It’s hard to find delicious fresh fish.Supermarket fishmongers don’t always have a variety of options, and inlanders – who lack the luxury of walking to the dock to buy directly from the boat – have more limited options.Fortunately for home cooks, mail-order seafood delivery has increased and improved over the past year, as seafood distributors, who typically serve the restaurant industry, shift to direct-to-consumer sales.Here are some of our favorite online resources for quality seafood for making decadent dinners, like aromatic grilled swordfish kebabs or creamy seafood bubble roast.
Online seafood options range from wild-caught whole fish to farm-raised seafood fillets, and everything in between.Some sites are dedicated to a certain region, such as Alaska or Maine seafood, while others offer crustaceans and freshwater fish that are abundant in the ocean.
Subscribing to an online seafood share is often more sustainable because you can buy from a community-supported fishery to get a share of the local catch before it even hits the water.Online shopping also often offers quality seafood at more affordable prices and takes the guesswork out of meal planning.Various subscriptions are available.
Most seafood is shipped overnight on dry ice to keep it as fresh as possible.With logistics in mind, the weight and value of an order often has to exceed a certain amount to make the shipment worthwhile—if you’re not ready to stock up on 5 pounds of salmon in the refrigerator, consider sharing it with a neighbor.
Our ocean is not a buffet, so sustainability is a major factor in our recommended online seafood suppliers.To pick the most sustainable species, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app, which monitors which fish are the most sustainable to eat at any time.
The Bronx-based supplier is the largest consortium of seafood wholesalers in the United States.It supplies fish to many of New York’s best restaurants — and restaurants across the country — and has a well-functioning direct-to-consumer sales program.Family-sized, individually frozen high-quality fish nuggets are a huge selling point, as is the wide variety of shellfish.Subscribe to Seafood Share, fill your fridge with various boxes, or splurge on specials like octopus and caviar at home.
For a quick dinner on the all-in-one shipping, check out 100% wild-caught seafood from ButcherBox.Take the guesswork out of dinner food, buy a la carte is not a choice but a pre-selected array including ready-to-eat Alaskan sockeye fillets, lobster claws, cod, scallops, no added water or chemicals, plus salmon burgers ready to grill plate.At $155 for nearly 7 pounds of fresh frozen wild seafood, plus free shipping, it’s one of the best deals.
A favorite of East Coast raw bars, Island Creek Oysters has been breeding special bivalves in the waters off Duxbury, Massachusetts since 2000.In addition to retailing oysters and baby clams from its own and neighboring farms, Island Creek also offers premium domestic caviar and an impressive range of European tinned tins shipped overnight to anywhere in the continental United States.Buy a sampler to pick a specific variety (such as sweetneck oysters from Martha’s Vineyard or Wellfleet oysters from the Massachusetts town of the same name), or buy in bulk to share with a crowd.Not sure where to start?$85 gets you two dozen oysters, plus a shucker and gloves.
If you can’t go lobster fishing off the coast of Maine, opening a package with frozen live lobster is the next best thing.Luke’s 1.25-1.5 lbs. Fresh Wild Maine Live Lobster is sold in pairs and can be steamed, boiled or grilled.Prices start at $110 including overnight shipping.Those who prefer fresh seafood can also purchase lobster tails, seasoned lobster meat, lobster roll kits, and more Maine-sourced seafood such as scallops, cod and halibut.
Even the best face-to-face fish markets rarely offer a wide variety of live crustaceans, which is what makes The Crab Place so compelling.This vendor features Maryland blue crabs, available live or cooked.You can even choose the size and gender of hard or soft shell crabs, which are sold by the dozen or bushels.Crab Place also sells some pre-made products like crab cakes and meat, as well as Gulf shrimp and Chesapeake Bay oysters.
A direct-to-consumer platform owned and operated by fishermen, Alaska Salmon Company connects consumers and fishermen directly.Used by restaurants and chefs across the country, the site lets you buy fresh-to-sea Copper River salmon, sockeye salmon, and more seasonal catches.You’ll get the highest quality salmon while supporting some of the most sustainable fisheries in the world.
This wild salmon is all sushi grade, so you can slice it at home poke or sashimi.Of course, it’s also great cooked.Salmon is sold in bulk in 5-pound boxes and fillets ranging from 8 to 10 ounces, so you can stock up and secure your share during salmon season.Salmon can be ordered anytime and usually ships within a week of purchase.
The premium seafood supplier has launched a direct-to-consumer sustainable seafood delivery program that lets you easily replicate restaurant-friendly dishes at home.Purefish provides 6 oz.Fully trimmed center cuts – from saltwater striped bass, mahi mahi, ahi tuna, and more – are packaged on disposable oven-safe aluminum trays.Their goal is simple: get dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes.Boxes of four trays start at $150 and can be customized to your liking.Feeling decision fatigued?Opt for pre-curated versions, like grillable options or a nutritionist-curated omega box.
Whether you’re stocking your pantry, packing for a hike, or just want to take out seafood, Safe Catch’s 3 oz Wild-Caught Tuna Pack is the perfect choice.Mercury-tested and safe for children, pregnant tuna lovers, and people with special diets, this high-quality, delicious tuna can be divided into smaller pieces than your usual 5-ounce cans serving sizes for efficient meal prep and snacking.These packs are light enough to carry around and stack nicely in any cabinet.Wild Catch also sells salmon and sardines online.
“Today, with freezing technology, both fresh and frozen seafood are good options,” said Curt Brown, a marine biologist and lobster harvester at Ready Seafoods in Portland, Maine.”Fresh local seafood is always a good option, but frozen options allow consumers to try a variety of delicious seafood.”
Kyle Lee, founder of the Alaska Salmon Company, added that the “fresh” label can sometimes be misleading.“For example, the traditional supply chain for most Alaskan salmon is frozen through 7 to 10 middlemen before it goes to the grocery fish market labeled ‘fresh’ because it’s thawed and ready to eat that night. Quality drops, salmon mushy , has a bad reputation,” he said.”Purchasing frozen salmon directly from the boat means it’s snap-frozen as soon as it returns to shore, preserving the freshest possible meat and flavor and maintaining quality until you open your order.” The fish on this list all fit this description.
Lee recommends that once your shipment arrives, store it in the refrigerator if you plan to use it that night or the next.”However, if you’re going to store anything longer than that, you’ll need to store it in a vacuum-sealed bag (at least 3mm thick) in the fridge,” he said.If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, just squeeze the air out of the bag as it seals.”This prevents freezer burns and extends the time you can freeze seafood, and provides some protection from sharp corners or other items in the freezer that might be damaged.” Use a permanent marker to mark seafood with the freeze date, and any other Details that make thawing easy.
“On average, you can store seafood in the refrigerator for up to a year,” says Lee.”The longer it’s stored, the more flavor and texture it starts to lose.” While anything can be frozen, he notes that fatty fish like salmon and black cod freeze better.
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Post time: Apr-06-2022