Fish - what to buy and how to cook?
Fish - what to buy and how to cook?
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audi321

Original Poster:

5,743 posts

230 months

Yesterday (21:20)
quotequote all
I’ve always fancied the idea of eating fish but never had an idea what to have (outside of cod/haddock from the chippy!).

What would people recommend for a beginner and more importantly how should I cook it?

I guess my main fear is bones and a strong fishy taste, so ideally something I can buy from the fish counter without either of these things.

Looking forward to hearing any ideas and thanks in advance.

wyson

3,771 posts

121 months

Yesterday (21:22)
quotequote all
Sea Bream / Snapper / Monkfish.

Stay away from oily fish if you don t like a fishy taste.

Tuna and salmon seem to be popular as well, although they are more full flavoured.

If you can, get it from a proper fish mongers that gets fish off day boats. They will be able to fillet it for you, although fish always tastes better cooked on the bone.

Just avoid supermarket fish. Apart from farmed fish which generally tastes rank anyway, all of it is thawed, months old off factory ships.

Edited by wyson on Monday 15th September 21:32

mikef

5,780 posts

268 months

Yesterday (21:29)
quotequote all
audi321 said:
I ve always fancied the idea of eating fish but never had an idea what to have
Gosh, my flabber is truly ghasted. We eat fish or seafood dinners at least twice a week, I assumed most people do. Maybe it’s more difficult it you live further away from the coast

A great cookbook if you want to do nice, not over-complicated fish dishes: Tom Kitchin's Fish and Shellfish

CLK-GTR

1,576 posts

262 months

Yesterday (21:29)
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Have a watch of this

https://youtu.be/TqOOEWjXw7c?si=GdrVT2ldR2De3rxH

Salmon is my personal favourite

Prohibiting

1,852 posts

135 months

Yesterday (21:32)
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Easy one to do is salmon. Buy a fillet so no bone and just cook in a pan with a little soy sauce, honey, garlic, and rice wine vinegar: https://simplehomeedit.com/recipe/honey-garlic-sal...

Macneil

1,008 posts

97 months

Yesterday (21:34)
quotequote all
I don't really do whole fish, you can't go wrong with a sea bass fillet, bit of olive oil, fry for 3 minutes or so skin down, then turn it over for a minute, maybe 2.
Bit of lemon zest as you cook it will set it off nicely. Get it right then you can start experimenting.

A quick midweek meal for me is a Spice Tailor Keralan curry kit with a piece of cod loin cut into chunks and thrown in, when it starts to flake it's done. throw in some cooked prawns to warm through at the end.
Or same piece of cod loin smothered in pesto and baked for 18 mins at 200 degrees.

Salmon is great with ginger and soy, mix up equal parts soy sauce and honey, grate in some ginger and paste it all over the fish, in the oven for 15 minutes or so then serve on top of some noodles with spring onions and the sauce from the tray of fish.

If you don't have a fishmonger, Waitrose fresh fish is excellent.

21TonyK

12,528 posts

226 months

Yesterday (21:36)
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If you like cod stick with it. Get a piece of fresh cod from a local supermarket. Season it with a bit of salt and a few bits of butter and just put it under a medium grill for a few minutes until it flakes when you push down on it.

Thats it. Keep it really simple and straight forward to begin with.

Once you get the idea that fish cooks very, very quickly you can start to play around.

If you have an aversion to bones you need a fishmonger or a good supermarket fish counter to prep stuff for you really. Find one and ask for fillets of flat fish like plaice, sole, megrim etc Lightly floured and pan fried in a little butter and oil or just grilled is quick and easy.

Skate (or ray) is lovely and not very fishy but served and eaten on the bone.

miniman

28,561 posts

279 months

Yesterday (21:37)
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Nice piece of tuna, seared both sides on a smoking griddle, rare in the middle. Lovely.

MarkJS

1,951 posts

164 months

Yesterday (21:40)
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We like Stone Bass. It has a nice meaty taste and goes with most things. To cook a couple of fillets - drizzle them with a little oil, salt & pepper. Then, loosely wrap them in parchment paper and bake at 180c in the oven for 15 minutes. You can pan fry them too of course but the oven method is far less smelly. Not that Stone Bass is any smellier than other fish - I just don’t like the lingering odour that cooking any fish generally tends to create.

sherman

14,552 posts

232 months

Yesterday (21:45)
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Cod Loin is nice.
Try a loin wrapped in pancetta roasted in a hot(220c) oven for 15mins.

Salmon fillet is good but the supermarket fillets are always tiny. You get better sized salmon from a fishmonger.

