Nanaimo Seafood — Tips for Buying
Nanaimo is well positioned in the Gulf of Georgia, pulling all sorts of bounties from the local waters, without being out of the way for imported goods. The result is some great seafood selection, whether it's in the local markets or in the fine Nanaimo seafood restaurants.
Buying Seafood — Tips
If you're paying full price for seafood, you want it to be as fresh as possible. Some choice imported fishes like Chilean Sea Bass will turn into a bland white slab after a day or two. Local staples like rockfish, salmon, halibut and cod keep their freshness for longer, but you still want the freshest possible. It's not too hard to find fresh seafood in the Harbour City.
- Fish meat should be glossy in appearance, not dull. When you buy whole fish, look at the eyes; they should be shiny.
- Smell is the best indicator of freshness. If you're not sure about your purchase, ask to sniff it. Fishmongers DO get this request sometimes, but you shouldn't ask in front of a lot of other customers.
- It's okay for mussels and clams to be partially open; but if they're wide open, like more than a centimetre (quarter inch), they are "gapers" — dead as a doornail and unsafe. Oysters should be firmly closed.
- The local dungeness crabs and red rocks are best when their shells are hard, which means they've filled out their shell with meat. At the market, don't reach into a crab tank to pinch the shells yourself — please just request that you receive hard-shelled animals. If you want the crabs cleaned (butchered), you should be extra nice to the fishmonger — consider tipping if there are more than a few crabs to be slain.
- If you haven't tried sole several times, don't risk it for your next potluck. To many people, it tastes like a tire swing. >> Many kinds of sole are fished in the waters off Vancouver Island. Keep an eye out for the extra-delicious lemon sole.
- Wild salmon usually has a better texture and flavour than farmed salmon. The best local salmon varieties are sockeye, spring and coho — none of which are farmed (we think).
- Hand-peeled shrimp is more expensive than machine-peeled, but it's worth it if you care about the texture. Machine-peeled shrimp is usually soft and sometimes mushy, while hand-peeled shrimp retains its delightful chewiness.
- The "red snapper" sold in local markets is actually rockfish, unless you're promised otherwise. It's good, but don't expect the genuine red snapper found in southern waters.
- Skate is a fish similar to a manta ray, sold for very reasonable prices. Its meat is delicious if you know how to prepare it — it's similar to scallops and whitefish.
- Tiger prawns are not the best prawns available. If you are eating them on Vancouver Island, it is because somebody imported them from southeast Asia. They are farmed in ditches and frozen in blocks, with a texture that leaves a lot to be desired. See if you can get local "spotted" or "BC" prawns - the season is usually open for a short time in the early summer, and smart businesses freeze blocks of them in water.
Smoked Salmon in Nanaimo
Smoked salmon might just be the aspect of native culture most readily appropriated by subsequent cultures in the Pacific Northwest. The stuff is so good — it's the delicacy that tourists send home when they're visiting here; it's what we ask mom to mail us when we're abroad. The preserved nature of smoked salmon makes it ideal for transport.
You can buy smoked salmon all over the place in Nanaimo. The supermarkets carry the wares of a famous local cannery, St. Jean's. (The cannery puts out some even finer smoked products too, like smoked tuna — yum!) And then there are the roadside vehicles and such, with people selling a product that can be anywhere from lousy to choice. If you think you won't be very good at identifying which is which, try the supermarkets first. But you'll have to dig around if you want the very best.