Huge markup on imported foods. Why?

[bunta71]

Of course we all live with "trade-offs". Being from Alaska and Washington States originally I crave real fresh seafood. Even some fresh frozen Ahi or Mahi-mahi would taste good comparatively. Not into sushi but looking for somewhere in CM where to take home tasty fish. Anyway we needed a new topic.Come on ...pile-on

[tigerbeer]

Of course we all live with "trade-offs". Being from Alaska and Washington States originally I crave real fresh seafood. Even some fresh frozen Ahi or Mahi-mahi would taste good comparatively. Not into sushi but looking for somewhere in CM where to take home tasty fish. Anyway we needed a new topic.Come on ...pile-on

maybe you can try the frozen section of makro? or even at Rimping? How about Northern Farm at going toward Doi Suthep? Am sure they have imported fish that doesnt taste of mud.

[mobile69]

I thought it was the frozen, imported, farmed salmon that tasted like mud & fish pellets & antibiotics...

[thaipete]

Here in the south east 95% of the local market fish is fresh from the sea, we even have a smaller market here where the local fishermen's wives come and sell their husbands catch of fish, crabs, shellfish and even the odd small shark or ray no mud or pellets here

[bunta71]

Mobile69 you are so right on...I wouldn't touch the farm salmon raised on dogfood with the proverbial ten foot pole,especially with my background.

Thaipete you are really rubbing it in.If I lived in the south my breath would be more fishy. Thats the trade-off part of living in kicked back Chiang Mai.

I spent the last four years in the states and I realize "I'm not in Kansas,Toto" but there were some fresh frozen ahi and mahi-mahi available in Costco that were 100% premium taste and quality when thawed and cooked. With daily changes both good and bad here in Chiang Mai, Someone will eventually have the foresight and wherewithall to bring some good fish here.

[Ulysses G.]

How can one tell if salmon is farmed?

[bunta71]

Same way you tell the difference between an oral or rectal thermometer...taste!! Actually nearly ALL salmon here is farm raised if it is wild they will be sure to tell you and the price will reflect it also. Another "fine" feature of the farmed fish is the fake color added looking not right.

[Ulysses G.]

Someone on another thread claimed that none of the salmon sold in Thailand is farm-raised, but I believe you, because it is never very tasty.

[Gimbo]

Same way you tell the difference between an oral or rectal thermometer...taste!! Actually nearly ALL salmon here is farm raised if it is wild they will be sure to tell you and the price will reflect it also. Another "fine" feature of the farmed fish is the fake color added looking not right.

Also if it's whole fish, you see it on the tail and fins. A farmed salmon will have an allmost oval tail, completely word down, while a wild salmon has a natural triangle shaped tail.

On prcessed fish you can see it on all the fat.

Anyway, Norwegian Smoked Salmon, even farmed is actually quite good quality, as it is heavilly controlled in terms of quality, and what it is fed, also the use of antibiotics is heavilly controlled. Most of it is sold for export to japan and those people are quite obesesed with quality control

Eat it on fresh baked bread, with some scrambled eggs and majonais...pure heaven

[Gimbo]

Anyway, my wife buy a lot of Pla Nin live at the market, no doubt farmed, but when she barbecue it with just some salt and some other stuff, and serve it with jasmine rice and that sweet chilli dip sauce I'm in heaven. And I grew up on an island in Northern Norway....virtually raised on cod and haddock. :-)

[Crow Boy]

Also if it's whole fish, you see it on the tail and fins. A farmed salmon will have an allmost oval tail, completely word down, while a wild salmon has a natural triangle shaped tail.

Ok I have to know - why is it oval? Wear and tear, fish nibbling it, docked/clipped?

Eat it on fresh baked bread, with some scrambled eggs and majonais...pure heaven

Majonais - sorry? Not taking the piss here but do you mean mayonaise? If so then yes with some sliced capers to give it the salty bitter taste.

There are a couple of fresh fish markets in and around CM - on is at the side of Lotus on the super highway. Go past it heading towards Chiang Puak and turn left. They have fresh local fish but of course they will be fresh water and consequently muddy in taste. They also have trucked live salt water fish and seafood. More expensive but I prefer it. As the suggestion above you can coat the fresh water fish with salt, shove a couple of cloves of garlic, some lemon grass, and galangal down its throat and cook over charcoal. Between the charcoal and the salt much of the muddy taste is either removed or masked.

