A friend of mine was out in the islands on Sunday, and a native Indian fishermen was on a small island dock with a halibut he'd just caught. It was so fresh it was still flapping. He cut off a big hunk and gave it to her. Like me, she's a former Alaskan, and she knows that I know that really fresh halibut is the best fish in the whole world. So she split it with me in a unique way: she had us over for a halibut dinner Monday night, then sent me home with a big hunk to prepare another way for the four of us the next night.
It's been years since I've had halibut that fresh, and boy do I miss it. They can put that fish on a plane and take it to Los Angeles or New York or Louisville and call it "fresh Alaskan", but by the time it's been superchilled and passed through so many chains of custody to get to you there, the quality's been reduced by two thirds. There's so-called fresh, and then there's just-caught fresh, and the difference in both taste and texture is enormous. I've even bought fresh local halibut here in the store, but never once has it matched what I remember from Alaska. But this did. Finally, this did.
Must find more.