Look for lustre to know if fish is fresh

April 24th, 2012

It’s not only a fishy smell that indicates if fish is fresh or not. And unless we’ve been lucky enough to catch it ourselves, we can never really be too sure how fresh the fish at the market is.

Fostering a good relationship will our local fishmonger will help, we might even get a wink and a bonus lemon every once and a while as well!

Otherwise, we should use all of our senses to know if the fish is fresh. Smell is an obvious giveaway, but also the look and feel of the fish is telling.

At the Sydney Seafood School head chef Coralie Riordan makes sure that students leave her classes with a sound knowledge of how to know if fish is fresh at the markets.

“Look for the lustre,” Riordan says. “Shine indicates freshness.”

If the skin, the scales, the flesh or eyes are looking dull or opaque then there’s a good chance this isn’t the catch of the day.

Bright, clear eyes are the windows into a fish’s freshness. If they have lost their shine they are fine to eat, but past their prime.

When buying a whole fish also check the gills: they should be bright red. Use your common sense with smell, for both whole fish and fish fillets. Don’t hesitate and pass it over if it smells off.

“Texture is a giveaway for freshness as well. The fish should feel firm.”

Test it by pressing on the flesh, if it doesn’t bounce back and your finger leaves an indentation that won’t go away, walk away and find a fresher fish.

“You also want to make sure that there is no discoloration, no black. Black is a sign of oxydisation and perishability.”

Similarly if the flesh has a milky liquid it means it has started to rot. A clear liquid is OK though.

How to store fresh fish

Riordan has handy advice for storing fresh fish. She recommends transporting the fish from the market to fridge by wrapping it in ice.

Once home it’s important to take the fish out of its plastic bag where otherwise it will sweat and deteriorate. Place the fish on a plate and wrap loosely with glad wrap before putting it in the fridge.

Keri Algar

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.