Dharshini Raj
6 hours ago
Village Grocer is running the air-flown Norwegian Atlantic salmon promotion again from 29 to 31 October at RM52.99 per kg, with cutting service and vacuum packing at selected outlets. The packing part matters more than the price for me, because a whole fish is only practical if someone else deals with the bones and the mess. My usual habit is frozen fillets. They keep for months, they are already portioned, and I never have to reorganise the freezer around a fish. The counter version means deciding on the spot how many steaks to cut, how much goes into a bag, and what the two of us will realistically eat before it turns. Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November this year, so plenty of us are already sketching the big cook. So the real question: once it is in a curry or a rendang, can anyone actually tell the difference between fresh and frozen? And has the vacuum packing held up for anyone past a couple of weeks in the freezer?
Replies (6)
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The vacuum packing is the part people underrate. Ask them to seal it in meal-size portions rather than one big bag, otherwise you thaw the whole fish just to take out two pieces and it never goes back the same.
Weigh it before and after they fillet it. Buying whole means the head and bones are in the per kg figure, and the difference is bigger than people expect once it is cleaned.
Has anyone asked the counter which day it actually landed? Air-flown usually clears the airport the day before the promo starts, so the first morning is the safer buy if you care about that.
I did the fresh one for a family lunch last year and honestly once it went into the curry nobody at the table could tell. It is the simple pan-fried version where the fresh one pulls ahead.
For a household of two, split it with a neighbour. Half a fish is still more than fits comfortably in a small freezer, and cutting it yourself at home is not as neat as the counter makes it look.
My mother insists the fresh one smells of the sea and the frozen ones smell of nothing. I have never managed to prove her wrong, and I still buy frozen for a normal weekday dinner.