Fish
Today there are about 240 commercial species of fish and shellfish marketed in the United States. They may be fresh, frozen, or canned.
Fresh fish are generally available by the pound in these forms—whole, dressed, and in steaks, fillets, and chunks. Most fish dealers will clean, dress, or fillet your fish for you. They can also tell you what fish are in season and what fish are a good buy.
Frozen fish are usually packed during the season when they are plentiful and are held in freezer storage until distributed. This means that you can buy most fish throughout the year. Frozen fish come whole, dressed, and in steaks, fillets, chunks, portions, and sticks.
Canned fish and specialty items containing fish are ready to serve or use as bought. Canned tuna, salmon, mackerel, and Maine sardines are widely available.
Market forms
Familiarize yourself with these market forms of fish:
Whole.—Fish marketed just as they come from the water. Ask your dealer to scale, eviscerate, and remove head, tail, and fins.
Dressed or pan-dressed.—Fish with scales and entrails removed, and—usually—head, tail, and fins removed. Small fish are called pan-dressed and are ready to cook as purchased. Large dressed fish may be cooked as purchased, but often are filleted or cut into steaks or chunks.
Steaks.—Cross-section slices from large dressed fish cut ⅝ to 1 inch thick. Steaks can be cooked as purchased.
Fillets.—Sides of the fish cut lengthwise away from the backbone. They may be skinned or the skin may be left on. Fillets are ready to cook as purchased.
Chunks.—Cross sections of large dressed fish. A cross section of the backbone is the only bone in a chunk. They are ready to cook as purchased.
Raw breaded fish portions.—Portions cut from frozen fish blocks, coated with a batter, breaded, packaged, and frozen. Raw breaded fish portions weigh more than 1½ ounces. They are ready to cook as purchased.
Fried fish portions.—Portions cut from frozen fish blocks, coated with a batter, breaded, partially cooked, packaged, and frozen. Fried fish portions weigh more than 1½ ounces. They are ready to heat and serve as purchased.
Fried fish sticks.—Sticks cut from frozen fish blocks, coated with a batter, breaded, partially cooked, packaged, and frozen. Fried fish sticks weigh up to 1½ ounces. They are ready to heat and serve as purchased.
Inspection and grading
The U.S. Department of the Interior provides an official inspection service that enables you to identify high-quality seafoods. Such products may be identified by the official USDI grade or inspection shields that appear on the label. Fishery products that display these shields have been processed under continuous in-plant inspection and have met definite quality, processing, and packaging requirements.