the temperature was reduced very quickly. This is the best way to freeze seafood and meat. It

costs a little more but it results in the least damage to the meat. That means juicier, better-

textured seafood after thawing.

Most retail stores don't offer much selection in the frozen state because customers prefer

their seafood defrosted when they buy it. They want to take the seafood home and have it for

dinner. Defrosted seafood gives at least the illusion of being fresh, and they don't have to worry

about defrosting it correctly themselves.

By the time you see it in the store, some of the seafood they may have frozen, defrosted

and frozen again. But seafood that having gone through several stages of freezing is not always

in bad shape. If done properly, the process causes minimal deterioration. For instance, they often

flash freeze orange roughy in New Zealand on the boat immediately after harvesting, then they

take it to shore, defrost it, fillet it and refreeze it. This fish arrives in the retail stores in excellent

condition because processors know and adhere to the proper freezing and defrosting techniques.

Even at the retail level your chances are better that they handle frozen seafood properly.

Individually quick-frozen (labeled IQF), then ice-glazed seafood is your best bet from the

freezer section. The food processor very quickly blast-freeze IQF seafood often on shipboard

shortly after the fishermen pull it from the water, then ice-glaze each piece to cut off oxygen and

seal in moisture. Retailers are not set up to duplicate this process. While they can refreeze a

defrosted package without your knowledge, they cannot quick-freeze and ice-glaze it. If you can

see individual glossy ice-glazed pieces in a package, your seafood should be of good quality.

Frozen vacuum-packed items are also a good choice, the two combined methods hold

deterioration to minimum. This is a more costly process fish packers do under ideal conditions,

and as long as they don’t get defrosted somewhere along the line, they are likely to be of the best

quality.

Fish processors are attempting to convert both retail customers and professional chefs to

frozen fish, and they do have a valid point. In many areas, good fresh fish is simply not available.

Even if a market is close to a fish farm or commercial fishing area, the freshness still may be

dubious because of inexpert handling and storage. After talking with leading fish processors and

observing the conditions in which they prepare and store frozen seafood, I have to agree. One of

the top seafood restaurants in Seattle, Washington even states on the menu that when fish or

shellfish is out of season or they cannot guarantee their freshness, they may serve you fresh-

frozen seafood to assure good flavor.

The worst choice you can make is seafood that sat thawed in the display so long that the

clerk tossed it in the freezer and reduced the price. You may spot this if the clerk hasn’t

repackaged it, otherwise you are out of luck.

Seafood in your Kitchen

Safe seafood

The old proverb, "fish and visitors stink after three days" has a lot of truth to it. Fish is

the most perishable of all foods and, if you don’t store it properly, the smell reminds you in a few

days. The reasons are both physical and chemical, and have to do with the way fish are built.

Knowing this can assure you that you always have safe and fresh seafood on your table. And if

the meal doesn’t taste good, you can blame your cooking.

Enzymes in different parts of the fish begin softening and breaking down the flesh

Serious Kitchen Play