How much should fish cost?

liz545

This may seem like an odd question, but bear with me! There aren't many decent fishmongers near me, so in terms of understanding what's a fair price for fish and shellfish all I really have to base it on is the fairly limited range in the supermarket or the super-fancy places in Borough market. If I'm ever on the coast I see amazing looking fresh fish, but I'm never sure if it's a decent price or not What should I expect to pay for, say, a smoked trout or mackerel and a dressed crab? I'd love to try some fillets of fish, maybe some white fish, like cod, and something meatier, like tuna, but besides those two I don't know what to ask for, how much it should cost, and which are the budget-friendly options! I'm a bit afraid of making a fool of myself in the fishmongers :embarasse , so if anyone could give me a dummies' guide I'd be really grateful!

count_rostov

Fish is sold by auction so the price goes up and down a lot by the day and also varies around the country. It's not like meat which farmers are subsidised to produce and has a defined supply chain so has a fairly standard price around the country.
We live near a major white fish and shellfish port and I usually spend about a tenner a week on fish. This would do two for three or sometimes four meals, so it's more expensive than meat but not much (I think? We raise our own animals so I haven't bought meat from the butchers for a good few years).
Mackerel and herring are cheap and very tasty. It's oily fish so you have to buy it when it's very fresh. The skins should be glossy and, if they're fillited, the flesh should look oily. A good fishmonger will tell you when they were landed - you don't really want more than a day old. As I said the price varies dramatically, but I'd expect to pay about £1.50 for enough fish for an adult, less if the fish is unfilleted. I went to university in London and stupidly bought mackerel once when I was homesick, it was disgusting even though it looked fresh. So I'd only buy it now from a fishmongers in a port or a fish auction. My favorite way to cook herring is to coat it in pinhead oatmeal (not porridge oats) and fry it really, really hot for about two minutes on either side. So good with a salsa-type sauce.
Haddock and cod are incredibly expensive at the moment - about £5-6 for an adult's portion. It's comparable to a fillet steak. Tasty and cheaper alternatives are hake and rock. They're also versatile and can be cooked to all white fish recipes. They would be about £2 for an adult's portion. You also get smoked hake but I dont think it's as nice as smoked haddock.
Monkfish is also more expensive than it used to be (we used to be given it as there was no market for it!) I would pay about £4-5 for a fish which would feed three adults or two adults and two children. It's delicious in fish curry, fish stew, wrapped in parma ham and roasted, in a stir fry...endless possibilities.
Flat fish are very variable in price. Ray trimmings can be very cheap (about £1/adult portion) and excellent battered and fried with chips. Skate wings are also cheapish (£2-3/adult portion) and can be baked, grilled, fried in caper butter...yum. Other flatfish such as halibut or plaice are very expensive, about £7 for a halibut steak or £40 for a whole fish.
Our fishmongers only sells sea fish but we eat trout that my fiance catches. It's nice but much more delicate than sea fish. I think it must be quite cheap to buy as almost all the trout sold in Britain is farmed.
Then of course there is the king of all fish, the wild salmon. Unfortunately you have to know where to look for these now as poachers rarely advertise their stock! Don't bother buying farmed salmon it's fatty and tasteless and so far removed from what salmon should be.
Lastly, I'd always buy fish which is from British waters or the north atlantic. Tuna, snapper, sardines and the like are unlikely to be very fresh and may even have been frozen and then defrosted for the fishmonger's slab.
Lots of people get frightened of cooking fish but it's really dead easy. Two fail-safe methods: 1) Get a frying pan really really hot, pop in a little sunflower oil and a knob of butter, dust the fish in flour or pin head oatmeal, and fry skin side down for about two - three minutes, then do the other side 2) coat the fish skin in a little English mustard, pop in a roasting tin with a bit of white wine, maybe some dill, tarragon, parsley or capers, loosely cover with foil and roast at about 200 for about half an hour
Hope that helps!

count_rostov

whew, that was a long post - guess I really love fish!

linzmac_2

count_rostov wrote: »

Fish is sold by auction so the price goes up and down a lot by the day and also varies around the country.

Haddock and cod are incredibly expensive at the moment - about £5-6 for an adult's portion.

Wow..prices really do vary around the country-I buy haddock/cod to feed 3/4 adults for about £5 from our local fish van!

Very interesting & informative post btw!

Linz

botchjob

Absolutely agree with Count Rostov that it's MUCH better to go for less expensive types of fish rather than seeking out CHEAP fish. With fish you really do get what you pay for. Cheap Fish = Old Fish.

