Fish/Seafood - Choose One

Malc

Malc

Malc

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Manchester
I went to Billingsgate Market this morning (5am!) for the first time to get some Fish.

I walked in with a rough idea of what I wanted including normal well known stuff and was blown away by the choice. Literally every type of fish I had heard of plus god knows how many others. I suppose it is one of the largest fish markets in the UK, but it was still more impressive than I imagined.

In the end I got:

A full salmon ~ 4KG for £16
2.1KGs of prepared and uncooked king prawns for £12
3.2KGs of Coley for £13.80 (poor mans cod, but Jamie Oliver mentioned it on his fish fight programme and he seemed to love it)
6 Oysters to try for 50p each (never had oysters)

So about £10kgs of good quality fish for ~£45. In my book this is pretty damn cheap and I was happy with that. However I felt like next time I need to be more adventurous and get some of the weird/unusual fish (I saw John Dory which caught my eye.)

So my question is: What fish would you get and why? If you can prove why the choice is good with a dish that you've made, all the better. Bear in mind, if you've had it, they've probably got it!
 
Seafood, prefer it. Nothing like a selection of seafood in a light slightly creamy sauce. that's amazing prices, I paid about £10 per kilo for a salmon fillet at Christmas.

But I also like trying things so would probably end up with stuff I've never seen and/or heard of before and just asking them how they like it.
 
So difficult.

Good calamari is amazing, as is smoked salmon. Love trying new seafood like crab claws, deep fried whitebait, mussels and so on. Any really fresh sish is delicious - loved a little restaurant in Croatia where you turned and they just served up a huge platter of whatever fish had been caught that day. Ended up going back 3 times.
 
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Eat the oysters tonight, don't let them get old:)

Just finely chop a shallot and mix with red wine vinegar, leave to infuse. Spoon a teaspoonful over an oyster (make sure you've loosened it) and suck it in! Give it a few chews and swallow, feels like snot, yum!

Green tabasco is also really good on oysters, and if you haven't got any of this, just a squirt of lemon.

Make sure you've got a nice wine on the go also, a muscadet should do the trick:)


As for what to try, have a chat with someone there. I've always found guys at markets to be really helpful, and will often tell you their favourite thing to do with what they're selling. It's good to know what's fresh in/local also.
 
Problem with fish is it really wants eating on the day.

Might pop down to billingsgate for a barbecue in the summer - I'd probably get, in an ideal world:
A big turbot (if i had a barbecue big enough)
Clams (could do a starter with them)
Langoustines
Mackerel
 
With some fresh clams, langoustines, mussels, and calimiri you could do a fantastic seafood paella. I'd be looking at their fresh shellfish as soon as I get in. With prices like that you'd have to take advantage of getting some fresh lobster, crab, oysters (like you have) and scallops.

I really like the fact you got uncooked prawns I never liked the concept of cooking them twice. Salmon is always lovely.

Would like to know how you cooked the coley? Think it compares to cod?
 
My fave sea food ATM:


Coley or pollock dusted well with semolina and shallow fried.

Sea Bass, cleaned, stuffed with citrus, then simply oiled & seasoned. BBQ. Peel away skin and enjoy (really sweet meat if fresh).

Decent sized shrimp, top and tailed only. marinade in oil / lemon juice / chilli / seasoning. Skewer and BBQ.

Scallops, simply fried with very small amount of lemon juice. Serve with black pudding and pea & mint puree.
 
Aye I want to try Coley after that Jamie Oliver section of that programme. He said its exactly the same just different colour and that brits are picky because they want perfect white fish flesh in the cod.

If it tastes the same and is a lot cheaper then why the hell not?
 
HeadlessChicken said:
My fave sea food ATM:


Coley or pollock dusted well with semolina and shallow fried.

Sea Bass, cleaned, stuffed with citrus, then simply oiled & seasoned. BBQ. Peel away skin and enjoy (really sweet meat if fresh).

Decent sized shrimp, top and tailed only. marinade in oil / lemon juice / chilli / seasoning. Skewer and BBQ.

Scallops, simply fried with very small amount of lemon juice. Serve with black pudding and pea & mint puree.
Click to expand...

:D truly mouth watering...
when are you next having a BBQ?!
 
If I was making the effort to go to market then it would be fresh fish for sushi and sashimi.

Tuna, Eel, Mackerel, Salmon. I don't know if they sell fish roe?

Can't say no to 2KG of prawns for £12 either! I like other fish but not ones that are too boney so I'd have to do some research into which are the best whole fish to pick up.
 
In an ideal world I'd get some Mahi Mahi, by far the fish i've most enjoyed eating in my life (consumed a lot of it in Mexico), but being it's a tropical fish not much chance of getting it decent/fresh here.

Mahi Mahi cut into fingers in a light batter with a chardonnay mayo was amazing.
 
Red mullet is lovely. And it looks gorgeous, sort of pinky/almost iridescent skin that looks bright green when it catches the light.

I had it a couple of times in a restaurant in France in a red mullet moroccan tagine. Just fantastic.
 
Fillet the salmon in to portions and wrap up and freeze those. (Get them out as and when needed), same with the coley.

Eat the oysters for dinner today.

The prawns have probably already been frozen so you'd probably want to eat those fairly quickly as well. I'd probably do prawn kebabs, but they're also great in a tortilla with some onion and garlic and chilli. The flavour is so much nice when bought uncooked, but even better when uncooked and with shell on (or half shell on).
 
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