New Orleans Eats Forums at NOLAEats.com

There are 2 kinds of people in the world.
Those who freeze seafood covered with water and those who do not...

...well maybe there's a 3rd group of those who only buy seafood already cooked.

Anyway, I have been using the under water method for years, mostly with shrimp, with satisfaction. It seemed sense to me to keep the freezer air from contacting the seafood.
Others say the water expanding while freezing is a negative and that it freezes more slowly.

Any scientific type opinions on this?

My opinion isn't scientific--it's purely anecdotal. My cousin's husband is an avid fisherman and freezes all of his fish filets and shrimp in water. I've been the recipient of countless Ziploc bags filled with water and shrimp, redfish, sac-au-lait and speckled trout, and the fish and shrimp always cook beautifully.

Water frozen around the fish/shrimp keeps the oxygen out.

I wouldn't recommend freezing delicate crabs (softshell or hard) in water because tomalley--the greenish, yellowish stuff inside a crab that gives it so much flavor--is water soluble. When you thaw the crab, the good stuff will wash out.

I think the 'water expanding=negative' group is basing it on the idea that freezing, thawing and re-freezing is bad for fish (or meat) b/c it breaks down the cell structure, which causes the meat/fish to lose more moisture.

This would be a great question for Harold McGee to answer...