Scallops are a good fishy type thing. Pan fry for a few minutes in butter and they are done.


anyoldcardave

909 posts

84 months

Yesterday (22:47)
quotequote all
21TonyK said:
If you like cod stick with it. Get a piece of fresh cod from a local supermarket. Season it with a bit of salt and a few bits of butter and just put it under a medium grill for a few minutes until it flakes when you push down on it.

Thats it. Keep it really simple and straight forward to begin with.

Once you get the idea that fish cooks very, very quickly you can start to play around.

If you have an aversion to bones you need a fishmonger or a good supermarket fish counter to prep stuff for you really. Find one and ask for fillets of flat fish like plaice, sole, megrim etc Lightly floured and pan fried in a little butter and oil or just grilled is quick and easy.

Skate (or ray) is lovely and not very fishy but served and eaten on the bone.
Grilled Skate in a light garlic butter is fantastic, sea bass too, Cod is southern softie tasteless nonsense lol, I like hake too, smoked Bassa done in foil is a cheaper good option.

I think fish is an easy option for cooking, especially grill or pan fried, once you get it right once you know how you like it, it tells you when it is cooked if you check it.

chip*

1,428 posts

245 months

Google steamed (best with whole) fish with soya sauce, ginger, and spring onions for details (it's really simple!)
You can use sea bass, grouper, snapper, or turbot if you wish to spend a few pennies more.
Don't worry about bones because the flesh literally peels away once it's fully cooked.

AndyAudi

3,543 posts

239 months

chip* said:
Google steamed (best with whole) fish with soya sauce, ginger, and spring onions for details (it's really simple!)
You can use sea bass, grouper, snapper, or turbot if you wish to spend a few pennies more.
Don't worry about bones because the flesh literally peels away once it's fully cooked.
Was just away to suggest similar, I use skinless haddock fillets & a metal steamer. Eg. https://www.themakermakes.com/blog/cantonese-steam...

(I also steam frozen yellow smoked haddock)

Poaching white fish pieces in a coconut curry sauce is also good,

ATM

20,291 posts

236 months

I buy these from Aldi but similar available elsewhere

I just microwave, with occasional breaks to discard water from the dish I’m using

Then eat with butter or olive oil and other stuff

I like to use instead of tinned tuna

So tuna and pasta use this instead

Or add to my own fish pie type dish - with mash and peas

Eat with rice in a curry theme deal


Bill

56,157 posts

272 months

Easy midweek supper for us is baked salmon fillet. Put it skin side down on unoiled foil on a baking sheet. Rub with olive oil, S&P and put in a fairly hot (210°) oven for 9 minutes. The skin sticks to the foil so you end up with just the flesh.

Lotobear

8,109 posts

145 months

The humble mackerel, cooked fresh and simply, takes some beating IMO

Tisy

786 posts

9 months

ATM said:
I buy these from Aldi but similar available elsewhere

I just microwave, with occasional breaks to discard water from the dish I m using

Then eat with butter or olive oil and other stuff

I like to use instead of tinned tuna

So tuna and pasta use this instead

Or add to my own fish pie type dish - with mash and peas

Eat with rice in a curry theme deal

It's completely tasteless (pollock). Basically a poor man's cod

AndyAudi

3,543 posts

239 months

I just remembered a girl I saw years back, Was on a slimming world type diet & used to make a really good traybake - she used haddock, white flakey not strong smelling, & it had tomatoes & veg stuff in it.

Was really easy & launched in the oven all together.

Not sure if this is a health kick /high protein thing , but we accompanied it with homemade dirty carrot fries (roasted battons with spices & covered in cheese). It was our fish & chips

I can t find the recipe but did see other ideas with googling tray bake https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/collections/fi...

mikef

5,780 posts

268 months

ATM said:
I buy these from Aldi but similar available elsewhere
Alternatively, pop along to your nearest fishing port (ideally after a few nice days so the boats have been out) and ask the fishmonger what's fresh in. They will clean and fillet the fish for you as well, but you may need to ask, or they will presume you're happy to do it yourself at home

Here's my last fish supper (I love John Dory, even more than brill and turbot, the local flatfish)



Edited to add the cooking part. Leave the skin on the fillets (one side, of course) for this sort of fish, so they don't curl up during cooking. Then poach (I use a glass of white wine), bake en papillote or fry the fillets

Edited by mikef on Tuesday 16th September 09:24

Mobile Chicane

21,602 posts

229 months

Easiest way to cook it is in a parcel of either tin foil or baking parchment with a lump of butter plus some fresh herbs / strip of lemon zest etc.

In a hot oven for 15 minutes, it basically 'steams' in its own juices. Eat on a plate from the 'parcel', then lob the whole lot in the bin. No fishy pans.