How to cook perfect fish … five tips for success
How’s your fish-cooking game? Do you produce restaurant quality fish dishes that leave your family and friends in awe? Or is your fish mushy and flavourless? Achieving great tasting fish is all about technique so here’s five important tips to help you achieve the perfect flaky consistency and fabulous taste every time.
1. Even cooking
If you find that your fish is dry on the outside and mushy (or worse, cold) on the inside it means that it is not cooking evenly. To make sure your fish is cooked perfectly from outside to inside it’s a good idea to remove it from the fridge about 10 to 15 minutes before cooking.
2. Pan patience
Perhaps the most common mistake when cooking fish in a frying pan is being too eager to get it cooking. If you put a fillet of fish in a pan that is not hot enough, the fish will stick to the pan. To avoid this heat the pan and add oil or cooking spray and allow it to come to temperature before adding the fish.
3. Pat, pat, pat
Always, always, always pat fish with paper towel before cooking. This will remove any excess juices that can turn the fish tough and mushy.
4. Clean is the dream
Barbecuing is a great way to cook fish but it can also be disastrous if the fish sticks to the grill. To avoid this make sure that the barbecue grill is clean, especially if you’ve been cooking meat on there before the fish. Clean the grill, dry it and spray with cooking spray before adding fish.
5. Tongs be gone
They might just be one of the handiest utensils in the kitchen, but tongs aren’t the best idea when cooking fish. To get the best results use a spatula or egg slice to turn fish.
