How To Cook Fish

[echnidna]

So how do you cook fish so its nice & tender like it is from good fish shops?

Does it need to be marinated or something?

[woodbe]

Well, don't overcook it.

If you want it tender, it has nothing to do with marinade. We cook it mostly on the bbq hotplate in Olive oil with no more than a dip in plain flour. If it breaks when you pick it up, it's overdone...

woodbe.

[DavidG]

woodbe
Ditto. Its the best. :U

[Honorary Bloke]

Bob,

The general Rule of Thumb is 10 minutes per 25mm of thickness. So, thinner fish done quicker, etc. :)

[Source: Canadian Department of Fisheries.]

[Schtoo]

Overcook it and it's dead.

To a point, they forget to even cook it over here sometimes... :?

Worth noting that if you are going to actually cook fish, the cook part might be purely optional.

And only choose fish fresh enough that you wouldn't mind eating it raw. Seems to work for us over here pretty well. ;)

[Doughboy]

I have cooked and eaten fish that is wrapped in foil and put through a commercial dishwasher. Obviously you need to ensure the detergent has been disconnected and rinsed thoroughly.

I like my fish medium rare so over cooking is out of the question.

[bfx]

Cook it quick. The 10min per 25mm sounds about right.

Sushi and sashimi, I had that once - got it from the local takeaway. It was very nice but we were a little annoyed that they didn't cook it and we had to do it ourselves.

Bill

[Studley 2436]

Be careful with the 10 minutes/25mm. Too many other factors is the room hot or cold. Is the fish straight from the fridge 3º or 4º or room temp 15º or 20º how hot is the pan?

As with any cooking you must have your pan properly to tempreture before you put the meat in it but with fish you need a fairly low temp. So keep your burner turned down a bit. Butter is good for cooking as it will bubble when it is at the right heat but brown and burn if you are getting things too hot.

The thing with fish is that it is such delicate meat compared to beef for instance but different fishes will give you a different result. Bigger fishes are not always the best eating although there are some that are famed as good eating such as Snapper and Barramundi. When I say that I am only saying that small fish such as Whiting are often better to eat than bigger fish.

You can poach fish in a stock or soup and that is very good. I used to make fish soup by just cooking a stock and then taking the pot from the heat and dropping in Prawns Calamari rings fish fillets that were cubed up giving it a stir and serving it up straight away. Well leave the prawns in for one minute but that was all it needed. It basically cooks on the way to the table.

With heat if you have a bigger fillet you want less heat. If you have really high heat the outside will burn before the inside is cooked. Smaller things can handle higher heat although fish for instance will cook pretty much as soon as it hits the pan.

The chip shop gets away with it by putting everything in batter and deep frying. The outside fries but the inside actually boils in it's own juices. That's why their stuff might seem so good so long as you are happy to live with deep fried food.

You can fill a pot with oil and deep fry yourself. Just use half a cup of plain flour half a cup of SR flour and half a stubbie of beer. Thin it with water until it is thin enough to run off the fish leaving a thin coating. Afterwards keep the oil in a spare can or something.

It's pretty easy as long as you watch what is happening

Studley

[bsrlee]

As you mention 'good fish shops' I'm guessing you mean battered & deep fried? A couple of things are needed - really cold batter and REALLY hot oil.

Japanese style 'Tempura' batter, made with ice cold soda water or icy beer (drink the left overs) and plain flour, mixed slightly lumpy, floured fish dipped and immediately lowered into oil at 185 C - use a modern deep fryer with a thermostat. Don't try to put a heap of fish in at once - it will lower the oil temperature too much, and the fish will likely stick together in a lump as the batter won't have crisped on the outside.

Cook until it floats to the top, lift out with a strainer & drain on a rack/with paper towels in a warm place. You can have a -few- pieces of fish in at a time, say one almost done, one mid way and one just dipped in without problems.

If you are going to spend some time in Sydney in the future, check out the Sydney Seafood School - www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au - part of the Fish Markets they have evening courses and a few day courses.