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Learn more about Seafoods
We are eating more and more seafood each year, but many of us still know less about buying and storing fish and shellfish than we do about other foods. This pamphlet gives general information on purchasing fresh and frozen seafood and how to store and prepare it.
Fresh Seafood
The varieties
The term seafood is used in this fact sheet to describe all edible animals harvested from the sea or from fresh water. Seafood can be classified either as fish or shellfish. Fish includes species such as mullet, sharks, salmon, and tuna, and shellfish includes crustaceans (prawns, lobsters and crabs) and molluscs (oysters, mussels and squid). The term 'fresh' should only be applied to seafood which has not been frozen.
When to buy
Good supplies of seafood are available almost all year round at Greenwood Fish Market. Nevertheless, the supply and price of fresh seafood fluctuates markedly because of regulatory controls on fishing seasons and uncontrollable factors such as fish migrations and sea conditions. You should therefore take advantage of geographical and seasonal factors to buy fresh seafood at relatively low prices. You should buy local seafood when it is plentiful and therefore available at reduced prices. Sea mullet, for example, are caught in considerable numbers in New South Wales and Queensland throughout the year but the largest catches are taken in autumn during their spawning migration along the coast.
Most species, and particularly mullet and oysters, are in prime eating condition just before spawning (shedding of eggs) and in poor condition when they are "spent", just after spawning. A few species such as oysters and trout are farmed, and supplies are generally available all year round. Therefore the months ending with 'R' applies to good seasons to eat oysters in the northern hemisphere.
Where to buy
The freshest seafood is available from outlets with a high turnover, such as fish markets of large towns and cities, and from local fishermen's co-operatives in fishing towns. Buy from shops which keep the seafood well iced. Seafood should be held at the temperature of melting ice (0° to 1°C) and if kept in a window display (refrigerated or nonrefrigerated) ice should be mixed with the seafood.
How to buy seafood
When you are looking for variety, seafood gives you more choice than any other food group. You can buy seafood fresh, frozen, canned, dried, salted, smoked and in many convenience forms as well. Fresh seafood is sold in many forms; some kinds may be alive, others may be uncooked and partly cleaned and a few species are sold cooked, ready to eat.
If you buy your fish whole, that is unscaled and ungutted, it must be cleaned before cooking. Some species are sold already cleaned (e.g. snapper) or as fillets which are lengthwise slices of fish (e.g. flathead). Fish cutlets are crosswise slices of fish meat cut from the larger fish species (such as kingfish) and contain the backbone.
Most crustaceans are marketed in the boiled form and require no further cooking; however, frozen uncooked lobster tail, crab meat, and prawn cutlets are also available. Smoked fish (Australian and imported), bottled fresh oysters and pickled mussels, scallops and squid can be bought in our store.
Where possible, it is better to buy live seafood because its flavour and texture are assured. Oysters and mussels are commonly sold live, and frequently it is also possible to buy live lobsters, yabbies and crabs in. However, it may not always be convenient to buy seafood live because the animals are difficult to prepare and cook. You should only buy live lobsters and crabs if you want to boil them yourself or cook them in another special way, because the live animals are hard to handle unless you are experienced (note - the mud crab's claws are tied for your safety). If you want to eat boiled lobster or crab, it is easier to buy them already cooked.
Some seafood reaches market in frozen form only, and unfortunately a few retailers thaw seafood (particularly scallops and fish fillets) and label it as fresh. It is difficult to judge how long these foods have been thawed or at what temperature they were stored, therefore consumers should buy these types in the frozen form and thaw them carefully at home.
How to judge quality in fresh seafood
The high turnover in our Fish Market helps to ensure that the seafood you buy is, at most, only a few days old. Even so, it is worthwhile knowing what to look for to get the best value for money.
Appearance - Fresh seafood should not be broken or badly squashed; it should be clean and free of mud and weed. Oysters, mussels and pipis should be alive when sold in the shell; an open gaping shell which does not close when tapped usually contains a dead animal and should be discarded. The flesh of raw seafood is translucent or white, and firm and springy to the touch; it should not be soft or mushy.
Smell - The smell of raw and cooked seafood is a reliable guide to quality because spoiled seafood has a strong offensive smell. Fresh seafood has the mild, distinctive seaweedy smell of the sea. However, smell alone cannot be used to detect stale seafood and therefore appearance and smell should both be considered when judging quality.
