Reopening menus: take a fresh look at frozen with Simon Hulstone

With reopening limitations stacked on top of unpredictable covers, staffing and deliveries, Seafood from Norway Ambassador Simon Hulstone believes frozen at sea produce should be on a savvy chef’s radar to ease mounting pressures in the kitchen.

Frozen at sea Norwegian cod and haddock is caught, processed, filleted and frozen to below -20oC within 2-5 hours on board several advanced vessels fishing in the Arctic waters of the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic. The state-of-the-art blast-freezing process locks in optimal freshness, nutrients, and taste without compromising on quality.

Often deemed an inferior product, Hulstone attributes the misconception of frozen fish to a lack of education around defrosting, which is a very simple process in the right hands. To defrost – or temper – chefs need only to remove their desired quantity of frozen fillets and place them on a tray in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours, preferably overnight to gradually thaw. His golden rule being never to run the frozen fish under cold water. Hulstone adds that the quick freezing to such low temperatures curbs the risk of ice particles in the flesh and insists that a fully tempered fillet will be indistinguishable from a fresh piece of fish in terms of texture, flavour, aroma and appearance.

Delivered to the kitchen filleted and boned, portion size and quality are consistent, and crucially wastage is minimalised. Hulstone simply takes as many portions as he needs out of the freezer each day for his impressive takeaway business at The Elephant, which he says offers him both the quality and the flexibility he now requires. Making ‘good sense’ to him, he urges chefs to embrace Norwegian frozen at sea products for their efficiency, quality, year-round availability, and sustainability credentials.

We wish you every success for reopening!

Hans Frode Kielland Asmyhr,

UK Director, Norwegian Seafood Council

Simon Hulstone,

Chef Proprietor, The Elephant, Torquay

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