Fish

[brigid]

I'm a pretty decent cook (and baker) but have no experience with fish other than "buy fish frozen, cook according to directions" or "open can of tuna, mix with mayo etc."

Do you have any helpful fish tips, advice, or instruction? Any favorite fish recipes, the simpler the better?

Comments

[ilyena_sylph]

Most of my fish recipes involve beer batter (one cup flour, one cup beer, one egg, one teaspoon of paprika & one of salt, an eighth to a fourth of a cup of cooking oil, mixed well), fresh fish fillets, and enough hot oil to fry them in... *grins wryly* Missouri country girl, here.

Or they're the kind of complicated that baking a whole king salmon is.

Wish I could help more.

[brigid]

I have never ever ever deep fried something (just sauteed or, like, pan fried potatoes) because I am utterly, utterly terrified of burning my house down. Or just getting oil freakin' everywhere.

[amadi]

The tricks to deep frying:

• Use the proper oil. Peanut oil is great for deep frying. Olive oil is not. Canola is so so. Corn is better, in terms of vegetable oils.
• You must have a thermometer. As a home cook, until you're really really comfortable with doing it, a thermometer is your best friend and your primary safety tool, as well.
• Heat your oil slowly.
• Turn on the exhaust fan before you start frying.
• Be extraordinarily careful getting batter/breading covered fingers near hot oil. If in doubt, use tongs or get yourself a frying basket at a good kitchen supply store, they are awesome.
• Never get near hot oil with wet hands, or drip water/moisture off of your food into the hot oil.
• Don't overcrowd your oil. If your batch is too big, your food will come out soggy, greasy and overcooked rather than hot, crispy and delicious.
• When you're done. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave it. Come back in an hour and move it to the back of the stove. The next morning, deal with the oil in your preferred way.

And of course, every kitchen should have a fire extinguisher in it. The chances are that you'll never, ever need it, but if you do, there is no substitute. Never put water on a grease fire. Put the pot lid on it to try to smother the flames.

[brigid]

Oh yeah, another reason I don't fry things is we don't have an exhaust fan. The people who lived here before us also didn't have an exhaust fan but fried stuff. A lot. I can tell by looking at the paint on the walls. Urgh hurgh urgh.

Those are super helpful tips and I will totally keep them in mind.

[amadi]

Not having an exhaust fan is a problem. I discovered last week that I don't currently have a working one either! Must get that fixed.

[brigid]

We moved in before we could repaint the walls and they are... disgusting. Oppressive. I scrubbed them down and they are still... stained. And awful. I'm not sure how well primer will stick to them, frankly. It took serious work to get the cabinets and counters and stuff clean.

Bah.

[amadi]

When my friend moved into his grandmother's house (she fried something every meal) we ended up taking a tip from the people who clean up wildlife after an oil spill, and attacked everything in the kitchen with a heavy concentration of Dawn dish liquid in water. It was interesting getting everything rinsed, but it really broke down the crud.

[brigid]

Oh yeah. Good suggestion.