Taste - Fresh food has a pleasant, mild flavour which differs from group to group (fish, molluscs, crustaceans) and from species to species. The taste of fresh seafood is a good guide to freshness because flavour gradually disappears during storage. Stale seafood does not have the characteristic flavour of the species, and is often tasteless. Although the animals come from the sea, fresh seafood does not have a salty taste. In fact, most consumers add salt when cooking fish and shellfish.
Texture - The flesh of fish is juicy and tender and only rarely is it tough. The flesh of prawns, lobsters and squid should be firm but poor quality shellfish may be tough. Lobsters and crabs are sometimes mushy, particularly if the animal has recently moulted (shed its shell).
Storing seafood
Live mussels, oysters and pipis will die if placed in a refrigerator; they should be kept in a damp clean hessian bag and stored in a cool place. During cool weather, oysters, mussels and pipis will stay alive for five to seven days. Yabbies, lobsters and crabs can be kept alive if tightly packed in damp straw (to restrict movement) and kept cool, but crustaceans are sometimes difficult to keep alive and are better cooked on the day they are purchased. When they die they should be chilled (iced) immediately and cooked as soon as possible. Dead unchilled crustaceans will spoil rapidly.
Cooked or uncooked fresh seafood should be kept for only one or two days in the coldest, non-freezing, part of the refrigerator. It should be well wrapped to prevent drying out and to stop its distinctive smell from tainting other food.
Transporting seafood
If travelling a moderate distance, for example from shopping centre to home, ask our staff to mix some ice with the seafood before wrapping it well. In summer it is advisable to keep the parcel cool in an insulated container. If travelling a long distance, thoroughly ice the fresh seafood, using the same weight of ice as seafood, and store in an insulated container which allows the melting ice to drain so that the food does not float in water.
Frozen Seafood
The varieties
Some seafoods which are harvested and processed far from retail outlets, e.g. scallop meat are only marketed frozen. These seafoods are of excellent eating quality because they are frozen while still fresh soon after catching. Quick freezing does not noticeably affect eating quality; it may cause a very slight loss of flavour and a slight firming of texture.
Large amounts of frozen seafood are imported into Australia because local supplies, particularly of boneless fish fillets, do not meet the demand. Imported frozen seafood is generally cheaper than fresh local varieties but nevertheless usually is of high quality. Many types of frozen seafood, including cooked peeled prawns, scallops, smoked fish fillets, uncooked boneless fish fillets, breaded fish pieces (fish fingers) and fish portions are imported. Breaded fish are boneless pieces of fish which have been coated with breadcrumbs, cooked and frozen. Breaded frozen seafood (fish, scallops, oysters and prawns) is an excellent convenience food because it is ready for cooking (or heating only, if already cooked). Breaded seafood does not need to be thawed before cooking and is ideal for a quick fried seafood dinner.
How to judge quality in frozen seafood
Buy packs of frozen seafood from stores that have a high turnover of frozen products and store frozen food correctly - that is below the 'load line' in the freezer cabinet. Buy packs of frozen seafood only in the original package, as packed and sealed by the processor. There should be no tears in the wrapping and no loose ice on the outside or inside of the package. These precautions will help, but you still cannot properly assess the quality of a pack of frozen seafood before making a purchase. The best way to find a good reliable product is by trial and error.
Freezing your own seafood catch
Wherever possible freeze the seafood raw, completely cleaned and in meal-sized amounts so that it will be ready to cook from the frozen state and will not require thawing. It is most important to label and date mark each pack before it is placed in the freezer. Do not keep more seafood that you can use in 9-12 months.
Freezing fish
Freeze whole fish only if you want to cook and serve it whole, otherwise it is better to freeze it as fillets or cutlets because these will freeze faster and stack more conveniently in the freezer. Rinse the fresh fillets or cutlets in clean water, making sure they are completely clean. Wrap enough pieces for one meal in plastic wrap to avoid the need to thaw more than you need; it is a good idea to separate the fillets with plastic wrap so they come apart easily when frozen. Label and date mark each pack and then place in the coldest part of the freezer to ensure fast freezing. The frozen fish cutlets or fillets should then be dipped in cold water, some of which will freeze to the surface of the fish, forming an ice glaze. The glaze helps protect the frozen food from drying out (freezer burn) and developing off-flavours (cold storage flavours).
Freezing shellfish
Clean and remove inedible portions, such as the lobster's head or the abalone shell. Wash carefully and wrap large specimens such as lobsters or crabs separately. Freeze small species, such as prawns or abalone in a the seafood completely with cold water and place the container into the coldest part of the freezer. When frozen solid, repack into heavy duty plastic bags, label and date mark. The freezing of small items into a block of ice prevents freezer burn and formation of cold storage flavours.
