Helpful cooking tips for fish

Since we have a lot of tourists on our website here, I thought it would be a good idea to devote a post for tips on how to properly cook fish. Some experienced people may find this information useful as well. Im gonna divide into for categories: Grilling, Frying, Baking, and Pan Searing/Sautéing.

Grilling
Any fish caught can be grilled. However, the smaller the filet is, generally it will be much more delicate and much more of a challenge to grill due to sticking, etc. For small filets as such the best method is to sauté it(with the exception of a few fish such as pompano witch have a little bit heartier flesh). The first thing to grilling fish without it getting broken to shreds is make sure your grill grate is very clean. Anything that is stuck on will cause the fish to stick to it. Best way to clean it is to burn it off until a white ash form, then brush it off. Now you have a clean grill. Next thing is the temperature of your grill. for fish you are going to want a med high to high heat. You want the outside to sear and keep the fish held together. You want to make sure the grill grate is extremely hot also. this will prevent the fish from sticking. The last thing is right before you place your fish on the grill, make sure the grate is heavily oiled. Either spray it with pan spray or use an old towel soaked with oil to wipe it down. All these things will ensure perfect fish. Thinner filets will obviously not take long on the grill but thicker filets may need to be finished in a 350-375 degree oven to prevent burning.

Frying
This is the easiest method, but not exactly the healthiest. I rarely fry fish. First you want to make sure your fish is evenly battered to ensure even cooking. Also, you want your oil to be around 375 degrees. This will ensure that the batter gets crispy and doesn't soak up too much oil and make it soggy. It also will not cook the fish too fast and burn the outside. If you have to watch the amount of fat you take in, my suggestion would be to pan fry. You use a lot less oil as opposed to deep frying. Just fill a sauté pan with enough oil to evenly cook each side of the fish as it cooks. This is how i cook my flounder, just dip the flounder in seasoned corn flower and fry it up.

Baking
this is a very healthy way of cooking fish. you use very little fat to cook it. However, if you just bake it in 350 degree oven it can tend to dry out and also be a little on the bland side. The best way to go about this is first brush the fish with a light amount of melted butter, then turn your oven on to broil setting the rack more towards the element. This will crisp the outside of the fish. If it is a thick piece of fish don't leave it on broil all the way, let it get a little crisp then turn the oven down to finish the fish.

Pan Searing
This is one of my favorite ways to cook fish. It uses very little oil while also getting the outside very crispy while keeping the inside moist. Nonstick pans work the best, but a regular sauté pan will work. The key is the heat. You want to start out with a med high heat and make sure the pan is very hot when you place the fish in it. You will only need to use a couple tablespoons of oil. Whenever you place the fish in the pan let the first side sear really well, but don't burn it! Just before you flip it turn your heat down to a mid low. This will ensure that when you flip it the side will crisp at first the the neat will go down ensuring that the fish will still cook al the way through but will not burn the other side.

If anybody has any questions, feel free to to message me!

[size=12pt]Thanks Justin, great tips that are really worth reading[/size] :bow: :yippee:

Great Tips , Thanks . I can tell you are knowledgeable and take a lot of pride in your cooking .

Thank you USA.

Justin, thanks for this very informative post. Couple of quick questions, especially since this is a sticky with the goal of helping the out of town folks enjoy their catch:

For fish with that strong "aftertaste" like kings and, to a lesser degree, spanish have, what do you recommend as a marinade? I know about milk, buttermilk, various juices -- but I was curious to hear what the chef would say.

For pan searing, what are your spice recommendations -- or would that be like the Colonel's secret recipe??

You pretty much named it for marinades. The most common for me would be lemon juice. For me, I like king the way it is. I have my cooking method for king posted in this section. Very simple. As far as pan searing, I swear by Prudohmme's Blackened Redfish Magic. Love that stuff. If you don't want it heavily seasoned, just lighty sprinkle it on and just season with a little more salt. But you can get creative. With fish like specks, flounder, etc, you can use just about anything to season the fish with. One of my favorites is thyme. It is so versatile. But get creative. The key is just don't go overboard. Keep it simple, only use 2 or 3 different herbs/spices at a time. It doesn't take much to make it overkill.

You forgot hibachi and sushi!! Adam aka Viking guy fell in love with my japanese cooking skill and asked me to marry him several time but I turn him down everytime.

I caught a little tunny one time and bled it like I would with tuna(cut gill, split tail) and throw it in a bucket with seawater and ice. Got it home, filet it and freeze it.(7 days to kill the parasite).

I took some out when he came to visit and wife wants some tuna. I lightly grilled the little tunny sliced it and drown them in a japanese vinegar mix and she thought it was one of the best tuna she's ever had.

That is the one thing out of my league. Hope to learn all about it at some point though.

Hey Rockinchef a suggestion for you to try on the Baked Fish. Try covering the filets with a liberal amount of an oil and vinegar salad dressing or one of the many styles of vinagarette salad dressings. I then slice garlic thinly and place over the filets and dressing and sprikle with Tony Chacheres Cajun seasoning. About 11 to 12 minutes at 425 degrees works great for most fish. Increase time slightly for a real thick filet. Serve with a little tartar sauce and a whole wheat roll and a glass of wine.

Kings and spanish are real strong for me so my favorite thing to do is cut in small pieces and roll in yellow mustard then your favorite batter and fry. Second way would be to smoke it and make a smoked king dip with cream cheese, onions, garil, jalapeño, and whatever else you want to add, and third way would be to soak it in steak marinade and smoke it. Totaly different taste!

