Macgregors Seafood Notes

The Qeen Scallops from New Zealand (Pecten Novaezealandiae) that came in this week are really something. These scallops are unique and native to New Zealand. About a 20/30ct, un-treated, roe-on! Eating scallops with the roe on is the way to go - beautiful color and texture contrast between the firm white scallop and the creamy bright orange roe. If you're looking to re-invent a scallop dish, you've got to give some of these a try. You can order by the kg and they go for $15.95/lb - worth every penny. You won't be wrapping these in bacon...although, paired up with some crisp pancetta...

Paul

We didn't expect all the positive feedback about the fresh Swordfish from New Zealand! It's obvious that the quality of this product is substantially different than what people have come to expect. I have a lot more product arriving Monday, very much worth giving it a try.

Looking ahead to next week, I have the Icelandic Wolffish comming in (Tuesday), NEW Queen Scallops from New Zealand with Roe - I had these just recently and they blew me away - $15.95/lb. Also, lots of Tasmanian Ocean Trout, NZ Snappers, Bluenose, Trevally, Barramundi, Fresh Dover Sole, Live Greenshell Mussels, Monkfish, and of course the New Season Fresh CDN Halibut to name but a few.

Paul

JUST ARRIVED:
Mozambique Scampi Tails, 9-12 ct/lb, sold as 1.5kg box @$29.95/lb. This cold water scampi compares favourably to Icelandic at a better cost.
New Season Alaskan King Crab...the best time of year...fullest meat fill...brightest shell...largest sizes seen, 4-6ct, can you believe it!
Gulf of Mexico 1/2 shell Oysters, 144 ct just arrived

COMING SOON:
5 fresh-water shell on buttlerflied shrimp skewer- 21-25ct/lb- this larger size skewer!
New season snow crab- initial seasons start to open April 1
New season Halibut from March openings
New Season Key West Pink Shrimp- container loading as we speak with large sizes

A couple of things to let you know about - we blasted through all of the NZ Swordfish yesterday, so I'm flying more in for Thursday. The quality was outstanding, I really recommend trying some for the week-end. Also, I'm bringing in more John Dory for the week-end as well.

Next week I'm looking to bring in some Icelandic Wolfish. Check out the "species" page for little description. Very underutilized here, this fish eats unbeivably well - sweet, firm, bright white flesh. Give some a try next week.

Paul

A couple of things to let you know about - we blasted through all of the NZ Swordfish yesterday, so I'm flying more in for Thursday. The quality was outstanding, I really recommend trying some for the week-end. Also, I'm bringing in more John Dory for the week-end as well.

Next week I'm looking to bring in some Icelandic Wolfish. Check out the "species" page for little description. Very underutilized here, this fish eats unbeivably well - sweet, firm, bright white flesh. Give some a try next week.

Paul

Next Week is shaping up nicely, really nicely. Firstly, I'm bringing in some whole Swordfish from New Zealand - quality will be outstaning. Also, Monday marks our first shipment of Fresh Halibut from the new season - prices a tad high to start, but as you know, nothing compares to fresh. What else...Trevally fillets ($9.95/lb) skin-on AND just in is our French Sturgeon Caviar. Product of France, it compares to the Black Pearl Caviar out of the Caspian - extremely high quality. This product will be all you'll find for real Caviar as the UN had banned all imports out of the Caspian Sea. We sell the French in 50grm Tins for $120EA.

Some other items we're bringing in fresh for next week: Whole John Dory, Tasmanian Ocean Trout, Barramundi Fillets, Live Greenshell NZ Mussels, Whole NZ Snappers, European Seabass, Fresh True Dover Sole, Monkfish, Striped Bass Bluenose Seabass etc...

Paul

Another Boston Seafood Show has come and gone. A couple of new ideas we're going to work on for sure, but on a whole, it seemed a bit tougher this year to find anything really exciting or inventive. However, I think there's some opportunity with some European fish, and with "Wild" fish in general. It seems to me that the catch phrase "Certified Organic" is really over-exposed and saturated. For example, I even had Organic ketchup on my fries the other day. I think a move to simpler, wild-caught fish will win out. How about Wild European Sea Bass from the Mediterranean, Wild Wolfish from Iceland (incidentally quite a prized fish on European menus), Fresh Wild True Dover Sole from Holland, Wild Black Sea Bass from the North-East US. Wild is obviously trickier, sometimes inconsistent, not always available etc., but that's what makes it special when you've got it.

Speaking of Wild - the Canadian Pacific Halibut is open and fresh product will be in Monday. We're also looking ahead to the Wild Salmon Season openings in late April/Early May.

