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While the variety available ºÚÁÏÍø means you could really take your Christmas spread in any direction, here are a few of our top seasonal picks to guide you!

School Prawns

Not much bigger than a pinky finger, School Prawns are wild-caught, mostly in estuaries south of Noosa. While they are available year-round, their peak is between October and April – perfect for Christmas! 

You can expect them to retail for between $14-$20/kg, making them the cheapest variety of prawn any day of the week. 

School Prawns are deliciously sweet; an important rule of thumb to remember is the smaller the prawn, the sweeter the taste.  

While you can buy them cooked and peel them and eat them at the table, this can be fiddly. Our recommendation is to buy them green and deep-fry them whole. Toss them in chilli salt and serve with a cold beer for something as delicious and addictive as potato chips! 

Tiger Prawns

There are a number of varieties of Tiger Prawns, some wild-caught, some farmed.  

Black Tiger Prawns are the most common aquaculture prawn in Australia, and will make up most of what you see on display at Sydney Fish Market at Christmas time. These tend to have a stronger and more consistent flavour than wild-caught prawns, making them perfect for punchier dishes like salads, rice paper rolls, or being served with a zingy dipping sauce. 

Wild Tiger Prawns are often very large, sometimes up to 35cm long, and are identifiable by their stunning stripey appearance (with stripes continuing all the way down to the feelers). Much of their high price tag (often over $50/kg) is thanks to these gorgeous aesthetics.  

Their large size can mean that they have a less concentrated flavour compared to their smaller counterparts; but if you are planning a visually impressive dish that requires big prawns, they're a great choice. 

Barramundi

A whole fish makes a stunning centrepiece for the Christmas table, and Barramundi is one of the most readily-available whole fish you'll find. Wild-caught Barramundi is available from February to November, peaking from February to May, while farmed Barramundi is available year-round, meaning you will always be able to get your hands on it. Another bonus is that farmed Barramundi is usually the perfect plate-sized fish, so you can buy a couple to feed the whole family without overloading your barbecue.

Their firm flesh and edible skin work best with high-heat cooking methods like baking or barbecuing, but you can also steam Barra for an easy and healthy main. 

Southern Calamari

Most commercial catch of Southern Calamari comes from the pristine waters of South Australia. Cooler ocean temperatures create a clean, subtly oceanic flavour that puts this species squarely at the top of the list of Australia’s most highly prized cephalopods. 

Neil Perry would char Southern Calamari on an open fire (or a barbecue, if you don’t have the Margaret kitchen at your disposal!), and dress it with a simple, punchy marinade like Salmoriglio. 

Australian Salmon

Australian Salmon (not to be confused with Atlantic Salmon – different species!) is a ridiculously underutilised fish, and as such is very low-priced. It responds particularly well to proper handling methods, such as brain spiking, bleeding, and placing in an ice slurry as quickly as possible. 

If it’s fresh and handled correctly, Australian Salmon has a clean, firm, meaty flavour and is excellent as crumbed fish pieces, minced in fish cakes barbecued, smoked, or even as sashimi.  

It is also very high in Omega-3 fatty acids! This means that strong accompanying flavours are best... Think tomatoes, olives, vinegars, pickled vegetables and punchy herbs. 

Rock Lobsters

Available wild-caught and farmed, various regional species of these marine crustaceans are found all over Australia. By far the most valuable commercial species in Australia (worth over half the value of total Australian finfish catch), they are caught mainly in pots and mostly exported live or frozen to Japan, Taiwan or China.  

These are a premium species, and as such, deserve a thoughtful approach. Whatever you do, make sure that the Lobster is the star! Sashimi, in a salad, or in a pasta where the sauce is made by simmering and reducing the Rock Lobster shells and organs.  

Our best two tips for selecting a good specimen are to make sure that the shell is firm (this will indicate that the tail is full of meat) and to, wherever possible, choose the smallest Rock Lobster available. It is usually better (flavour-wise) to get a few 500g specimens than one that weighs 1-2kg. 

Blue Swimmer Crabs

Blue Swimmer Crab has been the most sold species (by weight) on Sydney Fish Market's auction floor for many years running now, and for good reason.  

This species' popularity is mostly due to how easy it is for the home cook to handle. Blue Swimmers are one of the only varieties of crab not sold live or already cooked, meaning you don't have to undertake any specialised process to kill them (which, understandably, can make people squeamish) and can instead get straight into cooking! 
 

Blue Mussels

Mussels are found in intertidal waters to depths of around 20m, often in dense clumps, attached by coarse rope-like ‘beards’ to exposed reefs, rocks, and jetty pylons. While they were traditionally harvested by divers, aquaculture has developed to the point that almost all mussels sold are now farmed. 
 
They are sold live, sometimes in vacuum sealed packages. Look for brightly coloured, firm, intact, lustrous shells that are closed or close when tapped or gently squeezed, and a pleasant fresh sea smell. 

All bivalves lend themselves to a wide range of cooking styles, including steaming, poaching, stir-frying, baking, grilling, barbecuing (in the shell), smoking, and pickling. Mussels' firm flesh works particularly well in soups, curries and stir-fries.