Cooking fish might be tricky for everyone. You have to treat fish differently than cooking chicken or beef. So here are 6 helpful tips for cooking fish at home that will make you feel more confident
1. You have to buy the freshest fish on the market.
It is very important to buy the freshest fish on the market. Freshness really affects the taste and texture of the fish. But, the most important is the safety of the food itself. Consuming bad quality fish may be poisonous and can get you seriously ill. So we have to make sure that we cook fresh fish. To identify fresh fish, you can make sure that it has a mild scent and avoid anything that smells overly fishy. Take a look at the fish eyes, make sure that the eyes should be clear and the gills should be reddish pink.
2. Ask your fishmonger to remove the pin bones for you
In most of places, you can ask the fishmonger to remove the pin bones for you. Most of the will do it free of charge. Pin bones are tiny bones found along the fillet thickest part. It's just to tiny to remove with just fingers, so you need to use a special tweezers or needle-nosed pliers to remove the pin bones.
3. Store the fish correctly once you've arrived at home
Fish tends to spoil quickly in an open air. It is essential to store it properly once you've arrived home. You can put your fish into ziploc baggies and place the on top of a bowl of ice which will keep them nice and cold. The bowl will collect any ice that melts so there's no watery mess to clean up.
4. Fish cannot be marinated for very long
Fish is quite sensitive to acid. Highly acidic marinade can actually 'cook' the fish. Steaky fish such as swordfish can be marinated for one or two hours. But, flaky fish like trout should not be marinated for more than 30 minutes. So be careful with marinating fish.
5. Dry the fish before pan-searing it
There is a general rule for searing any type of protein. It is to dry the it before you cook it, especially fish which is moist. How to do it is to pat your fish fillet dry with a paper towel before you sear it into pan, and it will be OK.
6. Make sure you get the skin crispy if you are keeping it in your dish.
Sometimes we want to keep the fish skin to make the dish more complete. You have to make sure that you get crispy skin to make your dish delicious. There are a few things that you need to keep in your mind. You need to use a pan that can withstand high heat like a cast-iron skillet or stainless steel pan, get it nice and hot. The moment you have your fish added to the pan, press it down so the skin fully touches the pan. It might want to curl up, so you might need to fight it with effort and be patient. The skin will unsticks and it is ready to be flip.
Now, you are ready to cook fish. This tips will help you to create a lot of fish based dishes that you can enjoy by yourself or share with others by selling it at Kokikan. You can download the apps at Apple App Store or Google Play Store and get new experience of selling food from home.