If you're just learning to cook or have been cooking for a while, learning how to cook seafood can be an intimidating task.

There can be questions like:

• Where do I get the best seafood?
• How to tell when seafood has gone bad?
• How do you cook seafood??

While the best way to learn anything is to simply just do it, I've included some tips on how to get started below.

Where do I get the best seafood:

At most supermarkets, you should be able to find fresh salmon fillets in the refrigerator aisle. Where you can choose frozen seafood like calamari, salmon and other seafood, but if you've ever watched Gordon Ramsay, you know frozen is a no-go if you want quality and flavour.

My advice is to find a market specifically for seafood to be able to get the best seafood.

If you happen to be in Sydney, Notaras Fish Markets are my go-to.

You should start cooking with fish fillets like salmon as opposed to a whole fish when you're just getting started.

The reason I suggest buying from a seafood market is typically, the produce will be fresher. You should also get a wider variety such as octopus, mussels, crab, crayfish, salmon and other types of fish. Mmm, my mouth is already watering just writing this!

How to tell when seafood has gone bad?

A big downfall to seafood as opposed to red meats or poultry, is that they don't stay fresh for very long if kept raw. For cooked seafood, it should generally keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Like other animals, us humans were gifted with senses such as smell and taste to tell us whether something has gone bad and is no longer safe to eat. With seafood, your nose will be your best-friend here. We all know a foul smell can be referred to as a "fishy smell", so if seafood has gone bad, your nose will definitely know about it.

Similar to steaks, fish will have a really slimy feel to it and may start to have a yellow discoloration when it has gone bad. If in doubt, look at a photo of fresh vs rotten fish.

Rule of thumb for seafood: cook it within two days of purchase.

How long do I cook it for?

When cooking fish like salmon, your cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the fillet.

I usually fry fish for 4-5 minutes on each side. You can look at the side of the fillet to see how much of it has cooked through already.
Don't be alarmed if your salmon fillet is still slightly pink in the middle, it's still safe to eat.

You can see my recipe for cooking salmon fillets here.

For cooking mussels, cook them for around 7-10 minutes or until they've opened. Some of the mussels may turn pink, while others may stay white. They're both cooked.

You can checkout my chili mussels recipe here. For crayfish, I prefer to cook this in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for around 10 minutes.