I want to be better at cooking fish (cookbook suggestions?)

Cafe Society
1

Cooks of the SDMB, I need a little help.

I am a good cook. I like to cook. Cooking is my main hobby these days. I also like cookbooks and own a lot of them. But you know what I don’t like cooking? Fish.

As a kid I was sort of traumatized by a mother who was terrible at cooking fish and made it bland and watery. I, as an adult, have learned to cook salmon and Tuna but when it comes to any other fish I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. I don’t even know how to shop for what I might like. For a lot of reasons I have recently decided I need more fish in my life. One of those was I had occasion to eat at Le Bernardin and, jeeze, that was eye opening. I’m clearly missing out on a whole world of food that I hardly think about.

So, can I get an assist? What would be a good cookbook to help me learn, not only how to cook fish but about which fish to cook? If you know a good website or something instead I’ll take it, but I am primarily hoping for a cookbook that I can sort of work my way through and come out the other side a more confident cook of fish, so nothing too advanced.

Thanks! Looking forward to your suggestions

2

All I know how to do is sous vide a salmon or swordfish steak, but I make mojarra frita (whole fried tilapia) all the time. It’s super easy and crazy good.

  1. Just take a cleaned whole tilapia (or any small whole whitefish that will fit in a skillet will do), cut it 3-4 times on each side, down to the bone, then liberally sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the outside and inside the cavity (I like to sprinkle a little Old Bay on it too but I’m from Maryland, I’m required to :wink:)
  2. Stuff the cavity with a lemon slice and an onion slice. Some people flour the outside but I think that’s a waste of time.
  3. Heat a skillet with about a 1/2" of oil over medium-high heat, wait until it’s hot, then gently lay the fish down into the oil, holding by the tail, head first.
  4. Cook 7 minutes per side.
  5. Use as big a spatula, or two, as you own to flip it over. Same for when you remove it from the pan. The cooked fish will be very fragile, so be really careful.

Serve with rice and a vegetable.

As for cookbooks, I don’t have any seafood ones I’ve used to recommend, but if you have a Kindle you could read this one for free:

3

Sounds similar to what I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant where we were friends with the owners. Fixed it for us on birthdays and such. Just pick off the meat with chopsticks. Excellant

4

Are you located where you can get fresh (really fresh) fish easily? If you can get halibut, get a couple of filets. Take parchment paper, lay some green beans or asparagus, top with a filet, top that with a very thin sliced lemon and a bit of butter, wrap it up and fold the edges to seal. Put in a 375 oven and bake about 15 minutes. It will be perfect every time. Works ok with cod or any fairly firm whitefish I understand, but I always use halibut. Pricy but delicious.

5

Get some kind of breading mix, where I am I like Pride of the West. Or make your own with flour and whatever spices you have or prefer.

Get fish and pat it dry. Put fish and breading mix into a large Zip Lock bag. Toss together until covered.

In a non-stick pan add more oil than you think you need. Heat pan about medium high, 6 or so on your dial.

When oil is hot, put the fish in, cook for a minute or so on one side until golden, turn over and get that side golden, done. Do not turn over more than once.

6

I am also interested in recipes, and can’t offer any cookbooks.

But I’d like to recommend the frozen arctic char sold by whole foods. If i remember to defrost it, it comes out really good. I throw a little butter on the frying pan (it doesn’t need much, as fat will render from the fish, but it will stick with no grease, and butter tastes good) and cook it skin side down until the skin gets crispy. Then flip it, and cook the other side until it’s done. If the other side seems to be getting overcooked before the interior is done, i do it again and throw the whole frying pan into a low oven to finish it up.

I don’t think it needs any seasoning, but a squeeze of lemon ads a nice tang.

7

Easiest and tastiest recipe we’ve come up with:

The salmon juices steam the salmon, and the skin is wonderfully crunchy. You could throw in some rosemary or sage leaves near the end for extra flavour/crunch, or just serve with lemon or lime.

8

It’s like anything, you just have to practice with it. The key to fish is to not overcook it. Some fish is more forgiving than others, sablefish aka black cod is a good fish to start with, it’s oily and forgiving. Find a basic recipe and expand your repertoire from there.

9

A grocery store here sells raw catfish nuggets and filets. They cry out for breading and deep frying, but I dredge the filets in tartar sauce, press into seasoned panko crumbs, spray with olive oil, and cook in the air fryer, 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flipping and cooking another 10 minutes, till golden brown and temperature inside tests 145 degrees. Keep an eye on it, test temperature when it looks done, thinner filets will be cooked faster. Just wonderful :yum:. Any thick firm white fish filets will work, haddock or cod. Single layer, don’t crowd the basket.

10

Similar approach: fresh tropical fish like mahi-mahi, lay in a square of cooking-sprayed foil, cover with a slice or two of fresh pineapple, a pinch or two of crushed fresh ginger, a few slices of sweet onion, and a tablespoon or two of your favorite teriayaki or Korean-style sauce. Wrap-up tight, put the packet on a hot bbq grill for about ten minutes, flip and another five minutes. Unwrap and serve with rice and a veggie.

No need for a cookbook - you got The Straight Dope!

11

And a good steak-like fish, thinking yellowtail, halibut, swordfish, etc., is wonderful when grilled.
If thinking of flavors, I used to make homemade mayonnaise with dill to serve with salmon. I’m proud that my fish “white sauce” is my son’s first fond memory of food.

12

Cooking fish is a big topic, and I’m not sure if my recipe book suggestions will help you as they’ll be British (I’ll offer them anyway), but my wife used to be a fishmonger so I can offer some basic tips.

