Shopping for Seafood

• To ensure that fish is fresh, check that the eyes are clear and bright and not sunken, the skin should look shiny and moist, flesh should be firm and the fish should have a sea-fresh smell.
  
• When buying white fish fillets look for neat trim fillets and a white translucent colour.
  
• Smoked fish should have a fresh smoky aroma and glossy appearance.
  
• Frozen fish should be frozen hard with no sign of partial thawing, and the packaging should not be damaged.
  
• When buying shellfish the shells should be undamaged and closed tightly without cracks.
  

Storing Fish

• When storing fresh fish, simply rinse, pat dry, cover and store in a refrigerator overnight.
  
• All frozen fish should be stored at -18 degrees Celsius or colder. At -18 degrees Celsius white fish can be stored for a maximum of 3 months, oily fish 2 months, smoked fish 3 months and shellfish 2 months.

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Cooking Seafood

• If cooking whole fish make slits in the thickest parts, they will cook quicker.
  Oil-rich fish is naturally moist and needs little basting, just a little lemon juice.
• Baking, steaming, grilling, microwaving and frying cause little loss of nutrients. However, boiling results in nearly half the minerals in fish being leached out into the cooking water. This can be rectified if the cooking water is used to make a sauce.
• Never over-cook fish. Fish is cooked when it looks white in colour or opaque and a fork or skewer goes easily into the flesh.
• Be careful when preparing seafood as food poisoning and spoilage bacteria can spread from raw and live seafood to cooked seafood. It is best to handle raw and cooked seafood products separately.

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