Requesting fish cookbooks, recipees, or cooking-with-fishies insight

[jacob]

Suppose you have a whole fish as pulled out of the water?
Suppose you have a semi-whole fish as pulled out of the supermarket freezer?
Suppose you have fish fillets?

Mostly looking for what to keep in mind when dealing with such situations, e.g. goes well with potatoes, is best fried, use these spices, ...

[IlliniDave]

Be wary of overcooking. I prefer butter and lemon for seasoning of milder fish. Deep frying in beer batter is probably the tastiest though. For sides potatoes are fine, broccoli is good. Fish chowder is tasty. Fish tacos are good, but don't use taco sauce, use mole or tartar or a creamy dill/lime sauce.

When I'm in a hurry I might just saute a fillet in butter or bake it. Add lemon juice after cooking.

I prefer to fillet (many ways to do it, youtube has enough videos you can likely find a couple examples for about any species you encounter). If your whole fish (or gutted but otherwise whole from the supermarket/fish market) is large, cut away the fatty belly meat and discard, same with the "lateral line". Unless you just like a really strong muddy fishy taste, then eat it all (and cook it with the skin on).

Fish I won't eat if caught wild in the midwestern USA: Carp, large catfish. Suckers and drum are edible from clean water, but there's usually special methods to prepare them that render them less than awful.

Oh, and fresh caught fish: either keep them alive as long as possible (stringer or livewell) or put them on ice right away.

[slsdly]

I mostly deal with fillets. I make fish cakes, fry them up on the stove. Shape and freeze them for later -- easier to fry if chilled or frozen as well. At it's most basic it would be combining boiled potatoes and fish (3:1 ratio by weight), salt, and pepper to taste. I like adding (some or nearly all) garlic, onion, sour cream, grated cheese, some sort of vegetable (carrots, kale, broccoli, etc), dusting in cornmeal (might want to add an egg for that).

I've only tried a few recipes directly from it but have enjoyed this so far:
http://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-Fishcake ... +fishcakes

[Gilberto de Piento]

Women and children should beware of eating fish contaminated with mercury or pcbs (see link for details): http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/f ... ishadv.htm

[George the original one]

Perch, bass, crappie, etc: fry whole in pan with butter, salt/pepper to taste

Salmon, steelhead: a) usually fillet due to size, bake with a little butter, season with lemon pepper, basil, or tarragon, can add a minced green onion per serving
b) turn into fried fish cakes if not high quality (or it came as canned salmon) since the worcestershire sauce hides any off-flavors
c) scraps from filleting carcass, fry with lemon pepper and a little butter
d) put in smoker for curing and use for pasta or salads or blend into cream cheese for salmon dip
e) alder plank/skewered over open fire
f) salmon steaks are usually grilled due to consistent thickness, but fillet is better than steaks IMHO

Trout: a) usually whole unless over 20" long, bake like salmon or add one diced green onion to belly cavity
b) usually whole over 20", fry with same recipe as salmon baking
c) when camping, butterfly fillet and cook in clamping wire basket over campfire using Mike's Hard Lemonade as seasoning and prevention of drying out the fish, then watch perseid meteor shower or hunt for satellites while finishing the Hard Lemonade

Tuna: a) here in Seaside, place called Grizzly Tuna batters & deep fries tuna wedges and serves them as fish & chips, like you'd get anywhere, only it's delicious tuna instead of some oily thing!
b) low temp baking (150-175F) while submerged in an olive oil bath

Sides: coleslaw, green salad, rice, potatoes, mixed veggies... offhand, I can't think of anything that would be abhorrent with fish

[George the original one]

There's also the possibility of no-cooking in lime juice (ceviche) or making jerked fish.

Sturgeon usually comes as steaks for baking or grilling; don't think I've seen it filleted. I never developed a taste for sturgeon (it's not bad, just not something I prefer compared to salmon/steelhead/trout), so don't really know any recipes.

