Cooking Fish

[Symmetry]

I've had some awesome responses asking for advice about stuff before, so I guess I'll ask about cooking fish.

I really love eating fish, and all types of seafood generally. I'm a pretty good cook, but I always overcook fish. Pretty much the only fussy thing I have about food is small bones. They ruin fish for me and I always get paranoid.

So yeah- advice on cooking fish would be much appreciated. Type of fish, prep, method, whatever gets me away from the dried out fillet of salmon I just ate.

[Army of GOD]

Do you like fishsticks?

[shieldgenerator7]

buy store-bought boneless fish. works everytime

[Symmetry]

buy store-bought boneless fish. works everytime

That stuff is horrible. May as well respond to a request for advice on cooking pork by suggesting hot dogs.

[jigger1986]

If you are stuck on Salmon, how are you preparing it?
Remember that the fish will still cook for a couple minutes after you take it off the heat, so removing it a minute or two before you think its done and letting it rest at room temp will bring the internal temp to just right.

For salmon try a poach, it will keep the fish really moist. You could do something simple like white wine and lemon. Throw some fresh herbs (dill and terragon work well) on top. Just put the fish in a shallow pan, cover half way with liquid, season and add herbs. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 10 minutes.

You could also do a blackened dish, and depending on what you serve it on it will make it "seem" moist.
Blackended salmon fillets on caeser salad is nice. Heat up a saute pan with some oil, rolls thinly sliced salmon in canjun spice and sear for like 30-45 seconds, remoce from heat and set sit for a minute or so. Garnish with lemon. One other sauce I use often for salmon is alfredo basil(again with some lemon juice and pepper)

Bored of sauces? Try a salsa/chutney.

Fine diced nectarines/peaches with oregano. Saute the fruit with some sweet peppers (red/yellow) until caramelized. De-glaze with some wine and a bit of sugar to make a simple syrup. Add herbs at the very end.

If you are feeling experimental try some Red Snapper. A simple pan sear with lemon dill beurre blanc, or orange tarragon beurre blanc is really nice.

Beurre Blanc-heat pan, add some shallots/onions finely diced, saute to caramelize, de-glaze the pan with white wine and add citrus and herbs. Reduce over med-high heat half way, take off the heat and add butter.Stir in the butter (off the heat) to desired thickness.

Last week at work I did a cornmeal crusted Pickerel. Just roll the pickeral, get your pan really hot and pan sear, finish in over for like 5 minutes. This one also works well with a simple beurre blanc.

I worked as a sous chef in a fine dining restaurant specializing in fish and a have alot of experience with it. One thing to avoid is ultra high heat, try to undercook the fish a tiny bit and let it rest at room temp for 1-2 minutes to finish cooking to avoid dried out fish.

Try these out, tell me how you like them.

[Symmetry]

If you are stuck on Salmon, how are you preparing it?
Remember that the fish will still cook for a couple minutes after you take it off the heat, so removing it a minute or two before you think its done and letting it rest at room temp will bring the internal temp to just right.

For salmon try a poach, it will keep the fish really moist. You could do something simple like white wine and lemon. Throw some fresh herbs (dill and terragon work well) on top. Just put the fish in a shallow pan, cover half way with liquid, season and add herbs. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 10 minutes.

You could also do a blackened dish, and depending on what you serve it on it will make it "seem" moist.
Blackended salmon fillets on caeser salad is nice. Heat up a saute pan with some oil, rolls thinly sliced salmon in canjun spice and sear for like 30-45 seconds, remoce from heat and set sit for a minute or so. Garnish with lemon. One other sauce I use often for salmon is alfredo basil(again with some lemon juice and pepper)

Bored of sauces? Try a salsa/chutney.

Fine diced nectarines/peaches with oregano. Saute the fruit with some sweet peppers (red/yellow) until caramelized. De-glaze with some wine and a bit of sugar to make a simple syrup. Add herbs at the very end.

