Cook it Frozen: Cooking Seafood Straight from the Freezer | Hatch Magazine - Fly Fishing, etc.

by Colin K. Breck - Monday, Sep 30th, 2013

Many people avoid cooking seafood as often as they could be or should be as a result of the perceived inconvenience. This is largely due to a well-heeled misconception that frozen seafood is of lower quality than fresh seafood. As a result, many view seafood as something you don't keep on hand, and instead buy fresh from the market the day that you intend to cook it.

First off, it is important to note that "fresh" seafood is almost always itself a misconception. With rare exceptions, seafood that is represented as fresh at your grocery store's seafood counter is actually nothing more than previously frozen seafood that the store has thawed before selling it to you. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of fish that are harvested from the ocean and sold on U.S. store shelves are frozen shortly after being caught and the result is a seafood product that is of equal and often higher quality than if that fish arrived at market without being frozen. Don't believe me? Well, consider that Japan's finest sushi chefs will use frozen fish without pause and in fact often prefer it.

And while frozen fish can be quickly and easily defrosted and ready for cooking, Alaskan Wild Seafood is aiming to make the prospect of keeping seafood on hand and cooking it even more convenient. To do so, they've put together CookItFrozen.com, which includes -- you guessed it -- information on cooking seafood such as salmon, halibut, cod, crab and more directly from the freezer. No thawing. The information is available on their web site in the form of recipes and instructional videos but also can be accessed through their free smartphone app which includes added features such as a grocery list maker for easier trips to the market.