I will marinade my mack fillets in a little teriyaki sauce, then add a little olive oil right before putting it on the grill. The teriyaki has a little sweetness to it that seems to cut the naturally stronger mack flavor. Grill on an oil coated grid, and when you place it on it move it back and forth a tad and then it won't stick too bad to the grid. Don't soak it too long in the teriyaki as it will get too salty.

I blacken fresh freshly caught Spanish and it doesn't have the strong "fishy" taste. I use the aluminum mesh grill mats-oiled and preheated to grill thin flaky fish without it coming apart. Be careful if using cooking spray to oil your grill grates or you will make a blow torch.

Freshly caught Spanish have no "fishy" taste that I can detect, but I skin mine and cut out all the red flesh and body cavity meat.

The easiest thing I've found for grilling fish is an enclosed wire basket so you can turn the fish without worrying about it sticking---just flip the basket.

Those BBQ flaming torches scare hell out of the cats, but they will temporarily get rid of all flying insects nearby. Just wave it around a little bit. (Hey, y'all watch this!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Haywire

Freshly caught Spanish have no "fishy" taste that I can detect, but I skin mine and cut out all the red flesh and body cavity meat.

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I don't detect any fishy taste with my frozen fish, I bring back home ....at least the spanish ....now kings are a different story, unless made into Ms. Pat's Mac salad

The spanish I freeze and take home (,like Ironman's ) has no fishy taste . This is with the skin on and sometimes frozen for several months . In fact the spanish are my wife's favorite and she's rather picky .

a favorite(spanish) of a few friends also, and they have gotten some of the offshore fish I used to get and spanish was and still is there favorite....although only one has tasted the yellow edge grouper(mine and his favorite).....some sweet tasting fish

+++ for Haywire, Chillinfish, Ironman and USA. Spanish are by far my favorite. Easy to catch and clean and never had any fishy taste either. In fact they are some of the mildest fish I've eaten. I do what Wire says though, skin, wash and remove all red lines. Mmmm...

Skinning them before filleting saves a lot of meat especially on the smaller Spanish, at least for me and my poor filleting skills.

Put me in the Spanish corner Love them Not fishy at all to me Do the same as Haywire and Fshntime Great grilled or baked as well as fired Season with just about anything Try soy sauce and rosemary Also since I live in a condo with no grill I use a George Foreman Grill which works great and grills them in no time

Im from indiana.. how is the best way to freeze for traveling? Dry ice?

If you want them to keep for a long time vacuum pack them and freeze before leaving for home. Wrap them in a towel and place in a larger plastic bag in your cooler between two bags of ice. They should still be frozen when you get back. If you spend a night at a hotel room with a frig on the way home put them in the freezer overnight. I hope you need a Uhaul to get them all home.

What chillin fish says.

i dry and vacuum seal them, freeze them then pack them in the cooler. I usually wrap them in newspaper, (each pkg), and pack them tight in a regular cooler w/o ice. They will last for two days before starting to thaw. The more open space you have in the cooler, the shorter time they will last. I don't need to do this anymore since I live in Foley, but this always worked well for me.

If you do use ice to fill the empty space, don't put the fish in the bottom. You don't want them to be sitting in water from any melted ice. This, or something like this should work well for you.

I don't even use the newspaper ,but sure that would help . I use the Husky styrofoam cooler from Wal-Mart . Just resist the urge to open the cooler to check fish . As Todd stated pack tight ,pack flat !

We're from MN. we use Techni-Ice or Freeze Pak (ice substitute, and it last much longer) These are kind of hard to come by but much, much better than ice. Vacuum pack & wrap in newspaper and fill a GOOD cooler up. DON'T OPEN IT!!!!! We have never had a problem on a 3 - 4 day trip. The cooler is in a cargo carrier outside, on the back of the vehicle.

Try not to freeze before you leave. If you are down too long to do that, put the fish in a cooler on a thick layer of ice, Block if you can get it.

Then add enough ice on top so that there is no air space left. Helps to pre-cool the cooler the night before too.
When you pack up, use duct tape and tape the gap between the lid & the cooler. It really helps keep the cold air in.
Don't open it until you get home.
Dry ice works too, but hard to find and tricky to handle.

Recommendation for packing/travel of frozen fish...

Those rectangular shaped 64 ounce plastic bottles (like Juicy Juice) are ideal with frozen water inside.
In fact they are what I use in my 'kill' cooler to keep the (whole) fish out of the 'drip water' and cold underneath.
The height of the bottles are a great match for the inside width of most 48-70 quart ice chests.

http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com...tid=3272&stc=1

I also took online cooking classes and got many cooking tips there but I took classes to cook vegetarian dishes. So, thanks for this valuable tip. Can you also give me few tips on cooking bacon?

Looks like we have a new phisherman!

How is the fishing in Los Angeles?

​This is a FISHING FORUM! Two totally different things, good bye!
http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com...tid=3310&stc=1

The trick I use for the 7 hr. ride home is to line the cooler bottom with empty beer cans. We freeze our fish in salted water in ziplocks, lay these on the cans in layers and cover with ice. Even packages that aren't frozen will keep plenty cold, and any ice melt can be let out from the drain plug on really long trips. Do not use full cans, as these may freeze and burst.

Definitely , wouldn't want to have to use straws to suck up the beer from the bottom of cooler .

Pack your cooler full(of frozen fish ---shrimp whatever) any extra space fill with ice ,bottles -cubes packs etc.. Duct tape around opening. When you stop for the nite open your windows before you park- get the heat out of your vehicle, park on the shady side of the motel, drain any water from the coolers. Don't open--- and secure your vehicle for the nite. This has worked great for us. When we get home, the 2nd afternoon, the ice cubes are one solid chunk in the cooler. We've done this for years coming home from GS in the spring, but it has worked in July as well.