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WANT THE FRESHEST FISH?

How fresh is the fish that you order at restaurants? Does the 'catch of the day,' mean it's really been caught that very day? Find out and become clued up on how to tell when fish is really fresh...

"Is it fresh?" is the mantra of the fish eaters in search of quality. If only it were that simple. "Fresh" could be a fish bought straight from the trawler, in Cape Town's Kalk Bay harbour and braaied the same day. Or, it could be a fish listed as "Fresh" on a New York restaurant menu, two weeks after it had left the sea off the Southern Cape coast.

Not hard to guess which one you'd choose. But straight from the boat might not be as fresh as you think. It all depends on how the fish was stored. The trawler might have been at sea for days, with its catch spoiling in the sun, while the fish flown to New York in ideal storage conditions might have lost very little of its freshness and moisture.

The bottom line is, that the core temperature of the fish must be brought down to between 2 C and 4 C within an hour of being caught, and then maintained. "That's why you need to know your fish and buy it from a source you trust," says fish retailer, exporter and restaurateur Douw Krugmann, founder of the growing Cape Town Fish Market chain of restaurants.

"Fish" has to be handled very, very carefully. If it's not looked after from the moment it's caught, it's going to spoil. Sometimes you're better off with fish that's been blast-frozen at minus 60 C, which is the correct way, than one that's fresh but hasn't been handled correctly."

A simplistic take on the fresh/ frozen issue is only a reflection of a wider ignorance. Many people don't know their stumpnose from their yellowtail. - let alone what qualities to look for when considering the catch of the day at the fish counter.

Until a few years ago, Douw was no different. After all he was a steakhouse man for nearly two decades. When he sold he's successful franchise in Klerkdorp to buy an ailing fish restaurant in Cape Town, everyone thought he was mad. What did he know about fish?

"Nothing at all", he grins, but he has proved that the more you know, the more you relish the variety, versatility and all the heaven-scent flavours of fish. The committed meat- eater is now passionate about the perfection of a good piece of kingklip, drizzled with lemon butter, and serving the freshest sushi at his conveyer- belted sushi bar.

Douw is positively evangelical about the subject about what should happen to a catch once it's been hauled onto a boat - usually from a long line ( a row of baited hooks that stretches for kilometers) or a net. Some fish need to be gutted immediately, some don't, but all should be packed in flake ice, which prevents the fish from drying out.

"What should happen- and what they do for export fish- is lay it on about two centimeters of ice and pack more ice on top of it," explains Douw. The export market is another reason why high quality fresh fish is scarce in South Africa. As long as the rand is weak, overseas markets will be more attractive than local ones, even given the strict European standards exporters have to comply with.

"Fresh hake is now going overseas in huge quantities too, so it's becoming more expensive," he says. "Which is a pity because it used to be our cheapest fish. A good piece of hake is wonderful. It has a bad reputation because we only know the frozen and battered fillets." How can you settle for those ever again, when you can pick your fish yourself with a discreet sniff and a progressively more practiced eye?

"And there is some truth in the suspicion that fish is fresher in Johannesburg than it is on the coast," says Douw. "As long as Johannesburg has the money to pay a few rand extra per kilo for fresh fish, Cape Town, Durban and other coastal cities will get the leftovers."

So, we do get good fish, but not always - all the more reason to know your fish, so you recognise a good thing when you see it. And to buy it from a fishmonger you trust, instead of just anywhere.

Telling a whopper
Don't get caught by the "catch of the day" line. "You can't always get fresh fish," says Douw. "If the weather is bad, they don't catch. Don't let anyone tell you they get in fresh fish everyday."

What does 'fresh' mean in Joburg?
For George Sinovich, of the Morningside fish stop, Fresh, and the Codfather fame, it's fish that's been pulled out of the water no more than 24 to 48 hours previously. He's a fan of fish caught on ski boats that go to sea for no more than seven hours, where each fish is caught on individual lines.

Handling is critical too. So, within one to two hours of the fish being pulled out of the sea, it's core temperature needs to be reduced to between 2 C and 4 C. ( The fish is cooled by immersing it in a slurry of seawater and ice.)

If that doesn't happen, bacteria will take hold during this critical and the fish will begin to deteriorate. Once the optimal core temperature has been reached, the gutted fish is filled, bedded and blanketed with crushed ice to help maintain the temperature. The fish is then air freighted to Jo'burg and available on the fishmonger's slab within 24 hours of removal from sea.

Good to know in Gauteng