I thought I'd share some Costco wisdom with fellow fish lovers. Here in Vermont buying store-bought fresh fish is a roll of the dice - sometimes it'll be fresh, other times it'll stink up the kitchen when it cooks. Fresh fish, of course, has nearly no smell to it, and it does not stink up your kitchen when it cooks. Here's the secret for buying fresh fish at Costco: My Costco gets fish 3 times a week. You have to learn which days your Costco gets it. Then you go only on those days for fish, and you look for fish that was packaged *that day*. But by itself, the packaged date still is not enough - they could have gotten it two days ago and packaged it that day, and it'll stink up your kitchen when you cook it. So you look for fish that was packaged *that day* AND has a sell by date that is 7 days down the road. That tells you they got the fish that day. Follow these steps, and you'll get fish that has nearly no smell if you cook it that day, e.g., fresh. It all sounds obvious, but it took me too long to connect all 3 dots to decode the system!

Get the tartar sauce!

Make the tarter sauce, it's easy & has Sooo much more flavor when it too is fresh.

Go catch fish yourself to insure freshness (optional, if opportunity arises)

1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
1 to two tablespoons chopped fresh jalapeno (seed & mantle removed)

in a blender or mini food processer, fine chop the first 3 ingredients

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp real lemon juice

mix all well

If the eyes are clear,they should be okay. If cloudy or milky,pass.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

Fat Tom is correct:

Look for bright, clear eyes. The eyes are the window to a truly fresh fish, for they fade quickly into gray dullness. Dull-eyed fish may be safe to eat, but they are past their prime.

I haven't bought much fresh or frozen fish because most of what I see is farmed in China, probably under very unsanitary conditions.

And most salmon in restaurants is farm-raised and full of carcinogens.

Pity. I do like really fresh fish.

I thought Costco was owned by anti gun pukes?

-Without Life there can be no Liberty-

Cosco is Walmart.

No, Sam's Club is Walmart. Costco is Costco.

Here's an interesting anecdote about farm raised fish: I used to give my former cat a shrimp or two whenever I cooked them (peeled & boiled, no seasoning). If the shrimp were wild shrimp, she'd eat the whole thing. If the shrimp was farm raised, she would *never* eat the last part of the shrimp nearest the tail. Clearly she was tasting something in the farm raised shrimp she didn't like, something the wild shrimp don't have. After that connection was clear to me, I stopped buying farm raised fish of any kind - too much we don't know about it.

As a guy who spent 10 summers commercial fishing salmon in AK I will say

Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish.

Raised in crowded pens, given lots of tetracycline to keep them from dieing, fed ****. They actually add color make them look better.

Wild fish roam the sea, eating a variety of natural feeds, predators get the week and sick.

i saw a video once on farm raised fish its in asia somewhere where there raised in large swiming pools ,not only did they feed them bad food. They had wire chicken pens above the pools you know what that means

It means they were raising the chickens of the sea?
Or that the fish they raised taste like chicken?
Or that they now have aquatic chickens?

I saw a program awhile back where they had pens in the ocean but with the density of fish in the pen the area beneath the pen had been rendered completely lifeless and anoxic as a result of all the fish waste that sank to the bottom.

Fresh fish here is no problem, the 2nd largest comm fleet on the east coast is less than 5 min from my house, we have a saying here, if you can smell the fish, buy a steak.

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Don

I love fish. Especially smoked fish. And the small dried salty one are excellent with beer

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My method is to buy from the Costco in Lihue on Kauai

They have somewhat taken over the local fish trade, and have fresh caught Mahi, Ono, Opa, Ahi, Swordfish in their case every morning. Every time I go (I'm lucky, it's usually 3-4 times a month) I bring back a cooler of fish on ice.

The family is now addicted to fresh caught Pacific fish. My 4 year old son has become a fish-snob and will not eat fish from the local Safeway, and can spot previously frozen fish from a mile away (I've created a monster)….

To have fresh fish right out of the ocean is a real treat, especially for us folks that live in Phoenix!:roll eyes:

Opa done with smoked Kauai salt seasoning in an iron skillet is the bomb!