The safest way to get the best results is with the freshest fish you can find - it’s firmer, more flavourful, less watery and less likely to disintegrate when you cook it. A proper fishmonger is your friend here, but I do appreciate that can be tricky for people in some locations.

  1. Frozen white fish is generally the awful, watery bland stuff you describe your mother cooking. I only feed it to my dog. The exceptions to this are prawns, lobster and cephalopods such as octopus and squid (octopus can actually be better frozen).
  2. Supermarket fish is marginally better but still not brilliant because of the logistic chains it has to jump through, so is often defrosted. Salmon and trout are generally acceptable from supermarkets, as are smoked varieties.
  3. Fish is ‘done’ when it is ‘just done’ with an internal temp of c. 50-55C. A meat thermometer is your friend here. The biggest mistake cooks make with fish is overcooking.
  4. Safest way to cook whole fish is by oven roasting to a temperature of c.50-55C. No more. If you’re doing it on an outdoor grill, wrap it in water soaked newspaper - it will steam beautifully and not get stuck to the grill.
  5. Best way I’ve found to cook fillets (skin on), is to put half butter, half oil in a medium-high frying pan, and fry skin side down with a lid partially covering the pan help it cook through. It will take barely a few minutes - flip when the skin is well brown and cook for about a minute on the reverse. Use your meat thermometer.
  6. For fillets with no skin, roast in the oven.

I haven’t given suggestions for seasonings - a million recipes will do that. But for recipe books, I rely on:

Any Jamie Oliver, as he’s great for inexperienced cooks
Billingsgate Market Fish and Shellfish Cookbook, by CJ Jackson
The River Cottage Fish Book

13

Preach!

Seriously, you’re usually better off with fish erring on the side of undercooking than overcooking. Some fish like salmon are often served medium rare anyway.

I’d look into a sous-vide setup for cooking fish. You literally can’t go wrong- you set the temp you want, the recirculator gets the water to that temp, and your fish cooks to exactly that temperature, no higher or lower.

Of course the catch is that it’s cooked in a plastic bag, so if you’re looking for some sort of seared crust or something, you’ll have to figure out how to undercook it in the sous-vide bath and then sear it in a pan, but that’s not unique to fish- you have to do the exact same thing for steak.

But if you’re looking for something like poached fish, or you’re going for a fish in some kind of sauce type recipe, sous-vide is a LOT more likely to give you perfectly cooked fish than other methods.

14

Going to add to various points already made, because they are good ones.

Depending where you live seafood is definitely one of those options where you get what you pay for. Here in Colorado, we’re about as far from anything resembling fresh seafood as you’re likely to get (other than some river trout, which, meh) - so in general, if I want fish to be the main focus it’s going to be purchased at Whole Paycheck or the like. Grocery store options are fine for seafood alfredo, strongly flavored marinades, or fried options - which are good choices if you want to dip a toe into seafood cooking with more insurance.

Cooking - cook it until it’s almost done, and let carryover finish it. Just like a good steak (by most tastes, not all) once it’s overcooked it can get tough and loses flavor. Two options for cooking not explicitly mentioned - you can poach it at your target temperature for quite a long time without much loss of quality. If you poach at high temps, same as cooking with dry heat. (I know sous vide has been mentioned, and this is basically a poor man’s sous vide option without an agitator, but if you don’t already have the equipment…).

For whole fish, one option I love is a salt crust! If you haven’t heard about it, you take a good size whole fish (2-3 lb red snapper as example), and one or two boxes of Kosher salt (depending on size of fish), mix salt with water and egg white, and make the salt mixture into a paste. Put a solid bed on an over safe pan, place gutted fish on salt with cavity stuffed with aromatics [lemon and orange slices, fresh herbage (I like cilantro), and other seasonings (garlic, scallions, shallots, what have you)], mound more of the salt mixture over to seal, after placing a probe thermometer in the deepest meat of the fish.

Throw whole thing in a hot over until internal temp matches cooking temp for doneness of selected fish (ALLOWING FOR CARRYOVER). Take out of over, gently crack salt crust which will be hard with a meat mallet / hammer, pick off chunks, lift out fish and brush off salt. Will be delicious, moist, and properly seasoned.

ETA - I don’t have any seafood specific cookbooks, because my wife, before she went vegetarian didn’t like fish AT ALL, but I would recommend any of Alton Brown’s basic cookbooks, in that he does a good job of spelling out the basics and techniques, and most of the details are down to practice and personal preference. But Jamie Oliver will get you the basics as well as linked upthread.

15

This sounds terrific; I’m going to try it soon.

Someone mentioned swordfish on the grill; that’s another favorite. I use a marinade with swordfish called Tequila Mockingbird Marinade (recipes all over the internet). I guess it could be used with any protein but the swordfish stands up to it better than say, chicken. Now I’m Hungry!

16

Hi! I like fish in tomato sauce with vegatables. The acidity of the tomatoes helps to bring out the flavor of the fish, while the vegetables add a colorful and healthy twist. Start by sautéing some onions and garlic in olive oil, then add in the diced tomatoes and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes. Next, add the fish fillets and let them cook until they’re just done. I like to serve this dish over some rice or pasta, and top it with a sprinkle of fresh parsley. It’s a simple but delicious meal that always hits the spot. I will be glad if you like this recipe :wink:

17

Personally, I’ve found that cooking whole fish at 180 degrees C on a baking tray for about 15 minutes does the job well, and is hassle-free. The skin keeps them moist. I’ve been put off pan-frying by the propensity of fish to break up when being removed. Then again, I love trout, so what do I know.

18

Thanks guys! Lots of good stuff here.

I only have grocery store fish available to me, but it’s a pretty well thought of fish market at the grocery store. I’ll try some of the tips this weekend and report back!