Paul

The first day at the show was a busy one, but like always, we managed to come across a few things that peaked our interest. Fresh Conch Meat? This Conch looked great. It was farm raised from Florida, packed in tubs, fresh. With it being farm raised, the meat sizes were consistent and they were from younger conch meaning they were incredible tender right from the shell - no marinating or tenderizing required - so the possibilities for conch meat just got a lot bigger.
We also saw some beautiful Shark Fin. Cleaned, expertly processed with traditional craftmanship, re-hydrated, chilled not frozen. Looks like an item that may finally be ready for some non-ethnic, white tablecloth menu's. Absolutely outstanding - a true quality product.

In Oyster news, the Byrd tariff (15% duty) on American Oyster imports looks to be lifting making more varieties from the US available at attractive pricing - Kumamoto's, Martha's Vineyard, Duck Island etc. etc.

As per usual, we really keep an eye out for new and exciting products from around the world, and haven't come back empty handed yet. Trust we'll be bringing these products to you soon.

Paul

Boston Seafood Show, March 12 to March 14, is simply the place to be when it comes to seafood. New suppliers, new products, latest processing equipment, networking with other seafood businesses, the latest seafood trends...the list can go on and on. Undoubtably the very best North American seafood show of its kind.

Both Paul and myself will be travelling to Boston and hope to bring you back some outstanding show opportunities. Watch for our daily Boston Seafood Show updates here on the macgregor seafood blog, as Paul and I search the show for new and innovative opportunities to bring back to our markets.

More to come this Sunday.
Mr. fish

A couple of notes to start off the week...

Pickerel fillets will be in Tuesday instead of today.

Lots of good looking product comming in today: Live NZ Greenshell Mussels, Tasmanian Ocean Trout, Bluenose, NZ Snappers 1-2's, Mahi, Grouper, Striped Bass, Arctic Char, Barramundi Fillets 700-900grm, Dry Sea Scallops, and "Island Creek" Oysters to name but a few.

Try a 1lb sample of the Live NZ Greenshell Mussels. Handling tips: Do Not Ice - they'll die, and slight gaping in the shells is completely normal and not indicative of dead mussels like with the Blue Mussels. Just keep refrigerated, don't suffocate them, and enjoy.

Paul

Looking to next week, I've got a few new items coming in. One is Live NZ Greenshell Mussels, $4.50/10lb bag. Predominantly a frozen item in this market, these live fresh mussels are a world of difference - direct from Coromadel Bay in NZ. Also from that part of the world, we'll have a fair amount of Bluenose, Tasmanian Trout, NZ Snappers, Trevally Fillets, and Barramundi Fillets.
The market is still short on Swordfish - a lot of re-freshed product around out there, but pretty well nothing in fresh.
We're really pushing the Ultra Low Temp Tuna portions (6 and 8oz - $13.95/lb) as well as ULT Opah Portions 8oz ($7.95/lb!!!). We ship them @ -50 degrees and you pull what you need when you need it - the Tuna blooms back to #1 sashimi quality, bright red, and best of all it's all portion controlled. We really believe in this product and hope you try it. If you've been standoffish about Tuna becuase it's a tricky item, this will change everything. See our specials page or e-mail me for some POS material on both.
Paul

HOT TOPIC- SO WHY FISH?

Menu planners are definitely considering more seafood options these days- why? Price, value, availability.

Price: Seafood prices in general have been dropping for the last couple years. The advances in fish farming have certainly had an impact on the tonnage of species such as salmon and shrimp. So much so that shrimp has surpassed tuna(mostly canned tuna) as the top selling seafood item. Both shrimp and salmon are at what I call "new norms" when it comes to pricing. Of course there still will be ups and downs in pricing, but the new norm has been established and you should be able to use current pricing as a moderate level going forward.
The strength of the Canadian dollar has also helped pricing here in Canada. Today's 14 year high for the dollar against the U.S. currency helps make Canada a more attractive destination. As our dollar strengthens, our over-seas suppliers get more bang for their sale while we gain the benefit of our currency strength with lower import pricing. This also applies to our very own Canadian sourced fish as well, as our harvesters receive a lower return on their U.S. sales. Many new opportunities are being presented from our home grown fish that otherwise would have been sold in other markets.

Value: as we get presented with these new opportunities, gone are the days of "well the export products from Canada are sold over-seas, while we are left with the seconds." Now Canada is being offered the prime products at competitive prices and this enhances the quality opportunities. Seafood has long been associated with the food-service restaurant trade. Consumers like to order fish when they go out to dine. Now the value relationship for the restauranteur allows an acceptable return- no longer is seafood a loss leader, but rather it has become the most profitable item on the menu! That is a WOW!

Availability: certainly the influences of China have enhanced the entire seafood category. State of the art processing facilities with inexpensive labor allows many new value added seafood products available. And this is only going to get better. The end user friendly products are becoming abundant. So much so, that if there is a back of the house labor saving issue, there likely now is a solution. And this, more than anything is likely the biggest reason why seafood sales are growing in leaps and bounds. Stay tuned as over the coming weeks we will be highlighting some of these unique opportunities in our new seafood product introduction section which we will be featuring. Stay tuned!

Mr. Fish