You may well find that lower-end fishmongers will be selling Sea Bass etc at cheaper prices than 'the posh place' up the road but that will be because it's poorer quality and has been bought at the end of the auction when all the good stuff has been sold.

It's much better to go for fresh Mackerel than the 'bargain' Dover Sole which is past its best. Personally i would never touch reduced price fish sold in supermarkets. Good for the cat and not much else.

Liz545, i see you're in London so if you are ever in Islington you should pay a visit to Steve Hatt on Essex Road. Best fishmonger in North London and full of wonderful things. And well priced too. Nigel Slater often name checks him in his columns.

count_rostov

More fish adventures - my fiance caught a lovely 2lb sea trout yesterday. Sea trout is a migratory fish with pinky flesh, a bit like salmon. I'm going to stuff the cavity with dill, some cucumber slices and some lemon slices, wrap it loosely in foil so that it's a sealed parcel but there is lots of space around the fish and bake at 200 for 12 mins per pound. I'll let it cool four about half an hour in its foil parcel and serve with homemade mayonnaise, new potatoes and salad (from the garden - smug!).
I don't think you often see sea trout in fishmongers, but this is also a good recipe for whole salmon and sea bass. I've never tried it with rainbow trout as I've no need to buy farmed fish, but I imagine it would also work pretty well.

shoperholicnot

liz545 wrote: »

This may seem like an odd question, but bear with me! There aren't many decent fishmongers near me, so in terms of understanding what's a fair price for fish and shellfish all I really have to base it on is the fairly limited range in the supermarket or the super-fancy places in Borough market. If I'm ever on the coast I see amazing looking fresh fish, but I'm never sure if it's a decent price or not What should I expect to pay for, say, a smoked trout or mackerel and a dressed crab? I'd love to try some fillets of fish, maybe some white fish, like cod, and something meatier, like tuna, but besides those two I don't know what to ask for, how much it should cost, and which are the budget-friendly options! I'm a bit afraid of making a fool of myself in the fishmongers :embarasse , so if anyone could give me a dummies' guide I'd be really grateful!

go to billingsgate
it is much much cheaper

Hatster

It's worth remembering that you can also make a fish stock out of the left-overs of certain fish / shellfish, which can then make the base of something else (a paella, tagine or fish soup, etc), so you've managed to get half another meal out of the costs. I bought £5 of crevettes for 2 people as a bit of a treat, which we marinaded in a vaguely Moroccan way, and then cooked on the griddle (should have been barbecued but it came on to rain). We then turned the crevette shells and heads into stock, and used that for a gorgeous tagine (with a little extra fish), which did us both for another supper, and then the remains of the tagine sauce did a delicious cold lunch for us both. So we felt quite smug about the quality of food we'd got for not that much cash in the end...

Rowan9

I'm from a small fishing village and used to buy fish direct from the fish houses on the pier as they were filleted. Wonderfully fresh.
re frying fish (and thanks for informative post rostov) - I have to disagree
My mother (north of Scotland hence wording...) taught me
The last word the herrin' spak (spoke) was 'roast ma belly afore ma back'. So...fry it belly side down first and then turn and fry skin side
She's been gone a good few years now but I still smile and think of this when I fry fish.
w
mmmmmmmmmmm...anyone else fancy fish after this thread?

meanmarie

Good that we are having fish (salmon and cod leftovers) for dinner, otherwise I would be heading somewhere to buy some!

IMHO the only important thing when buying fish is freshness...in Ireland nowadays there is no such thing as cheap fish unless you catch it yourself, we all love mackerel but usually wait until DS3 has taken his boat out and brings some home. I have been unable to get herring for years and I love it...often pickled it when it was available which is wonderful with a salad.

I usually cook fillets of fish in the oven...salt and pepper, drizzle of olive oil and cook until flaky...very quick...overcooking of fish is usually what makes it unpalatable so would advise any 'novices' to be careful to just cook it enough..

Marie

Rowan9

meanmarie wrote: »

Good that we are having fish (salmon and cod leftovers) for dinner, otherwise I would be heading somewhere to buy some!

IMHO the only important thing when buying fish is freshness...in Ireland nowadays there is no such thing as cheap fish unless you catch it yourself, we all love mackerel but usually wait until DS3 has taken his boat out and brings some home. I have been unable to get herring for years and I love it...often pickled it when it was available which is wonderful with a salad.

I usually cook fillets of fish in the oven...salt and pepper, drizzle of olive oil and cook until flaky...very quick...overcooking of fish is usually what makes it unpalatable so would advise any 'novices' to be careful to just cook it enough..

Marie

When we visited my aunty at the weekend we had her home made pickled herring for tea. It was plump, spiced and ooh just fab. What a treat!!
w