Harris Teeter - How to buy and prepare

How to buy and prepare

How to buy and prepare fantastic seafood at home

Why Choose Seafood?
All seafood is great for your health, easy to prepare right at home and will add excitement to your menu. It’s healthier, more delicious and easier than you think. Let Fishermans Market at Harris Teeter put a little seafood into your meal – you won’t regret it.

Selecting Your Seafood
Whether you choose fresh fish that’s never been frozen, fish that is frozen on board a ship, or land frozen fish, you won’t have to fish for quality. With today’s technology, you get just caught taste and flavor whether frozen or fresh. The following are guidelines to use when making your seafood selection:

• Look and smell for a mild scent of the sea, not a "fishy" smell at the seafood counters.
• All fish should be moist in appearance with a firm flesh that springs back when pressed.
• No traces of browning or drying around the edges should be evident.
• Prepackaged fish should be wrapped tightly.
• No liquid should be in the bottom of the package.
• There should be no sign of frost or ice particles inside frozen seafood packages.

Preparing Your Seafood
Always marinate fish and shellfish in the refrigerator, never at room temperature on the kitchen counter. A general rule for cooking fish is 10 minutes per inch of thickness. If grilling or sautéing, use medium high heat and place fish skin side up, turning the fish halfway through the total cooking time. If broiling or baking in the oven (preheat to 350o – 400o F), place skin side down. If fish is cooked in a sauce or foil, add 5 minutes to total cooking time. All fish is done when the flesh becomes opaque and flakes easily at its thickest part.

Cook it from frozen. Enjoy your favorite fish fillet without the hassle of defrosting by adding an additional 5 – 8 minutes per inch cook time to the above cooking times and methods.
To boil shrimp, bring water to a boil and add shrimp. When the water returns to a full boil, the shrimp are done (3 – 5 minutes). Mussels, clams and oysters should be cooked, steamed or sautéed until the shells pop open.

Ideal Cooking Methods

Baking
Fish fillets or steaks, all shellfish, whole fish

Broiling
Fish fillets or steaks, shrimp and scallops on a skewer

Grilling
Whole fish – salmon, snapper, trout Fish fillets – salmon, cod, halibut, sea bass, mahi mahi, etc… Fish steaks – salmon, swordfish, tuna, halibut, etc… Shellfish – all shrimp & scallops on a skewer

Poaching
Scallops, shrimp, squid, shucked oysters, fish fillets/steaks

Sautéing
Small whole fish such as trout or catfish Fish Fillets less than 1" thick. Shrimp, scallops, shucked oysters

Steaming
All fish fillets or steaks
All shellfish
Whole fish

Stir Fry
Shrimp, scallops, squid, catfish, halibut, salmon, swordfish, tuna, crab

Suggested Serving Sizes

Raw fish fillets/steaks	¼ to ½ lb.
Dressed fish	¾ to 1 lb.
Crab or lobster (shell-on)	1 – 2 lbs.
Unpeeled raw shrimp	½ to ¾ lb.
Cooked shrimp	¼ to ½ lb.
Shucked mussels, clams, oysters, scallops (meat only)	¼ to ½ lb.

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