Catfish is a different animal as you skin it if caught fresh. Stores usually have it already skinned. Typically breaded & fried whole, though it can be baked, too. Hushpuppies are the traditional side dish in the states.

[7Wannabe5]

The chapter covering fish in the 1975 edition of "Joy of Cooking" Rombauer and Becker offers answers to all your above questions and more. I've owned and used my copy for 41 years. The wonderful thing about this book is that it imagines its intended audience as a cook who might be faced with just about any situation. Whether you want to render carp edible or bake a cake with only one egg, this is the book you will turn to time and time again. It is also very well written and occasionally quite humorous. I must admit that I have frequently borrowed the phrase the author uses to describe a cookie that won't break when you ice it for use in other context.

[GandK]

I love fish, especially white fish and salmon fillets. The former I prefer with butter or butter and lemon, served with a side of steamed veggies (cauliflower works best w butter, broccoli w the butter/lemon). I also like white fish fried in coconut oil with coconut batter and served with tropical fruit like pineapple and mango, or paired with Indian curry dishes. Salmon I prefer baked with a sweet glaze... honey or teriyaki, etc. This works well paired with pilaf, with steamed broccoli and carrots, and/or with cooked pineapple.

I also like smoked salmon on crackers. I know people who say smoked salmon is just a fancypants version of tuna, though.

[jennypenny]

For white fish, I like it with baked potatoes. I usually just wrap the fish in aluminum pockets with a couple slices of lemon or lime, salt, thyme and chives. I also like it fried in a beer batter like ID said (not breaded, a true beer batter*). Again with potatoes only cut into wedges--either white or sweet potatoes coated with a little oil, salt and pepper or white potatoes seasoned with something like Old Bay.

I like salmon a little breaded on a sandwich with pub mustard (mustard with worcestershire). I like gamier fish (like Blue) in chowder. DH likes the traditional fried catfish, cornbread, and collard greens. Not my thing.

*A cheat for this is equal parts beer and bisquick with a little seasoning if desired. The GF bisquick works great for GF batter. The batter also works for onion rings.

[almostthere]

Brining. Brining reduces cooking errors. That said, my experience is with really large fish. I'd brine them and then put the whole fish in the oven. Maybe a fresh made aioli to accompany it.

[poleo]

The absolute no-brainer is like jennypenny says. Fish in a pouch of tin foil, always bay leaf in cavity, season, lemon. The fish you eat should always be of such a quality as to only warrant this. Any further elaboration is decadent.

[black_son_of_gray]

I'm a fan of Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen. They have usually done many variations of a recipe/preparation to see what works and why.

https://www.youtube.com/user/americaste ... query=fish
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/rec ... se/seafood
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/browse/seafood

More generally, you may enjoy The Science of Good Cooking

[George the original one]

I'm a fan of Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen.

Ditto. I think that's where I saw the oil bath tuna in the low-temp oven.

[llorona]

If you have fish fillets, like cod or salmon, you can try sprinkling a little salt and pepper on them before steaming them. Remove and place on serving dish. Add julienned ginger and scallions, then top with a hot blend of sesame oil and regular oil. Serve with rice and Asian greens.

[jennypenny]

@llorona--I'm sure this makes me sound like an idiot, but how do you steam the fish?

[llorona]

@Jenny: If you want to get fancy, you can steam the fish using a bamboo steamer or a double boiler. If you're like me and avoid buying single-purpose kitchen accouterments, you can: (1) fill a saucepan with about an inch of water, (2) place the fish on either a vegetable steamer or a plate on top of a metal rack or trivet, and (3) place your makeshift steamer in the saucepan.

Here's a recipe I've tried before with good results although I'm usually too lazy to be this elaborate: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... y-51115200

By the way, if you want to impress people, your method of cooking fish in an aluminum pouch is called en papillote.

[jennypenny]

Thanks llorona! We're having fish tonight, so I'm going to try it.

By the way, if you want to impress people, your method of cooking fish in an aluminum pouch is called en papillote.

That sounds a lot more impressive than en Reynolds.