Buying fresh fish -Dublin

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Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby daveyboy » Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:52 pm

Is it actually possible to buy fresh fish (as in fresh off the boats) in Dublin. I love a bit of fresh mackerel but it always looks and smells horrible when I buy it from the wet fish counter so never really bother. In fact the vacuum packed fillets seem fresher. I live in skerries but to the best of my knowledge the fish in the shops around here comes up from Kilmore Quay. It seems the boats around here only out for crab, prawn lobster and razors.is it worth a trip to Howth I wonder? Does anyone know what (if any!) fish sold in Howth come from the Irish Sea and is landed there. Ie is recently caught not frozen at sea a few days before? Probably not the correct forum for this question but just guess a few few folk on here may know. Cheers
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Re: Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby Gonzo » Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:17 pm

daveyboy wrote:Is it actually possible to buy fresh fish (as in fresh off the boats) in Dublin. I love a bit of fresh mackerel but it always looks and smells horrible when I buy it from the wet fish counter so never really bother. In fact the vacuum packed fillets seem fresher. I live in skerries but to the best of my knowledge the fish in the shops around here comes up from Kilmore Quay. It seems the boats around here only out for crab, prawn lobster and razors.is it worth a trip to Howth I wonder? Does anyone know what (if any!) fish sold in Howth come from the Irish Sea and is landed there. Ie is recently caught not frozen at sea a few days before? Probably not the correct forum for this question but just guess a few few folk on here may know. Cheers


Howth is 100% the place for fresh fish off the boats in their harbour, there are a good few fish mongers on the west pier to choose from!
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Re: Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby shortcircuit » Tue Sep 22, 2020 2:28 pm

I don't bother buying mackerel in fish mongers any more because it is always at least a day old if not two. With mackerel it is absolutely vital that it is either eaten nearly on the day it's caught, or if it is to be kept a couple of days , that it is chilled right down using ice or iced water as soon as humanly possible after being caught.

If you love fresh fish, Kilmore Quay is some spot to get it. They sell it on Wed-Friday from the filleting room that is part of the fish processing plant. You can see the fish from the trawlermens boxes in front of you as they work. I got beautiful hake from them. They also sell packets of picked fresh unpasteurised crab meat and it is sensational. Big chunks in the packet its as good as lobster. It is so much better than the fresh crab meat that you get in the supermarket which by necessity has to be pasteurised.

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Re: Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby daveyboy » Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:45 pm

Good few fishmongers in Howth alright but I just wonder how fresh any of the stuff is. I've given up on fresh mackerel from the shops myself too. I find hake can be nice but it's still hit and miss really. Never bought fresh fish in Kilmore Quay but have had it in the chipper there a couple of times and it was quality alright. You'd wonder if there's any difference buying fish in Howth compared to anywhere else in Dublin or if it all just comes from the same wholesaler

Thanks for the tip on the crab by the way. Never knew it was pasteurised
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Re: Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby shortcircuit » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:26 pm

daveyboy wrote: I find hake can be nice but it's still hit and miss really. Never bought fresh fish in Kilmore Quay but have had it in the chipper there a couple of times and it was quality alright.



Hake is quite delicate, so it doesn't like being thrown about the place because it it can turn to mush.

The other thing that isn't good for hake is water. It soaks it up like a sponge which again can make it mushy. That's why if the fishmonger has whole hake get him to fillet one of those rather than getting one of the fillets on the pile.

The people who really know how to treat hake are the spanish. They catch them on long lines so they don't get bet about in a net. Then they are placed in the fish box in a certain way: layer of fish, sheet of greaseproof paper, layer of ice another sheet of paper then the next layer of fish. The fish themselves never contact the ice directly so they don't absorb the melt water. I'm convinced that's why hake in restaurants in Spain always has a far better texture than here

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Re: Buying fresh fish -Dublin

Postby daveyboy » Tue Sep 22, 2020 10:59 pm

Thanks for that. Really good information to have. Had hake once in Spain and it was very nicely cooked. Small fish per person roasted whole. Very different to here as you say. Didn't know it was made mushy so easily.
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