Wixter Seafood Market - Anyone been?

All -

Anyone been to Wixter yet? I have been traveling for the past month but am excited to get in and try out what they have. Seem to have a nice selection of different seafood.

Their product is almost all frozen using a specific technique that does not degrade the quality of the fish (allegedly). Took this from their page:

Some of the most exclusive, delectable species in the world are harvested as far away as Antarctica, Russia and S. Africa. Advanced freezing technologies allow for flash freezing to ultra low temperatures immediately after harvest so the fish is just hours old, instead of 1-2 weeks like most 'fresh' seafood. Lets stop buying into the marketing, and start buying seafood that is being produced in the most sustainable way possible!

The landscape and perception of frozen foods has changed considerably over the last 15 years through new quick freezing technologies, production efficiencies and logistics process, and advanced research in the nutritional benefits of fresh frozen.There has been a significant amount of new research done on the fresh freezing of fruits, vegetables and proteins and we look to promote these advances, seafood specifically.

I am interested and curious to see if anyone has any feedback from their experience thus far.

Wixter Market
http://www.wixtermarket.com/
2110 W Division St. Chicago IL 60622
(312)-248-2800

*Mods - realized this should be in Shopping & Cooking - sorry for posting here

I went specifically to get sushi quality hamachi (from what I understand, you want it to be frozen to avoid parasite risks). I also bought some roe.

They have "regular" (non-sushi grade) frozen fish kept at 0 degrees or something close to that as well as an island freezer at the middle of the store for the sushi-grade stuff kept at a -20+ temperature.

They recommend thawing by putting in the refrigerator one day in advance. That worked for me. Both seemed to be good quality in raw preparations.

The hamachi was priced by the ounce. It seemed pretty similar to what I would have paid for fresh, non-sushi grade stuff.

I didn't notice any textural issues with the thawed hamachi. In the past, I was able to detect textural differences when doing a side-by-side of Sitka Salmon Shares king and Dirk's never-frozen Atlantic salmon (I know these are two different species). The previously frozen product was ever-so-slightly mushier (both in cooked preaparations). But I served the Wixter stuff raw, so I can't really compare.

Other things I remember:

- The regular frozen stuff seems to mostly be portioned in 6 oz serving sizes. I can imagine some would appreciate that convenience.
- Their frozen shrimp are from SE Asia
- The clerk seemed pretty knowledgeable about the product.
- They had an array of canned Spanish products (anchovies, octopus, cockles, squid, etc), that seemed among the more interesting items in the shop.

I think prices were either in line or cheaper compared Dirk's, Whole Foods, or The Fish Guy.

Bump for some great fish as of late.

Been putting their salmon into regular rotation and really loving it. I have found some 8oz portions.

Have dabbled with a couple different fish and have actually thought they all are impeccably fresh (obviously they come deep frozen but I am a believer).

Also have played with some of the tinned stuff which is generally very tasty.

Anyway, glad to have this place in the hood. If you are in Wicker Park they are worth a stop.

I've been very happy w/everything I've gotten here. Frozen, tinned, jarred... all were really nice.

Made a cioppino with their barramundi last night. Very good, though I did detect a lesser flakey quality than when I use fresh from Dirk's. Could be my technical error. I will say that I put the fish in the fridge the night before and by dinnertime it still wasn't quite de-frosted. Had to soak it for a few minutes in lukewarm water.

But generally pleased with the quality, convenience, and price of what they're putting out. Curious if anyone has experience with the "super-frozen" products.

whocanitbenow wrote:Had to soak it for a few minutes in lukewarm water.

This was almost certainly the cause of the change in texture--soaking anything in water to defrost is not a good idea.

We soak a lot of seafood in cold water here to defrost it, and it works pretty well, in just an hour or two. Of course, all the seafood has been vacuum sealed in a Foodsaver, so the seafood doesn't get waterlogged.

boudreaulicious wrote:

whocanitbenow wrote:Had to soak it for a few minutes in lukewarm water.

This was almost certainly the cause of the change in texture--soaking anything in water to defrost is not a good idea.

While unstated by whocanitbenow, I'm assuming he left this fish in the vacuum-sealed bag it was sold in. I wouldn't think there should be any change in the quality of meat if that's what happened. Am I wrong?

I took it out as per Wixter's instructions the night before and put it in a ziplock bag in the fridge. It was pretty well thawed by the next evening, but I still felt a touch of hardness in the center and put it in very lukewarm water for about 5 minutes, still in the bag. No water entered.

I've always wondered this about frozen fish/meat etc and texture issues. Plants have vacuoles, which essentially store water in their cells, and those do burst often in freezing and change the texture of frozen vegetables. Cells walls would seem to serve a similar function in animal products, though it's been a while since I took microbiology.

In any case, I thought the product was good and certainly appreciate being able to drag a bit of quality fish out of the freezer at a moment's notice in inclement weather.

whocanitbenow wrote:I've always wondered this about frozen fish/meat etc and texture issues. Plants have vacuoles, which essentially store water in their cells, and those do burst often in freezing and change the texture of frozen vegetables. Cells walls would seem to serve a similar function in animal products, though it's been a while since I took microbiology.

It's essentially blast freezing which has now been adapted to fishing vessel applications. The idea is to supercool (i.e. suck all the heat out) of the product rapidly to minimize crystal formation. It's the ice crystals that cause damage to cell walls, rendering frozen foods mushier as they thaw.

Blast chilling blows supercooled air over the food, taking it well below freezing and leaving only the tiniest of crystals.