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These Fishermen Swear by Frozen Seafood
A technique developed in the ‘70s changed the industry
“Frozen” likely isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think gourmet seafood, but head down to the fishing docks in Stonington Borough, Connecticut, and you’ll find frozen sea scallops beloved by locals, visitors, and chefs up and down the East Coast.
The scallops arrive at the docks already frozen thanks to a flash-freezing method that happens onboard the boats. A few yards from the dock, locals and in-the-know visitors come to buy the scallops out of a small storefront that, when closed, has an honor-system freezer that allows customers to take a bag and pay via credit card or cash.
“The only way you’d get a fresher, better-tasting scallop is if you ate it right off the shell on the boat,” said Joe Bomster. The Bomster family developed the patented technology to freeze the scallops back in the 1970s and fished for years before selling the business to another local fishing family this past summer.
While the honor-system freezer might be unusual, the fishermen of Stonington are far from the only ones who swear by frozen seafood.
“Our fish is caught, processed into fillets, and flash-frozen all within hours; the natural flavor and moisture is locked in,” Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant said of his company’s wild Alaskan pollock. “It is then packaged to preserve that just-caught flavor.”
While the honor-system freezer might be unusual, the fishermen of Stonington are far from the only ones who swear by frozen seafood.
The crew that fishes for Stonington sea scallops works around the clock to process the catch. The scallops are cut and rinsed in seawater before being vacuum-packed and placed in metal lids that go into an industrial freezer that can reach 20 degrees below zero in seconds.
Trident Seafood also freezes most of its catch at sea these days using technology developed by Bundrant’s father Chuck in the 1960s. Along with…
