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| COOKING
FISH AND SHELLFISH |
FOOD
TIPS BY TALLYRAND |
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Cooking
tips for fish and other seafoods - FAQs on cooking fish
and shellfish
 Should
fish be fully cooked?
- Never
overcook fish!
- You
should remove it from the oven, pan, etc when it is
just under cooked done and still opaque in the middle.
The internal heat, the heat from the plate and any
sauce will finish off the cooking by the time it gets
to the table. In this way you will never serve dried
up fish again, it will always be moist and succulent.
- Tuna
and salmon are best served while still rare in the
centre.
- In
fact fresh tuna is even better when it is just seared
on the outside and eaten like a very rare steak!
- Try
crushing cashew nuts and pressing the tuna steaks
into it to cover the tuna all over and then pan fry
it, or replace the crushed cashews with cracked peppercorns.
Cut each steak into 1cm thick slices and arrange,
slightly fanned on the plate
Does
the same apply to shellfish?
But
what about food poisoning?
- If
the fish / shellfish is cooked as above, it will be
thoroughly cooked by the time it is served to your
guests, family or friends. It will also have reached
the temperature required to kill most bacteria (65°C).
- As
for the tuna . . . have you ever eaten raw oysters,
sashimi or sushi?
- However,
the less cooked you intend to serve your fish or shellfish,
the fresher the product should be and the more careful
you should be about personal and kitchen hygiene.
Are
different types of fish suited to particular methods
of cookery?
The
answer is yes, however you can cook most fish most ways.
But the oilier fish with stronger flavours lend themselves
better to grilling or barbecuing, while those with a
medium flavour are more suited to pan-frying, while
the delicate flavoured ones are best poached or steamed.
Here are suggestions some of the more available species:
Baking
- Bream,
snapper, rainbow trout, ocean trout, sea bass, flounder,
trevally, leatherjacket.
Grilling
and barbecuing
- Swordfish,
tuna, blue-eye cod, trout, salmon, mackerel, blue
warehou, kingfish, kahawai, flathead, mullet, herring,
sardines or any firm-fleshed fish.
- Crayfish,
lobster, prawns and mussels.
- Marinate
or baste lean fish to prevent it drying out during
cooking.
Stewing
and casseroling
- Trevally,
kingfish, herring, mackerel, coley, whiting, red mullet,
firm-fleshed bream and sea bass.
- Crayfish,
lobster, prawns, mussels, squid.
- Avoid
combining any strongly flavoured, oily fish in one
dish.
Deep-frying
- Whitebait,
cod, groper, lemon-fish, sardines, orange roughy,
any of the dory family and any flat fish fillets.
- Prawns,
mussels, squid, scallops.
- Thicker,
larger fish and fillets tend to dry out and overcook
on the outside before cooking through.
Pan-frying
- Most
fish can be pan-fried.
- Most
shellfish can be pan-fried.
Stir-frying
- Any
firm-fleshed fish such as tuna and mullet.
- Prawns,
squid, cuttlefish, mussels, scallops.
Steaming
or poaching
- Bream,
snapper, blue-eye, flathead, blue warehou, trout,
sea bass, salmon, kingfish.
- Crayfish,
lobster, prawns, mussels, squid, scallops.
- Always
poach in either a seasoned court bouillon, fish stock
or wine. This will either increase flavour or prevent
any flavour loss form the fish/shellfish
RELATED RECIPE
Food
and Cooking Tips
from professional
Chef Tallyrand
Born
and raised in Plymouth, Tallyrand started his initial
training as a chef at Plymouth College of Further Education.
It was here that he was to learn his love, his passion
for food and the culinary arts. From here he headed
to Germany to complete his apprenticeship as Commis
de Gardemanger.
Germany
gave him his first taste of cooking for the rich and
famous, as half way through his first year, along with
the Sous Chef and a Chef de Partie, he was whisked off
to Cologne to help prepare meals for a political conference,
where amongst other dignitaries they cooked for Mr Brehznev,
the then powerful Russian leader. This was to prove
to be just one of the many celebrities he was to cook
for or get to know over the years . . .
If
you would like to find out more why not visit Tallyrand's
own web site www.tallyrand.info (link in main menu)
Email Hub-UK : info@hub-uk.com
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