same will apply if I’m stocking up on fish for winter or for a group fish fry, this may take a few seconds out of the day but it will preserve the flavor of the meat to be enjoyed.

So what are your thoughts on fish meat preservation ?

[Tanderson15]

When it is hot and I know they need cool water I put 4 to 5 frozen juice containers filled with water. Then fill the livewell half full. Most fish are alive when I get home. We just talked about so called fresh fish, from the boat to shore to the shipping area on the plane then unloaded then to the store or restaurant. I think to truly have fresh fish the cost would be so high most could not afford it. Thanks for the info. I guess the F & F stands for fresh fish

[J-Doc]

F&F stands for several things.....

(Evil laugh)

[rps]

The story on fish is only a little better than raised meat animals. While you would think fresh meant never frozen, that is not the case. Freezing is allowed provided the temp does not go below a set point (0 Ithink.)

I fully appreciate F&F's opinions, and respect them, but disagree based upon food quality grounds. With fish, if you clean the fish before the gills turn pink instead of red (I throw my keeper fish in a well iced box to accomplish this as my live well sucks in water over 70 degrees) then the meat will be fresh and taste fresh for three to four days if you keep it well chilled at all times. I find no difference in consistency/texture of the meat when cooking regardless of whether the fish became stiff. This is partly due to the fact that cooking causes the same muscle contraction you see in rigor mortis. Think about the fillets and how they curl.

Freezing will change the consistency/texture of any meat due to ice crystallization, which means if you freeze it to 25 degrees it is not fresh.

Thus my definition of fresh is more lax than F&F's but different from the FDA.

[Chief Grey Bear]

The story on fish is only a little better than raised meat animals. While you would think fresh meant never frozen, that is not the case. Freezing is allowed provided the temp does not go below a set point (0 Ithink.)

I fully appreciate F&F's opinions, and respect them, but disagree based upon food quality grounds. With fish, if you clean the fish before the gills turn pink instead of red (I throw my keeper fish in a well iced box to accomplish this as my live well sucks in water over 70 degrees) then the meat will be fresh and taste fresh for three to four days if you keep it well chilled at all times. I find no difference in consistency/texture of the meat when cooking regardless of whether the fish became stiff. This is partly due to the fact that cooking causes the same muscle contraction you see in rigor mortis. Think about the fillets and how they curl.

Freezing will change the consistency/texture of any meat due to ice crystallization, which means if you freeze it to 25 degrees it is not fresh.

Thus my definition of fresh is more lax than F&F's but different from the FDA.

I agree with every word.

As I was reading his post I thought back to the days of early spring and the boat loads of crappie we caught. This was in the days of a 30 fish limit and three people to a boat.

There was no possible way they were going to stay alive.

They got cleaned every evening and put on ice. They didn't get froze until we got home.

You could put out a platter of just caught and a platter of Spring crappie and you had no idea which was which.

Thanks for posting Randy.

But I agree what the Gov calls fresh and what we call fresh is two different worlds.

But that is what the corporations wanted.

[Feathers and Fins]

Im seeing a theme of keeping the meat well cooled. one thing I hate seeing is fish that for lack of better technical term has turned whitish and mushy.

I know all three of you and really appreciate your input. Randy and Brit do you slit the gills at all? or gut and pack etc.

[Chief Grey Bear]

No. They went in the livewell and didn't come out until we either all had our limit or it was time to call it a day so we had time to clean them. Oh man that took forever!

[Chillfish]

Every fish I catch goes directly into ice. With white bass especially, we go with the old Florida method and add a salt brine to the ice for a quick death and very rapid cooling of the meat. This also makes filleting much easier, as they are essentially frozen at that point. The more oily the fish, the faster it needs to be chilled, in my opinion. I have eaten too many white bass, along with other species, that died in livewells. Based on those experiences, I can understand why many people don't enjoy eating them. On ice, the fishiness is taken away, and there is then no reason to cut out the red meat. Also, when freezing, I fill the bag with water so that the fillets are covered and everything freezes in a solid block. This removes freezer burning, as well as many other off-flavors that occur with dry freezing. I don't think ice is nearly as important for fish that survive well in a livewell, but again, personal preference for filleting stiff fish means they all get the cooler.

[Feathers and Fins]

I'm glad you brought up the salt mix I completely forgot about that, guess just having the ocean right there I never thought much on it. As for freezing for later I became a firm believer in vacuumed bags about 2 years ago little start up cost but sure keeps meat longer and one benefit I found is I can freeze the fish pre-seasoned already and if I'm going to do a stir fry I can have it all in there for a fast dump.

[kjackson]

Here's a West Coast perspective--commercial fishermen are allowed to keep salmon "fresh" for 10 days as long as the fish are gutted, gilled, packed with ice and packed in ice. Then they can be processed and sold...now, the larger boats are doing some onboard freezing I understand, but I've seen too much "fresh" where the meat is separating. I will not eat salmon unless I catch it.

A friend who worked for the Washington Department of Fisheries did a lot of research on the table quality of salmon, and it echoes a lot of what has been said above: cut a gill raker and let the fish bleed, then ice it or cool it immediately. It can also be gutted after it has bled out. That gives the best "fresh" quality. However, in salmon, freezing the fish for two weeks provides fish with the best flavor as the freezing process breaks down the cell walls. This last was based on a taste test done with the WDF folks who know what really fresh salmon tastes like.

As far as freezing goes, if you're not going to eat the fish within a short period of time, the vacuum packing is the way to do it. That process stops a lot of the degradation, especially with fish with a high fat content.

This I know from personal experience. I was able to keep black rockfish (Sebastes spp.) in vacuum packed bags for up to a year without a loss in table quality. Even when frozen in water, rockfish fat turns rancid in a matter of a few months.