I wish every person who buys fresh seafood, could truly know the story of Saybrook Seafood.
It's a classic .......This place is owned by a woman from a family of fourth-generation, CT Shoreline fishwives...Fishwives, a term sometimes used as an insult...but when it comes to fresh seafood, is the highest compliment/assurance of quality and local knowledge.
I don't know how many generations of fishing are represented in this family, but I do know that the quality and freshness of their fish reflect every generation...
I'll make it simple....
-Saybrook Seafood knows every clammer, oysterman, fin fisherman, dragger, trawler, tuna hunter, long-liner and lobsterman from Clinton to Point Judith.
-Atlantic seafood knows every wholesaler from here to the Fulton fish market.
-Saybrook seafood chowder recipes have been honed for generations. I know because when I was a kid (I'm 65) the clam chowder I relished is still made exactly by Saybrook Seafood..right down to the perfect consistency of the potatoes, not too firm, not too mushy...
-Atlantic seafood has a wide selection gathered from all over the fish world..
-Old saybrook seafood has a much smaller selection because, with very few exceptions, if it isn't available locally, it isn't in the case...
-Sea scallops are from Day Boats.....Tuna is from Point Judith....
-hard calms are from local clammers
-oysters are from third generation oyster farms, farmed to taste like oysters...not hybrid, cross-bred, designer-named lab-rats...
-Steamers are from Maine
-Stuffed shrimp is a simply-seasoned, perfectly-balanced, third-generation recipe that honors and enhances....without flavor-masking, the main player in the dish...
-Herring is from an old local guy
-smoked fish is from a different old local guy
-Shad is from yet another old local guy
-And most of these old local guys...are part of the family...
Get the picture?
In short Saybrook seafood is the tip of an iceberg....an iceberg of colorful local history....the watermen of CT and Rhode Island, who have made their living catching and digging and knowing local seafood for generations....
..who still think marketing means foodshopping....and for whom quality, freshness and cleanliness are not a state requirement, or even good business, but a simple issue of family pride, and unbreakable commitment to honor family traditions that will never, never be forsaken.... read more