Fish -Tips to buying and cooking
It’s cheap, easy and fast to turn the catch of the day into the dinner of the night, writes Jana Frawley.
It smells. It’s expensive. It’s hard to prepare. There are too many varieties to choose from. It’s full of bones. It has a head, and eyes, and tail, and I have no idea what I’m meant to do with them. I love it but only ever order it in restaurants. I know it’s good for me, but…
It seems fish causes many a cook to find an excuse to hightail it in the more familiar direction of roast chicken or a bowl of pasta.
Give it a go and you’ll discover fish is one of the cheapest, fastest and most versatile ingredients around. Follow our tips and you and your family will be hooked.
“Don’t be scared. It’s just a fish,” says Norman Thanakamonnun, chef from the award-winning Blanc Bistro in Adelaide. “It’s so simple and easy. The key is to buy fresh fish, use only minimal ingredients and let the fish speak for itself.”
BUYING FRESH FISH
Use your eyes first, and next your nose and you’ll quickly discover which is the best fish in the shop. Look for fresh clear eyes, bright red gills, firm flesh with a translucent sheen, a good covering of scales, and a fresh scent-of-the-ocean smell.
If you’re lucky enough to live near a large fish market, it’s worth a visit to get the best variety and choice.
“If there are three or four or more vendors competing with each other, it means they have to offer a range, quality and freshness as well as value,” says John Susman, one of Australia’s leading seafood specialists. “A good fishmonger will know what’s coming through the markets and will be trying their products, too. A lot of really good cooking information will come from them.”
Asking questions is an especially useful way of saving money by substituting one variety for another. Many a recipe calls for a generic “firm white fish”. This week ling may do the trick, but next week mahi-mahi or blue eye might be the special of the day.
WHICH FISH TO BUY
The fish scales can tip $8.99kg for imported basa fillets – perfect for a Tuesday night dinner for the kids – to $60kg for sashimi-grade tuna.
In between there are our favourites – salmon, gemfish, snapper, rainbow trout, mulloway, barramundi and hundreds more regional and seasonal varieties.
“One of the things people get scared of is all the kinds of fish on offer,” John says.
For optimum freshness and value, he recommends looking at the whole fish first.
“Fish holds better on the bone in its whole round form,” he says. “Any decent fishmonger will be able to butcher it for you – scale it, gut it, fillet it, skin it for you.”
Price is determined by several factors: farmed versus caught (the former is usually more plentiful and widely available year round), imported versus exported (John says 70 per cent of the fish we eat is imported), whole versus fillets. Generally whole fish is considerably cheaper – and far more delicious – than the fillets and cutlets from the same fish.
The day John takes taste on a tour of the Sydney Fish Markets, the whole salmon is $16.95kg while the skinless, boneless fillets are $34.95. His recommendation: buy a whole fish and have the fishmonger cut it for you – have some tonight, and pop some in the freezer for another time.
Donovan Cooke, executive chef at Melbourne’s Atlantic Restaurant, encourages cooking whole fish. “Whole fish are more flavoursome and great for a dining experience,” he says.
DONOVAN’S BARBECUED BARRAMUNDI recipe
If you choose to buy fillets, buy about 180 to 200g per person if you’re planning a meal where fish will be the main component.
STORING FISH
“A good-quality fish will last in the fridge for 3-4 days before you need to eat it,” John says.
To maintain freshness, he recommends patting the fish with paper towel, wrapping it in freezer wrap, putting it in an airtight container and placing it in the coldest part of the fridge.
If you’re freezing, use the freezer wrap first then wrap the fish in plastic wrap and bury it in the back or bottom of the freezer for no longer than 4-5 weeks.
COOKING FISH
If there are plenty of fish in the sea, there are just as many ways to cook them – poached, fried or barbecued. No matter which method you use, remember its flesh is delicate so the less-is-more rule will give you best results.
“The cardinal rule is do not overcook fish and do not over flavour it,” Donovan says. “Let the fish flavour shine through.”
Norman’s tip is to make sure you cook fish fast and on a high heat. “At its most basic, to cook a 200g fish fillet takes about 8 minutes – 1 1/2 minutes skin side down in a hot pan, 1 1/2 minutes on the other side, and 3-4 minutes in a 180C oven,” he says. “Rest it for a few minutes, just as you would a steak.”
Rely on your touch and sight. If you’re cooking fillets, you’ll see the flesh losing its translucency.
As for the flavour pairings, the no-brainer matches are butter, lemon and salt. Explore a little further and you’ll discover an Asian base of soy sauce, spring onions and coriander and chilli work just as well as the spices of India or tomato and garlic of a French boullaibaisse.
SALMON AND SALSA VERDE SPAGHETTI recipe
WHAT TO LOOK FOR AT YOUR FISH SHOP
Keen to lighten the diet now spring has sprung? Murray Dalton, owner of The Fishery at Milton in Brisbane, says the recent full moon is great news for fish-lovers.
It boosts supplies of seasonal fish – and in spring this means plenty of pelagics caught by the longliners off Mooloolaba.
“They’re catching beautiful fish sustainably and there will be boats coming in for the next week or two with a great selection,’ Murray says.
All prices below are for fillets, rather than whole fish.
Mahi-Mahi $29-$35kg: “My all-time favourite barbecue fish. I like to mix some cajun spices and make a salsa to serve on the side with avocado and tomato.”
Blue eye trevalla $38-$44kg: “This has such a great clean flavour – I like it with fresh lemon and a little extra-virgin olive oil,” Murray says. “It’s very forgiving for anyone trying to cook fish for the first time as it retains moisture and responds well to simple pan frying.”
Swordfish $32-$38kg: “I like to make curry from swordfish. For my family, a light yellow coconut-based Thai curry. We’ve got young kids so we make it quite mild. The fish stays nice and moist.”
Tuna $35-$45kg to $60+kg for top sashimi grade: “I always think it’s almost criminal to cook tuna. It’s a staple for my wife and I during the week at lunchtime. Slice it thinly against the grain and serve with light soy and a little wasabi. It’s surprisingly sustaining.”
Information in this article is correct as of 27 September, 2011
Source
Taste.com.au – September 2011
Author
Jana Frawley