Seafood should not be bought to freeze at home unless it is absolutely fresh when purchased. Commercially frozen seafood is usually cheaper and better processed than home frozen food.
Storage
If your freezer can maintain a temperature of -18°C (0°F) or colder, lean seafood such as prawns, bream, whiting, snapper, lobsters and scallops will keep for 9-12 months. Fatty seafood such as mullet will only keep well for three to four months before off-flavours develop. However it is not a good idea to store undated commercial packs of seafood at home for longer than two months because you do not know how long the seafood has been frozen when you buy it.
Thawing frozen seafood
Large items such as whole fish, lobsters or crabs need to be thawed before use. Thawing should be done in the refrigerator at a temperature below 4°C (40°F) to stop the growth of food poisoning bacteria; 24 hours on a top shelf of the refrigerator is usually long enough to thaw large items.
Small animals such as scallops, prawns or squid need only be thawed if they are to be prepared in a special way before cooking (for example if they are to be stuffed or breaded), or if they are frozen in a solid block. Thaw small items rapidly by placing under running cold water. The food will thaw quickly once separated from the block; this should take about 10 minutes. Seafood that is fully prepared (such as fish fingers) need not be thawed before cooking.
Cooking seafood
There are many ways to cook seafood - and almost all are quick and easy. Although seafood may appear expensive when compared with other foods, it should be noted that you do not need as much for a meal as you would with beef or lamb. This is particularly true if the seafood is part of a dish served with rice, noodles or spaghetti. You should buy the type of seafood appropriate to the meal planned. For example, only buy cooked shellfish if you intend to eat them without further cooking, otherwise buy the animals uncooked because double cooking only toughens the flesh. Seafood requires shorter cooking times than beef, lamb or chicken, and because most species of seafood have a low fat and high water content they can easily be overcooked. Overcooking dries out and toughens seafood and destroys much of the flavour. Extra care must be taken not to overcook non-fatty seafood such as lean fish, scallops and lobsters, particularly if it is being grilled or barbecued. Fish is cooked when the flesh is white and the flakes separate easily when opened with a fork.
Most seafood can be prepared in varied and interesting ways. For instance, it can be steamed whole, poached, baked, barbecued, grilled or fried. It can be eaten raw (usually marinated) or cooked with different spices or sauces according to individual taste.
Eating raw seafood
Most oysters and some fish may be eaten raw. Under normal circumstances it should be perfectly safe to eat raw seafood, but you should be aware of two possible dangers. Shellfish which are filter feeders, such as oysters, mussels and pipis may concentrate harmful bacteria in parts of their bodies. If the shellfish grow in areas polluted with human or animal sewage they may harbour large numbers of harmful bacteria and cause food poisoning if eaten raw. This can be a problem with oysters because the whole animal is eaten raw, and it may be a problem with mussels and pipis if they are undercooked. Most of the harmful bacteria are destroyed by normal cooking. Although fish may be taken from the same water, they are safe to eat because only the flesh is eaten and it does not normally contain harmful bacteria.
Our fresh oysters are imported with the inspection of health authority from farms that are licensed and inspected by their local health authorities. Each batch is accompanied by details of date, area of harvest and date of packing etc.
Some species of fish (e.g. spanish mackerel and snoek) are occasionally heavily infested with parasitic worms. If infected fish is eaten raw, the live parasites may cause illness in humans. Normal cooking or freezing kills the parasites. Although not all species contain parasites, it is unwise to eat raw fish or feed it to household pets unless it is carefully examined first.
Lobsters
Lobsters are known as the “King of Seafood”. The Maine lobster is usually found on the east coast of North America, from Newfoundland to North Carolina. It is a myth that lobsters are scavengers as they mainly eat fresh food which includes fish and shellfish such as mussels and clams.
Losters belong to the family of Crustaceans. There are also white, yellow and blue lobsters other than the normal coloured ones. Lobsters grow by molting, which is the process of preparing, performing and recovering from shedding its shell. It occurs approximately 25 times in the initial 5-7 years of life.
Lobsters have the ability to discard a claw intentionally to allow escape, which the process is known as autonomy. It takes several weeks, or even months for the claw to regenerate. However it takes about one or two molts before the claw regenerates fully.
Tips on how to steam lobster
1) Boil about 2 inches of seawater/saltwater in a kettle.
2) Hold the lobsters behind the claws and put them in, one after another.
3) Boil the water again; 18 minutes for 1 to 1 ¼ pound hard-shell lobsters and 20 minutes for 1 ½ pound and larger lobsters. Reduce cooking time by 3 minutes if they are softer-shell.
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