If any of you S&W forum denizens ever find yourself on Kauai, go to Verde's in Kapa'a for the best fish tacos you've ever had.

I buy fish from the fish market but it's hard to know where it originated

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Not trying to be a smart alec, but have you asked the vendor? If a vendor can't answer I don't recommend buying the fish.

+1 on not eating farmed fish. When the have to add red die to salmon, run, don't walk, away from the case.

Yep and they all say "fresh caught/just came in today/catch of the day/"

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What's with this recent Tilapia push. I never heard of it growing up and not you can't get away from it. Near as I can figure it is a bottom dwelling garbage eater. My instincts tell me to stay away from it and I do.

How are the wilde caught shrimp in the gulf since the BP spill, good or not?

This concludes the thread hijack.

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Back to back World War Champs.

We generally buy the frozen Costco atlantic salmon, talapia loins, U-12 scallops and shrimp - have never been disappointed with the quality - the portions are individually wrapped - very convenient.

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Lou

I love fresh fish but rarely buy it from supermarkets. Some species can be bought fresh here from the Great Lakes but I usually pass on the fresh fish from the ocean. Working in supermarket refrigeration I spent some time in the seafood departments. I do remember being told there before fresh only means it's never been frozen and not that it's a recently caught fish.
How fresh fish is handled is important too. Coolers and display cases must be kept at proper temperatures and mister systems working properly. The chain I worked for was very good about proper handling but that is not true everywhere. I'm retired now but still shop there as I know their rules and how product is handled at least.

I live 1/4 mile from the Atlantic ocean. I've never bought fish in my life. Although, add boat costs, fuel, bait, etc. and you probably get it cheaper per pound.

Here in the NW, we're lucky in that we get fresh fish, even on the dry side. Copper River Salmon run us about $10 a pound, fresh coho and chinook run about $5 a pound. Halibut is pricey but usually can find it about $6. I can get chinook from my buddies at the office and one guy gives me 1-2 pounds every Christmas, home-smoked.

As a biologist in the NW, we get all the dope on farmed salmon and we only eat wild caught. Formerly, lived in SoCal and saw the tilapia pens at the Salton Sea==no way!

We do get ahi (yellowfin tuna) regularly at Costco (to get back on topic). Check the dates and I'll make sushi out of it within a day or two. After that, into the freezer and I'll broil it.

[QUOTE=Arik;137689551]I buy fish from the fish market but it's hard to know where it originated

The law requires that the seller be able to tell you the variety and source of the fish they sell.

Best,
Gary

I catch most of the fish we eat, however we do buy fresh market fish from time to time...here it is mostly sold in fillets....kinda hard to check the eyes....LOL!

A local Asian grocery store has a large fish market in the back. If you want really fresh, they have tanks with live fish swimming in them. They will gut, clean, and prep your fish on the spot. The will deep fry it if you want. Fish can go from swimming to fried to eaten in mere minutes.

Maybe that's why it's mostly sold in fillets.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

Don't forget the capers.

We judge girls in the bars exactly the opposite way around here!!

Having lived, boated and worked the waters of southern California and Mexico for years I got spoiled when it came to truly fresh seafood. Lobster, scallops, Abalone, and a variety of of fish were available for the taking. Eating seafood that has been out of the water for mere minutes is about as good as it gets.

Now living in Tucson "Fresh" is almost an oxymoron. I did some nice jumbo (16-20 count), shrimp last night that were brought in frozen direct from Rocky Point and they were excellent but most of the local fish just doesn't tempt me. The Costco tips give me hope and on my next trip I'll check out their selection (fortunately Costco is a long ways from our home).

I think I'm understanding all this. So the newer the fish, the fresher?

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Fresh Fish and seafood.

Gloucester, Essex, Ipswich MA

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

I saw that report. It was in Viet Nam. The pens were also used for human waste. The main fish raised in these pens was Tilapia. We haven't eaten Tilapia since.
I always thought Tilapia was kind of tasteless anyway. At least it didn't taste like turds.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69