Recipes On How To Prepare The Fish You Catch

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The main difference between fish from fresh water and those from salt water, as food, is that the salt-water fish are an important source of bromine and iodine in the diet, and are considered desirable because of the value of iodine in preventing goiter. Some of the most common salt-water fish are cod, haddock, halibut, smelt, mackerel, salmon, shad, herring, oysters, clams, scallops, lobsters, crabs, shrimp and prawns, and some terrapins.Many mouth watering recipes can be created with these ingredients.

Fish as food may be divided into:

WHITE FISH--Fish that have less than two per cent fat, examples of which are smelt, flounder, yellow perch, pike, pickerel, sea bass, cod and haddock.

MEDIUM FAT FISH--Fish that have two to five per cent or more of fat, examples of which are weakfish, brook trout, mullet, and white perch.

FAT OR OILY FISH--Fish that contain five per cent or more of fat, examples of which are salmon, shad, herring, lake trout, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, butterfish, and eels.

SHELLFISH--These are some fish related ingredients for your sea food recipes; Oysters, clams, scallops and mussels; lobsters, crabs, shrimp, prawns and crayfish or crawfish. Frog, terrapins and turtles are usually included in this group.

Amount of fish to buy

If the fish bought is solid flesh, one third of a pound should be allowed for each person. If fish is bought in the round (with bones, head, tail, etc.) at least one half pound must be bought for each person.

Selecting and caring for fish

FRESH AND FROZEN FISH-- Fresh fish, or fish that was frozen while fresh, has full or bulging bright eyes, bright red gills, firm and elastic flesh and fresh odor. Be sure that the flesh along the backbone smells fresh; it spoils there first. Fresh fish sink in fresh water. If it floats, it should mot be used. As soon as fish comes from the market, clean it and put it into the refrigerator or other cool place until it is needed.

Fish that is frozen immediately after it is caught, and is kept frozen until the time for cooking does not lose its flavor, It is preferable to clean and draw it without thawing, but if it is too hard to handle soak in cold water or allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight until just flexible. Skinning is sometimes easier than scaling. Then it should be cooked at once without further thawing. Quick frozen fish on the market today is cleaned and ready for use. Cook at once without thawing, allowing only slightly more than the usual cooking time allotted to broiling or baking as the case may be.

Cleaning and Dressing Fish

Although fish may have been cleaned and dressed at the market, they are likely to need additional cleaning before they are cooked. If any scales have been left on a fish that is to be cooked with the skin on, remove them with the back of a knife. Draw the knife over the fish, from tail to head, slanting it toward the body of the fish at an angle of about 45 degrees. If the fish is to be split, remove the head and tail. Wash quickly under cold running water and wipe the fish thoroughly, inside as well as outside, with a wet cloth. Then wipe dry, sprinkle with salt and keep on a plate in a cold place until ready to use. When roe is found in the fish it should be saved and cooked separately.

To Skin a Fish

Remove the fins, cut off a strip of skin along the backbone, and cut the skin around the gills. Pull the skin off with the fingers. If the flesh is soft, work slowly and follow the skin closely with the knife, to avoid tearing the flesh.

To Bone and Fillet a Fish

Clean and skin the fish. Insert a sharp knife close to the backbone at the tail end, and cut the flesh from the bone, working toward the head and keeping the knife as close as possible to the bone. Small bones that adhere to the flesh or are embedded in it must be removed with the fingers. Flounders are often boned, to form fillets, and are served as fillets of sole. The English sole is seldom imported, and most of the fillet of sole that is served in America is made from the flounder, which has a white, delicate flesh similar to sole. A fillet is merely a piece of fish without skin and bones. Fillets look better on the serving platter if they are approximately the same size. Rolled fillets are called turbans. They are fastened with wooden toothpicks to keep in shape during cooking, but the picks are removed before serving.

Fried Fish Recipes

Small fish such as smelt, perch or herring are fried whole. Large fish are cut into steaks or fillets. Small fish and steaks are usually dipped in milk, then rolled in flour or corn meal. Fillets are cut into serving pieces and rolled first in fine bread or cracker crumbs, than in beaten egg and again in crumbs.Fish steaks are best fried in a skillet with a small amount of fat; small whole fish are cooked either in a skillet or in hot deep fat; fillets are usually fried in hot deep fat.Using browned butter as the frying medium diminishes the odor of frying fish. Fish fried in deep fat should be drained on absorbent paper.

Oven-Fried Fish Recipes

Oven frying is a method of cooking fish which produces the characteristic flavor of fried fish but does not fill the kitchen with a frying odor. Use fillets, steaks or small whole fish. Dip in salted milk, then in bread crumbs. Flour, corn meal or cracker crumbs do not produce satisfactory results. Place in greased baking pan and sprinkle with oil or melted fat. Place high in a very hot oven (425 degrees F.) and bake 10 minutes. Larger fish may be split to lie flat in the pan, covered with fine bread crumbs, sprinkled with oil and baked in the same way, allowing 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Do not add any water. The fish will not burn but will brown evenly on all sides. Very thin strips of bacon may be used instead of oil.

Fish Roe Recipes

The roe (eggs) of many fish, which are available during the spring, make excellent and often delectable food. Shad roe are most frequently used, but the roe of mackerel and of flounder are palatable and usually much cheaper. The roe is a compact, granular mass covered with a thin film. It is either yellow and opaque or grayish and translucent. When fish are found to contain roe it should be removed, cooked and served separately.

Milt

The part of the male fish that takes the place of the roe of female fish is called the milt, and may be prepared and cooked in just the same way. The blue wein that runs through the center of salmon milt should be removed before cooking.

To Prepare Roe for your recipes

Small roe, as from smelt or shad, need not be parboiled before using in recipes. The larger roe should be simmered in water to which 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice per quart has been added. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, drain and remove membrane. Uncooked roe may be seasoned with salt, lemon juice and onion juice (if desired) and served in the same way as caviar.

There are many recipes that include fish, and here we will try to let you in on some different ones. Some recipes I have tried myself but some I haven't gotten to yet. Things have changed since I was a kid. We have many more spices at our disposal. This in itself is a big advantage for the young chiefs of today.

When I was a kid, salt was the one big seasoning that would enhance the flavor of anything. Some of these recipes have come to me from old friends and by different people who heard I was collecting material on fish dinners. I am amazed as to how many fish dinners my wife actually prepare and we eat on a regular bases.

Different people in the know say that fish is still a pretty good food to chow down on. It has protein and is not as hard on the arteries. It can be prepared in a way that is not fating, or soaked in grease. It can be prepared in minutes and besides tasting good it is filling. So please click fish recipes, or brewis recipes and go for some exciting fish dinners. You may want to have a look at some recipes for clams, lobsters.

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