If you are feeling experimental try some Red Snapper. A simple pan sear with lemon dill beurre blanc, or orange tarragon beurre blanc is really nice.

Beurre Blanc-heat pan, add some shallots/onions finely diced, saute to caramelize, de-glaze the pan with white wine and add citrus and herbs. Reduce over med-high heat half way, take off the heat and add butter.Stir in the butter (off the heat) to desired thickness.

Last week at work I did a cornmeal crusted Pickerel. Just roll the pickeral, get your pan really hot and pan sear, finish in over for like 5 minutes. This one also works well with a simple beurre blanc.

I worked as a sous chef in a fine dining restaurant specializing in fish and a have alot of experience with it. One thing to avoid is ultra high heat, try to undercook the fish a tiny bit and let it rest at room temp for 1-2 minutes to finish cooking to avoid dried out fish.

Try these out, tell me how you like them.

That's some great advice- can I ask about the ultra high heat thing though- when I cook beef steak I usually use very high heat on a griddle, but only a few minutes each side. Does that work for fresh fish? I guess the thicker cuts here.

[natty dread]

I always cook salmon on low heat. I set the oven at 175*C and cook for 45-60 minutes. Tail pieces are best, they have the least bones.

[PLAYER57832]

buy store-bought boneless fish. works everytime

That stuff is horrible. May as well respond to a request for advice on cooking pork by suggesting hot dogs.

Depends on what you refer to. the slabs of haddock we seem to get here around Easter impress me about as much as a pat of styrofoam. However, the real truth is that unless you live right on the coast and actually know the fishermen, or have access to fresh water fish, chances are the "fresh" fish you are eating is at least 3 days old. Its still edible, but fish absolutely loose a lot of taste that way quickly. (worse, its often defrosted slosh)

Anyhow, for many people getting "flash frozen" fish really is the best option. If you get the good stuff, it was frozen right out of the net (basically), and tastes better than what you get "fresh".

[PLAYER57832]

I've had some awesome responses asking for advice about stuff before, so I guess I'll ask about cooking fish.

I really love eating fish, and all types of seafood generally. I'm a pretty good cook, but I always overcook fish. Pretty much the only fussy thing I have about food is small bones. They ruin fish for me and I always get paranoid.

So yeah- advice on cooking fish would be much appreciated. Type of fish, prep, method, whatever gets me away from the dried out fillet of salmon I just ate.

The first thing is to pick good fish. The number one factor, more important than anything else is to get FRESH fish. If you vcannot get truly FRESH fish, then go for "flash frozen". (but pay attention to where it comes from, etc, too). It should NOT smell, look "glossy" .. beyond that it depends a lot on the type of fish.

"oily fish", like makeral, and Tuna benefit from bar-b-queing or smoking.
If you get nice, fresh salmon cook it at high heat, quickly. usually about 400 F, roughly 10 minutes an inch. BUT, forget anything "farm raised". It is handled poorly and genearlly tastes like it. (I have had some good farmed fish, when at fishery conferences, but not anywhere else ). Now farmed trout and tilapia are OK, but skip the farmed salmon.

Halibut is hard to get outside of AK.. and I think if you were there, you would be getting better cooking advice than you get here (lol-- I did)

Beyond that, most "white" fish is good baked, again roughly 10 minutes a pound. Or, surprisingly microwaving works well. Trouble there is microwaves vary so much its hard to get it right. Too much and you wind up with jerky. Etiher way, I use butter (sometimes a little olive oil to stretch the butter) and either pepper or garlic.

You can, of course get a lot fancier, but good fish doesn't need anything more.

[esiemer]

where do you live?
i have found tuna and swordfish to be easy to grill, and especially tuna if you undercook it then it is still ok.

but you gotta buy good stuff. whole foods is generally pricey but worth it.

[Symmetry]

Answering a few questions- I live in the middle of the UK. Tuna, cod, mackerel, salmon, haddock, and a few other north Atlantic types are easy to get. I usually bake salmon with some flavoured butter.

I really have no clue with fish- I don't cook it often.