How bad does a fish have to smell before it's considered inedible?

[Deja Q]

For now on, it's frozen fish for me only.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Fish shouldn't have an odor.

Why did you buy stinky fish anyway?

[Deja Q]

2. Salmon

:cry:

I bought it a week ago. I saw it in the fridge today and thought "that looks tasty". I looked at the expiration date (10/16) and today's the 21st. It had a tad of a whiff, but when I cooked it -- YEEEOOOWWWW, it didn't take long!! PEEE-YEEEEWWW! (it was bad) I had to whip out the lysol...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. Yeah, that'll kill ya.

Fish is something that should really be bought the day you're going to cook it.

[datasuspect]

6. fish is something you really ought not buy

i have a friend who catches red snapper sows out of the gulf.

80-100 pound fish.

we'd be eating it within 4-6 hours of him catching it. 6 inch thick steaks of the freshest, most beautiful fish. tastes even better raw.

never had better fish. the crap they sell in markets isn't even edible. if it is 24-48 hours out of water, you might as well chuck it unless it is deep frozen, and then it isn't the same anyway.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. I agree it's better fresh caught.

I ate fresh-caught stripers, fluke, bluefish, clams, lobsters almost every day this summer. We have a cabin up in Stonington, CT. Either it was all stuff we caught ourselves, or stuff we bought direct off the boat, as Stonington has the last commercial fishing fleet in CT.

[datasuspect]

8. clams and lobsters!

yummay!

we have blue crabs here, when they are small enough, you can deep fry them and eat them whole.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. Yeah, we catch them in CT, too.

We're on a cove and we set traps right off our dock. Soft-shell crab po boys rock.

[electron_blue]

4. I heartily agree. I've never smelled an unsmelly fish.

[Drum]

5. If it smells bad enough to ask about...

:shrug:

(Best eaten on or near day of purchase, IMO)

[El Fuego]

10. Yeah, you have to eat immediately or throw it in the freezer.

You can't be indecisive with seafood.

[Nikia]

11. If it is fresh, less than 24 hours

Fish rots faster than almost all other foods. I cannot seem to remember why though.

[skygazer]

12. I only buy fish the day I'm going to eat it

It gets nasty quickly.

[BreweryYardRat]

13. Unless you're making garum...

Don't eat fish over a day after purchase.

[Jamastiene]

14. That reminds me of a long but funny story, depending on how

you look at it. I can still remember the first woman I ever fell madly in love with. She didn't like me back but she did string me along. Well, it got to a point where something happened that was truly horrific for her, but funny as hell for me. Her sisters husband had caught some fish and put them in a plastic bag. He game them to me because I used to have a weekend fish fry for me and the cats. This was when I was living in the shed behind my mother's house. I went through that "roughing it" phase, I guess.

Well, long story short:
I didn't drive back then so my would-be girlfriend (not) drove me home that night. Well, we had an argument on the way and I got out of the car all pissed off. Did I mention that it was in the hottest part of summer? Oh well, the next day, late in the day when she woke up and came to work, she was still mad. Actually, she seemed even more angry at me for some reason. I couldn't figure out why, so I asked.

She didn't have a garage or any sort of shelter she could park the car under, so the car sat in the sun with the majority of the sunlight right in the backseat and floorboard area there. Well, as it turns out, I had forgotten the fish. They were in the floor board back there in the back of the car. Oops.

She ended up re-upholstering the car, but even that didn't get the smell out. She drove around in it for a couple more months with 3 air fresheners hanging all over the place. Later, she sold it. The only way she finally got someone to buy it was, she sprayed it with Lysol right before they came over to look at it, and again right before they handed her the money.

I'm not exactly proud of the fact that I forgot the fish, but she did steal some things from her sister before that happened and blamed me when her sister found out. She did other horrible things as well. I just made an honest mistake and forgot the fish. I guess that is why for the longest time, they kept saying, "Don't forget the fish." every time I would leave from work. :shrug:

[DBoon]

15. In Iceland, it can smell very bad an still be considered tasty

http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/europe/iceland_and_greenland/shark_meat.php

Shark meat is buried for between two and six months, until it has reached just the right stage of decomposition. It's known as hakarl, and is a real treat for steely stomached Icelanders.

If you're new to hakarl, hold your nose: this will really sort the men from the boys. Some say it tastes cheesy, some say they just swallowed it in one gulp...but most have lived to tell the tale. Just make sure you have a shot of brennivin to hand, a strong Icelandic spirit made from potatoes, to wash it down. And don't eat it before an important date, harkal and halitosis go hand in hand.

Like natto, durian, and chittlins, this is something I'd just as soon leave to the locals

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. And then there's also lutefisk.

:puke:

[El Fuego]

17. To paraphrase Dwight Yoakum

"I ain't that hungry yet"

I'm of Finnish descent, but...

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke: