Fresh Seafood

viajero wrote:

hockables wrote:We were @ The Costco in Guad this afternoon... They had Bay Scallops nearly the size of yer fist... some pretty decent looking Lobsters too....

Crabs were fresh cause they were blink'n and play'n with themselves .....

Very decent looking indeed,but did you notice the prices?
Chris

We get baby scallops from our fish monger who goes door to door in our Community every two weeks. I believe a one kilo bag is $ 80. pesos. We get 4 meals out of it. Never fishy, always tender and perfect. We buy tilapia too.

He has shrimp, cooked shrimp, tilapia, sea bass, red snapper, etc. All frozen solid.

Walter wrote:
The Bay of Fundy has the absolute best lobster and Digby scallops, bar none! We ship an enormous amount of lobster to France this time of year.

Hocks- you must have been listening to CBC.

This topic is not up for discussion. If you haven't tried them, then you just don't know. The best lobster I ever had, I could muster up the memory four days later and get a flavour flash.

New here, so enjoying reading older threads, and had to comment on this: you can only get Digby clams and scallops from the Bay of Fundy anyway, as that's where Digby is located.

I must say after living in Halifax/Dartmouth for a couple of years, the most expensive lobster were the ones being sold by the side of the road. Tourist grabbers. And the best restaurant dishes were always the "fishermans' platter", because you would get an assortment of whatever was fresh that day, and not a preselected menu configuation.

Note that the freshest shrimp are the ones that haven't been refrozen (unless you live in a shrimpers town). I only discovered this by accident some time back while researching on the Weeb. All the shrimp trawlers freeze their shrimp on board before coming back to shore (except some weird British shrimp company), so if you buy it "fresh" on ice at the tianguis, it's been thawed.

HelperGuy wrote:Note that the freshest shrimp are the ones that haven't been refrozen (unless you live in a shrimpers town). I only discovered this by accident some time back while researching on the Weeb. All the shrimp trawlers freeze their shrimp on board before coming back to shore (except some weird British shrimp company), so if you buy it "fresh" on ice at the tianguis, it's been thawed.

All the Shrimp in Mexico is frozen. It doesn't matter as most of them they are IQF (individually quick frozen). Easier to put up into small batches.

You are correct about fresh shrimp, only the DAY boats bring them in, like on Boston's Fish Pier.

Shrimp is one of our favorite foods. We do Baked Stuffed at home with seafood stuffing. mmmm......good. Fried is occassionally OK too.

I dunno about that... most of the shrimp I see are at outdoor markets where they've been allowed to thaw, and are usually referred to as "fresh". I didn't used to care. Now I do. The only sure way to know is buy it bagged from a brand name. Even then, I just hope that the delivery services in Mexico have improved over the open-sided trucks that used to bring this stuff around.

HelperGuy wrote:I dunno about that... most of the shrimp I see are at outdoor markets where they've been allowed to thaw, and are usually referred to as "fresh". I didn't used to care. Now I do. The only sure way to know is buy it bagged from a brand name. Even then, I just hope that the delivery services in Mexico have improved over the open-sided trucks that used to bring this stuff around.

The Shrimp you see at outdoor markets is "previously" frozen. They call it fresh, but it's a lie. Those guys buy it from the Abastos or Mercado del Mar in GDL and transport it here. I would never buy it there, as you really don't know how it's handled. It only takes one little end sticking out from the ice to get food poisoning. I buy all our seafood from Pacifico Pescaderia in La Huerta Plaza, West Ajijic. I buy the U 16 - 20 at the Pescaderia. You can buy the frozen shrimp at Costco, huge U 15's, excellent, but expensive. They are IQF (individually quick frozen).

Jon correction not all srimp are frozen just most of them .
I can tell you that the seafood I had in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca was not frozen. The shrimp were very sweet, the oysters lived and chucked in front of us and the octopus was delicious. It all dpends where you live.
I have bought frozen shrimp from the tianguis for the last 12 years and never got sick.

Is it just me, or do a lot of people seem to only read the first line or two of any post?

It's just you.

HelperGuy wrote:Is it just me, or do a lot of people seem to only read the first line or two of any post?

I don’t know how to respond because I really don’t want to offend anyone, but IMO your right. Is it because we don’t understand what is printed, because of our different upbringings or we just don’t take the time to try and understand?

johninajijic wrote:

HelperGuy wrote:I dunno about that... most of the shrimp I see are at outdoor markets where they've been allowed to thaw, and are usually referred to as "fresh". I didn't used to care. Now I do. The only sure way to know is buy it bagged from a brand name. Even then, I just hope that the delivery services in Mexico have improved over the open-sided trucks that used to bring this stuff around.

The Shrimp you see at outdoor markets is "previously" frozen. They call it fresh, but it's a lie. Those guys buy it from the Abastos or Mercado del Mar in GDL and transport it here. I would never buy it there, as you really don't know how it's handled. It only takes one little end sticking out from the ice to get food poisoning. I buy all our seafood from Pacifico Pescaderia in La Huerta Plaza, West Ajijic. I buy the U 16 - 20 at the Pescaderia. You can buy the frozen shrimp at Costco, huge U 15's, excellent, but expensive. They are IQF (individually quick frozen).

