Seafood – Fishes. Here some useful information when you buy or eat fish

Seafood – Fishes

How can you tell if they are fresh:

• Eyes: They must extend and they must be transparent
• Smell: It must be light and pleasant
• Branchia: They must be wet and intensively red
• Fish scale: They have to be smooth and easily removed.
• Fish: It has to be tight

Before eating them at the tavern

• Fish Pick out those you want to eat
• Avoid eating fried food/fish because it’s really difficult to distinguish the quality of the oil
• Ask for seafood that is served warm. You have more possibilities to taste something which is not kept in the fridge.
• Order fish that you can distinguish at least visually. Thus, you will know that you pay for what you’ve ordered.

In order not to pay …… The coal for gold

You should be able to disinguish:

• The fish called sfyrida from stira: Sfyrida has a light gray color and a long shape. Stira has green “patches” on it.
• The so-called goatfish from its “cousin: koutsomoura: The goatfish has a curved head, while koutsomoura has a straight and short front. Koutsomoura also has a more intense smell from the goatfish.
• The sardine from frissa: Unfortunately, their only difference is a yellow stripe on the sardine’s sides.
• The whitebait from the tseroula: Tseroula is wider and has a lighter color.

When you buy

Octopus : The real octopus has fat tentacles and dark gray color. Instead of octopus they might sell you melidona, which has a tasteless and rough skin. Its color is reddish and its tentacles are thin and long.

Squid : The real squid is reddish and it has small flaps. If you do not notice it you may eat thrapsalo, which is not as good as the squid. The thrapsalo has a gray color, rarely yellow, while its flaps are very big as regards its body.

Lobster-Shrimps-Crawfish: It orange-red color is a sign of freshness, but unfortunately is not always real, since if you put in hot water and vinegar it becomes like that. Thus, the only way to find out if it’s really fresh or alive is to see it before being cooked.

General rules on the consumption of seafood

Never choose seafood that does not have a pleasant smell of freshness

Always choose shellfish of which the shell is closed. If you find a small hole on the shell, try to empty its inside on your hand, to find out if it smells bad.

In order to find out if a cockle is alive you should spill some lemon on it.

Avoid any shell you do not its origin.

Avoid shrimps and crawfish that have an intense smell and avoid those that the legs are not well attached to the rest of its bodies.