California halibut Paralichthys californicus The Effects of Rigor Mortis and Time We sometimes eat fish and shellfish very fresh indeed, just minutes or hours after their death, and before they pass through the chemical and physical changes of rigor mortis (p 143) This stiffening of the muscles may begin immediately after death in a fish already depleted by struggling, or many hours later in a fat-farmed salmon It “resolves” after a few hours or days when the muscle fibers begin to separate from each other and from the connective-tissue sheets Fish and shellfish cooked and eaten before rigor has set in are therefore somewhat chewier than those that have passed through rigor Some Japanese enjoy slices of raw fish that are so fresh that they’re still twitching (ikizukuri); Norwegians prize cod held in tanks at the market and killed to order just before cooking (blodfersk, or “blood-fresh”); Chinese restaurants often have tanks of live fish at the ready; the French prepare freshly killed “blue” trout; and many shellfish are cooked alive In general, delaying and extending the period of rigor will slow the eventual deterioration of texture and flavor This can be done by icing most fish immediately after harvest, before rigor sets in However, early icing can actually toughen some fish — sardine, mackerel, and warm-water fish such as tilapia — by disrupting their contraction control system Fish are generally at their prime just when rigor has passed, perhaps 8 to 24 hours after death, and begin to deteriorate soon after that Recognizing Fresh Fish Nowadays, consumers often have no idea where a given piece of fish in the market has come from, when and how it was harvested, ...or “blood-fresh”); Chinese restaurants often have tanks of live fish at the ready; the French prepare freshly killed “blue” trout; and many shellfish are cooked alive In general, delaying and extending the period of rigor will slow the eventual... sardine, mackerel, and warm-water fish such as tilapia — by disrupting their contraction control system Fish are generally at their prime just when rigor has passed, perhaps 8 to 24 hours after death, and begin to deteriorate... 24 hours after death, and begin to deteriorate soon after that Recognizing Fresh Fish Nowadays, consumers often have no idea where a given piece of fish in the market has come from, when and how it was harvested,