On Samuii I used to get my fresh fish from the guys of the boats when they came back to the island. The catch was laid on the sand or in baskets and as fresh as you can get it.

Better was Goa in India where the women come around the houses with the fish on a trolley and then cooks if for you on the spot over a small brazier. You tell her what you want and what style - the only way to eat fish. Served with fragrant rice on a banana leaf and eaten with the fingers.

CB

[Gimbo]

Also if it's whole fish, you see it on the tail and fins. A farmed salmon will have an allmost oval tail, completely word down, while a wild salmon has a natural triangle shaped tail.

Ok I have to know - why is it oval? Wear and tear, fish nibbling it, docked/clipped?

Eat it on fresh baked bread, with some scrambled eggs and majonais...pure heaven

Majonais - sorry? Not taking the piss here but do you mean mayonaise? If so then yes with some sliced capers to give it the salty bitter taste.

The tails I belive are nibled off or wear and tear from spending life closed in ammong a few other thousand fish, rubbing against the nets all the time I guess.

Smoked salmon, at least the Norwegian version is already salted, so no need to add more. And yes I meant mayonaise or whatever way it's spelled. Just put it on my "English is not my native language account", combined with: to lazy to use spell checker ;-)

[pumpuiman]

Anyway, my wife buy a lot of Pla Nin live at the market, no doubt farmed, but when she barbecue it with just some salt and some other stuff, and serve it with jasmine rice and that sweet chilli dip sauce I'm in heaven. And I grew up on an island in Northern Norway....virtually raised on cod and haddock. :-)

I agree, Pla Nin are delicious.

Fried, steamed, grilled or whatever, my favorite fish in Thailand.

[Crow Boy]

The tails I belive are nibled off or wear and tear from spending life closed in ammong a few other thousand fish, rubbing against the nets all the time I guess.

That is what I thought. Makes sense - pigs to the same thing if penned together too tight. It is the animal version of biting their nails.

Smoked salmon, at least the Norwegian version is already salted, so no need to add more. And yes I meant mayonaise or whatever way it's spelled. Just put it on my "English is not my native language account", combined with: to lazy to use spell checker ;-)

I love smoked salmon. If you are ever in Australia and make it to Tasmania you can buy it direct from the smoke house which is at the end of the warfe where they catch southern salmon. I used to buy it by the kilo and sit on the warfe with a six pack of beer and a loaf of fresh baked bread. Melts in your mouth. I tried the salmon in Alaska and it is fantastic but often they are too big and the flesh is more coarse. Not tried Norwegian salmon yet - will add it to my things to do before I die list.

I wasn't criticising your English - just wanted to make sure. I am always impressed by the standard of English from people for whom it is their second or third language, especially when I compare it to some of us for whom it is our first.

thanks

CB

[Donnyboy]

freshly caught snapper for me!

[jaideeguy]

My secret [now revealed] place to get fresh fish just off a truck from Rayong is at the big public market behind rimping on the 2nd ring road. Freshest in town, as they supply the supermarkets and restaurants.

And i do like the frozen salmon at makro....get the whole fish and have it sliced into 3/4 in slices and keep it frozen til needed.

Do agree with OP that some talipia tastes and smells mudy, so i usually go for the red variety that is pellet fed in nets and not allowed to touch the muddy bottom.

[Crow Boy]

My secret [now revealed] place to get fresh fish just off a truck from Rayong is at the big public market behind rimping on the 2nd ring road. Freshest in town, as they supply the supermarkets and restaurants.

What are the times they are available?

thanks for the post

wonder if they have bream, mulloway or King George whiting there

CB

[ajahnlau]

Lotus have a few salt water fish,sea perch is aroi.

[uptheos]

What does mud and fish food pellets actually taste like?

[Ulysses G.]

Doesn't sound so appetizing.

[uptheos]

Doesn't sound so appetizing.

How is it eaten?

[realthaideal]

This to me sounds alot like a kind of fishing we call TROLLING. Bu tof course you have to follow the lure and take the bait for that to work.

