Open Blue Cobia offers frozen fillets.

Sustainability:  I recommend pasteurized, frozen blue crab caught in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay with trotlines – a domestic crab that is considered a “Best Choice” by Seafood Watch. Blue crab stocks in the U.S. are considered healthy in most states with the exception of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay waters. In these areas, there is an endangered turtle called the Diamondback Terrapin which lives in the brackish waters of estuaries, tidal creeks, and salt marshes of these states and gets caught in the pots used to catch crabs.

“I like keeping jumbo lump crab meat on hand and also recommend Joe’s Stone Crabs, which you can order online. My family has them for Christmas Eve!” They have sourced from the same area since the early 1900s, which has been managed very carefully.

Kvaroy Arctic’s salmon is certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices. These hot dogs are the solution to preventing food waste while also offering an exciting new way to enjoy salmon at home. They utilize the trimmings and off-cuts from their salmon production to make these hot dogs.

These Salmon Hot Dogs from Kvaroy Arctic have a full weekly recommended amount of omega-3s in one serving. The snap of the hot dog, along with the thoughtful blend of spices, will leave even the kids in the family sure that it was a traditional hot dog. 

Frozen lobster meat from Maine is incredible.

I believe that there are many great salmon choices – from well-managed wild stocks when it’s salmon season to marine net pens to indoor recirculating tanks (RAS) with wastewater treatment. I am so excited to champion a third-generation family farmer in the Arctic Circle, Kvaroy Arctic. It is a way to support farming done right while championing sustainable, ethical aquaculture.

You can never go wrong with smoked salmon – I love smoked Kvaroy Arctic and Santa Barbara Smokehouse’s Rope Hung Smoked Salmon. Kvaroy Arctic’s Salmon Burgers & Hot Dogs are also phenomenal.

If you’d like a delicious scallop meal that you can get on the table quickly, opt for My Fish Dish’s Scallops, which come with a delicious compound butter. They meet the Marine Stewardship Council’s chain of custody standard, are the first seafood company in the U.S. to be Fair Trade certified, and they’re a founding member of the Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested Program.

A smoked seafood dip is great to have on hand for snacks and appetizers. Here is the recipe for my Tinned Smoked Salmon and Caper Dip

Keep an eye out for giant freshwater prawns farmed in Central and South America and giant tiger prawns from Selva Shrimp Verified Farms in Southeast Asia, which are rated green for “Best Choice.” 

“Good Alternatives” (the yellow rating from Seafood Watch) include white leg shrimp from ponds from Ecuador and Honduras, white leg shrimp grown in infrequent exchange ponds from Thailand, and giant freshwater prawns from Asia.

For wild-caught “Best Choice” shrimp, look for spot prawns (aka spot shrimp) and two other closely related coldwater shrimp: the sidestripe and the coonstripe (both of which may be marketed as spot shrimp or prawns). These are caught on the Pacific Coast, primarily from Washington to Alaska.

You can also get sustainable, wild-caught shrimp sustainable shrimp from Del Pacifico Seafoods. Their Mexican shrimp is Fair Trade certified, which means that it has the Marine Stewardship Council label, is properly harvested, and there’s a premium paid on this that goes back to the workers to build schools and soccer fields and all the great contributions that you’d want in a fisher community!

Shell and tail on and frozen – look for the ASC or BAP label and read more about sourcing shrimp in this blog post. I also recommend Kauai Shrimp, a farm on the west shore of the island of Kauai, is also rated “Best Choice.”

Albacore tuna steaks are delicious!