All the shrimp we have bought in Jalisco has been previously frozen. Now, in places such as Mérida and Tehuantepec perhaps not if you are in the right seafood joint.

Freezing shrimp changes their flavor and texture significantly to their detriment. In Coastal Alabama and France or in inland cities near coastal producers from Birmingham (of the Alabama not the British variety) to Paris, a restaurateur that ever served shrimp that was previously frozen would be out of business overnight unless he/she is runnng some dreadful franchise joint such as Red Lobster or Long John Silver´s. If one has not tasted fresh shrimp just off the day boat, one has never tasted great shrimp. When Brigitte and I lived on the shores of Mobile Bay we met the shrimp boats at the dock upon their return from the Gulf and they were superb. We had to be alert as most of hhe shrimp were destined to be frozen and trucked to places like Chiacago. The best shrimp Dawg has ever tasted came from the Atlantic in France and the best were never frozen but absolutely fresh from the sea. The difference is undeniable.

I must say that John comes from a place (Metro Boston or thereabouts) with very good seafood and he is right that the shrimp you buy at Costco and anywhere around here is "flash frozen. This technique will not suffice on the Ü.S. Gulf Coast or Coastal France or places like Paris. Don´t even try it.

But unless you live in a coastal area where fresh is available, you have no choice. You can't keep shrimp fresh and truck it from Florida to Jersey. But shrimp frozen on the boat that catches it is actually pretty good.

IQF was using a fast way to freeze food. Twenty ?? years ago they use to use
liquid freon and pour it over whatever to freeze them. If there was more heat
in the food to be frozen than the cold in the freon the freon would turn to gas
and flow over the conveyer belt and disappear over the floor. Somehow I
doubt if one is allowed to use freon this way in an open system like that anymore.
According to the General Foods scientist I use to work for scrimp
is one of the better foods to freeze with very little damage. Of course fresh
is better.

Z

Are "scrimp" the tiny ones?

Speaking of fresh shrimp, a week or two ago I noticed a pile of large (head on) shrimp in the display case with a sign saying "Fresh Shrimp" and asked the jefe if they were indeed fresh and never frozen. He assured me they were that kind of fresh, and there was nothing lost in our conversation. As I had never noticed fresh shrimp sold inland I kinda scratched my head then remembered the time I spent fishing and sailing in central America and Mexico. The shrimp trawlers work at night and if there was an island nearby they would anchor in the lee and sleep all day. Whenever we saw them at anchor we would stop by and trade Playboy magazines and/or .22 ammo for buckets of shrimp to eat and use for bait. Then it occurred to me it should be easy, during shrimp season, for a large vendor to get fresh shrimp inland. So I'll betcha if you asked the jefe for fresh shrimp and maybe put in an order he would make it happen. Just a though, I haven't asked.

And speaking of fresh, June starts the harvest season for chocolate clams (so named for the coloration of their shells). Now I'm not going to go on and on but really, there is no better seafood deal than them babies. Oh and they're available year round frozen.

O.k, curiosity just got the better of me and I called the English speaking cashier at Pescaderia Pacifico (766-2203) and have a thought. How about for the next board get together, assuming it will be at Jim's place, order, what say, 5 - 10 kilos of fresh shrimp? The cashier said it should be no problem for a large order, just give them 2 weeks notice. Come to think of it I'll bring a bunch of chocolate clams to serve on the 1/2 shell. So bring a bib and some beer folks, this could be a big one.

Hey, did you ask them if they will be getting in the choco clams?

They always have frozen chocolate clams, as do most seafood markets, the live are only available during the harvest season from May to September and they will have them.

It's the live ones I'm hoping for, thanks.

Dawg may have to try this Oncesubtle, if I am here when this possible event takes place. Since I will be in France or Chapas much of thi year, please give me a proposed event time because this sounds like fun.

I think Fearless mentioned the end of the month at Jim's and the lady at Pacifico, after asking el jefe, said the 28th or 29th would be good. So those dates are definite maybes which would beg the question, when are yours?

When asked this morning, Carla, the English speaking cashier at Pacifico said business was way off because the narco activity in the area. So I hope ya'll might want to stop by and purchase some of the freshest seafood inland. Today's offering includes: Sushi grade tuna (albacore) corvina, dorado and muy fresco halibut along with their large selection of frozen mariscos.

Understandable. The Tapatios stayed away last weekend and it doesn't look like they're here this weekend either. Who could blame them? Fortunately I live nearby Pacifico and am headed there now!

Pescaderia Pacifico at La Huerta Plaza, without a doubt the best and freshest seafood and the largest selection at Lakeside. One of the greatest additions to the Lakeside Community. We love it as well as the Tapatios who come on weekends. I don't know why El Najer and La Playa are still in business with their mediocre products.