Tips from professional Chef Tallyrand:

Tips on Fresh Fish

The term 'fresh' fish will mean different things to different people and different cultures.

Fresh? There are so many factors that determine fresh when it comes to fish.

1.	Fish should always be gutted and gilled as soon as it is caught, so any bacteria held in these areas cannot permeate into the flesh as it breaks down (it also ensures a better flavour and aroma)
2.	A fish may be only two days old but if it is has not been stored correctly it might as well be two weeks! Experts agree, that for every hour a freshly caught fish is not stored on ice, it loses one day of shelf life. So a fish not chilled for four hours is equivalent in quality to a five day old fish that has been kept on ice
3.	If a fish is stored correctly, (kept on ice) from the time it is caught, it has a useable life of up to ten days. However this is rarely the case and one should use the fish of course as soon as possible. Besides the fact it tastes so much better, one must also remember the health benefits and staying safe from food poisoning.
4.	How to tell how fresh fish is? With filleted fish it can be very difficult, one must rely on our senses of smell and touch.
		When lightly pressed the flesh of 'fresh' fish should be quite resilient and bounce back, the older it gets the more likely it is that the indent will remain or slowly bounce back
		It should of course smell fresh, the more it smells like 'fish' the older it is. The fresher it is the less unpleasant aroma there will be
		Always presuming one can be allowed to smell and touch prior to purchase, or one must rely on the supplier and maybe the use by date if packaged
5.	For whole fish look for
		a pleasant aroma (someone once wrote that, fish should smell of the sea, be briny in aroma . . . by the time it smells of fish it is too late! )
		flesh that is resilient
		plentiful scales that are not dried up
		the body being covered in sea slime
		bright, bulging eyes
		the gills should be bright and / or red and free from any yeasty aroma and slime (slime in the gills is usually a bacterial slime - not good!)

The older the fish, the lower the quality, the less the above will apply. For example all other signs might be present but

What it all comes down to is one must use one's owns judgement, rely on one's senses (including common sense!) and what are you buying the fish for?

		If its for sashimi (see below) it must be almost alive!
		If it is for poaching it must be fresh, fresh
		If it is for frying, bbq etc then as long as the fish smells ok, it probably is and will taste fine

Sashimi
I mentioned above about sashimi quality, sashimi quality fish means it is so fresh it is suitable for serving raw. Sashimi basically being a Japanese dish of paper thin slices of raw fish or other seafoods, ornately presented and served with dipping sauces.

Sushi
Sushi on the other hand is entirely a different kettle of fish (excuse the pun!) :-) Sushi is essentially a dish of cold cooked rice. The most common variety most people know is Maki zushi or Californian roll: cooked rice, rolled into a tube shape, wrapped in nori (a toasted, processed, flat sheet of seaweed) that will include many other ingredients: meats, seafoods, vegetables etc that may be cooked, raw or a combination there of. Served with a dipping sauce. There is also Nigiri sushi - known as 'a la carte sushi or sometimes hand made sushi'. Which is rice made into a small rugby ball shape and foods 'dressed' over the top

Food safety
I can not stress enough though, that even fish straight out of the sea does NOT guarantee against food poisoning! If the fish contains certain pathogens (food poisoning bacteria) or if it has been feeding near sewerage outlets (and many fish do!) then even cooking them is still likely to give you a bit of an stomach upset. All one can do, like anything in life is to stay as safe as possible.

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Published 23 October 2005