Buying Fresh Fish

Fish buying has changed a great deal in the last twenty years, and, in a way, it’s become easier. The first thing to know is that most supermarkets specialize in only the most popular fish. As of this writing, these are salmon (mostly farm raised and almost always fresh), shrimp (mostly frozen before sale; more on this in a moment), cod, and, lately, tuna.

Unless you have a great supermarket fish counter, you have to thoroughly check out any fish other than these (you might as well check out these, too, but the supermarkets stock them because they sell, and because they sell they’re usually in good shape). It’s easy enough: