Click Michelle's Food

While out shopping yesterday, I saw a very nice price on wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon. Thinking I’d made some sort of yum with it, I bought a pound and three quarters. The fish lady wrapped it up and I went about my shopping. NOTE THAT I DID NOT ASK TO SMELL IT!

That was my mistake. I was at a market I trusted, that has never before sold me stinky meat or fish. Roughly 27 hours after it was wrapped up (handled properly during this time) I unwrapped it and caught the smell of bad fish. Not wanting to believe that this salmon had already gone well past the pet food stage, hoping it was just the outlying juice that had putrefied, I rinsed it off and smelled it again. Still funky. I trimmed the edges, hoping that would help. (Can you tell, I REALLY wanted to eat this fish?) And then, stupid me, I cooked it anyway.

God, it was rank.

Mr Click took the label back to the store from whence it came. Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks! To their credit, there was no gripe, they simply refunded the money. This isn’t a bash on my favorite market, or I’d be telling you their name. They are still my favorite market, because they handled this perfectly. So we had fried chicken with our butterbeans and quinoa pilaf.

But let this be a cautionary tale… Even if you trust your market, ASK TO SMELL THE FISH. And refuse to buy it if it’s stinky.