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Fish pulled from the sea, whether fresh or saltwater, might or might not have cloudy eyes, but a fresh fish would definitely have round and plump eyes. If the eyes are sinking in, that’s a sign of age. In addition to the vendors checking the fish the moment it is received, each fish must again pass an inspection before it even makes it through the door of your local Rouses. “We have receivers at the back of the store for all our incoming products, but that receiver is not allowed to receive seafood. They are required to call a seafood specialist to first take a look at that product and ensure that before we received it, that it meets our specifications,” Englade explains. Some fish Rouses recieves filleted before delivery, such as catfish, some Atlantic salmon, and tilapia, to name a few. To inspect them for freshness, the seafood specialists at every Rouses look at the boxes they come in to check for things like the process date and the day they were caught. Both vendors who help supply Rouses, and the Rouses team members themselves, are looking at that to ensure maximum freshness. Once the fish makes it to the display cases in Rouses seafood departments, the teams track the date it arrived, and only the freshest seafood gets sold. Anything carried for too long is rotated out, as customers need time as well to take the fish home and store it before cooking it, which can sometimes be days later.

“We want to make sure that products are going fresh to our customer. On any given day, we have fresh seafood coming in so that the customer can feel confident that what they are buying is quality, fresh seafood,” she explains. Every Rouses has the same

core seafood items — basically any seafood you can think of off the top of your head: head-on shrimp, peeled shrimp, catfish, tuna, scallops, among many others. On top of that, stores stock fish that happen to be caught at any given time; it might be drum or sheepshead or speckled trout or rockfish. “In the world of seafood, it’s day to day,” says Englade. “Just because something is in season doesn’t mean someone is going to catch it.” Weather conditions, rain, hurri- canes — those problems can be unrelenting. And when that happens, Englade and her team never rest on their laurels. “We are aggressiveandwe will have thebest products of anyone out there. We will have the avail- ability. We do that by building relationships with our vendors and fishermen.” And any seafood that Rouses doesn’t carry, but that can be commercially fished, is available for special order with 48 hours’ notice. Englade says it is fun to introduce new seafood from other areas to Rouses customers. “We keep true to our local

fishermen, making sure that we’re working with the fishermen, crawfish farmers, and our shrimp guys in the area. And we make sure that while we’re supporting local, we are also offering seafood from all over. And that’s really is my passion. And I do love it.” David W. Brown is a freelance writer whose work appears in The Atlantic , The New York Times , Scientific American and The New Yorker . His newest book, The Mission: A True Story , a rollicking adventure about a motley band of explorers on a quest to find oceans on Europa, is in bookstores now. Brown lives in New Orleans.

ARROW-CIRCLE-RIGHT Just like beef and pork, there are different cuts of fish. Our most popular cut is a fillet , a cut from the side of the fish. Depending on the type of fish, we have fillets available skin-on and skinless. A fish steak is a crosswise cut made from large fish such as salmon, tuna or halibut. We leave the vertebrae, skin and bones intact Only the Best Fish Makes the Cut at Rouses

for this cut. Most customers choose fish steaks for grilling because they hold up so well. Fish loins are the filet mignon of the seafood case. These prime cuts are taken lengthwise across the backs of large fish like tuna, swordfish and shark. They are thick and flavorful.

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