When I first came to Thailand I too thought of river or freshwater fish as less clean or tasty than saltwater fish as I'd grown up by the sea and was used to fresh seafood. However, once over the mental aspects of it, and able to taste what they have here on offer for its own sake, I can say nothing but good things about the freshwater fish - both wild and farm raised. Pla Tabtim is one of the best fish I've ever eaten. It is flaky, juicy, and has a mouthfeel almost reminiscent of salmon. Likely because of the high belly fat content. I'm a so-so fan of Pla Nin (Tilapia), and am quite happy to score myself a BBQ Catfish -Pla Duk - every now n then. They're all good and even worthy of bragging rights. If you think you can taste some mud maybe your fish was improperly cleaned or sat around long. I don't buy a blanket put-down of Thai freshwater fish. No way, no how.

And by the by... I rarely bother with shellfish or ocean fish in Chiang Mai... because it's from very far away and after many many days...and rumors are that alot of it - some shellfish and squids especially, get a little dousing of formaldehyde to keep them from turning. But I likes me food formaldehyde free. That's too literal a preservative for me.

[mogoso]

This to me sounds alot like a kind of fishing we call TROLLING. Bu tof course you have to follow the lure and take the bait for that to work.

When I first came to Thailand I too thought of river or freshwater fish as less clean or tasty than saltwater fish as I'd grown up by the sea and was used to fresh seafood. However, once over the mental aspects of it, and able to taste what they have here on offer for its own sake, I can say nothing but good things about the freshwater fish - both wild and farm raised. Pla Tabtim is one of the best fish I've ever eaten. It is flaky, juicy, and has a mouthfeel almost reminiscent of salmon. Likely because of the high belly fat content. I'm a so-so fan of Pla Nin (Tilapia), and am quite happy to score myself a BBQ Catfish -Pla Duk - every now n then. They're all good and even worthy of bragging rights. If you think you can taste some mud maybe your fish was improperly cleaned or sat around long. I don't buy a blanket put-down of Thai freshwater fish. No way, no how.

And by the by... I rarely bother with shellfish or ocean fish in Chiang Mai... because it's from very far away and after many many days...and rumors are that alot of it - some shellfish and squids especially, get a little dousing of formaldehyde to keep them from turning. But I likes me food formaldehyde free. That's too literal a preservative for me.

I was raised a block from the ocean on the west coast of florida. My step daddies nickname was grandaddy grouper, lord knows he caught enough of them. We ate seafood almost daily. Now I live away from the ocean and must buy my fish at the local markets.

The rule of thumb I follow is clear of eye, lack of smell and body condition. If any of those things are not kosher, I don't get that fish.

[Gimbo]

This to me sounds alot like a kind of fishing we call TROLLING. Bu tof course you have to follow the lure and take the bait for that to work.

When I first came to Thailand I too thought of river or freshwater fish as less clean or tasty than saltwater fish as I'd grown up by the sea and was used to fresh seafood. However, once over the mental aspects of it, and able to taste what they have here on offer for its own sake, I can say nothing but good things about the freshwater fish - both wild and farm raised. Pla Tabtim is one of the best fish I've ever eaten. It is flaky, juicy, and has a mouthfeel almost reminiscent of salmon. Likely because of the high belly fat content. I'm a so-so fan of Pla Nin (Tilapia), and am quite happy to score myself a BBQ Catfish -Pla Duk - every now n then. They're all good and even worthy of bragging rights. If you think you can taste some mud maybe your fish was improperly cleaned or sat around long. I don't buy a blanket put-down of Thai freshwater fish. No way, no how.

And by the by... I rarely bother with shellfish or ocean fish in Chiang Mai... because it's from very far away and after many many days...and rumors are that alot of it - some shellfish and squids especially, get a little dousing of formaldehyde to keep them from turning. But I likes me food formaldehyde free. That's too literal a preservative for me.

I was raised a block from the ocean on the west coast of florida. My step daddies nickname was grandaddy grouper, lord knows he caught enough of them. We ate seafood almost daily. Now I live away from the ocean and must buy my fish at the local markets.

The rule of thumb I follow is clear of eye, lack of smell and body condition. If any of those things are not kosher, I don't get that fish.

I get my fish live at the market. I am an island boy so fresh fish for me used to mean that it was swimming happily around in the sea no longer than a few hours before.

When you got the urge for fish where I am from, you simply get your potatoes started, take the boat out and 15 minutes later you have dinner for the family and probably the neighbours as well.

So I miss that part of life up there north of the polar circle intensely, landlocked as I am up here in Isaan country. But well, theres other stuff here to keep me happy