Serves: 5

Cooking fish, eating fish and even catching fish are more popular than ever. It’s no wonder. Fish is healthful, flavorful, and versatile. With the advent of more varieties of farm-raised fish, such as catfish, salmon and trout, fresh or freshly frozen fish is available almost everywhere. Nutrition-wise, fish has a lot going for it. It’s naturally rich in high-quality protein, yet low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and calories. So, if your facts on fish aren’t up to speed, here are all the basics to help you get in the swim of cooking fish.

Selecting Fish

When buying fish, put your senses of sight, smell and touch into action.

Fresh Whole Fish, Fillets or Steaks
- Eyes should be bright, clear and slightly bulging only a few fish such as walleye have naturally cloudy eyes.
- Gills should be bright pink to red and have no slime on them.
- Scales should be bright with a sheen. Avoid fish with any darkening around the edges or brown or yellowish discoloration.
- Flesh should be shiny, firm and elastic. It will spring back when touched.
- Fish should smell fresh and mild, not fishy or like ammonia.

Frozen Fish
- Package should be tightly wrapped and frozen solid with little or no gap between packaging and fish.
- There should be no dark, icy or dry spots-these are signs of freezer burn.
- The package should be odor free.

How Much Fish to Buy?

How much fish is enough? That depends on what form you’re using, how many you’re serving and how hungry they are. These general guidelines can help.

Whole fish is just as it comes from the water. Allow about 1 pound per serving.


Drawn fish is whole with only the internal organs removed, and the head and tail are still intact. Allow about 3/4 pound per serving.

Pan-dressed fish is scaled with the internal organs, head, tail and fins removed. Allow about 1/2 pound per serving.

Fish steaks are the cross-section slices of a large pan-dressed fish. Steaks are 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Allow 1/4 to 1/3 pound per serving.

Fish fillets are the sides of a fish, cut lengthwise from the fish. They’re available with or without skin. You may also find butterfly fillets, which are two fillets held together by the uncut flesh and skin of the belly. Fillets are usually boneless however, small bones called pins may be present. Allow 1/4 to 1/3 pound per serving.

Classifying Fish

One way of classifying fish is by flavor and texture. When preparing recipes, you can substitute those with the same characteristics for one another.

Classification of Fish
Moderate
Mild Flavor Flavor Full Flavor

Delicate Texture:

Alaska Pollock Lingcod Butterfish
Catfish Salmon, Pink Herring/
Sardines, Smelt
Flounder Whitefish
Orange Roughy Whiting
Skate
Sole
Walleye Pike

Medium-Firm Texture:

Cod Amberjack Bluefish
Cusk Buffalo Carp
Grouper Drum Mackerel
Haddock Mahimahi Sablefish
Sea Bass Salmon (Atlantic, King,
Sockeye)
Snapper Ocean Perch Wahoo
Tilapia Pompano
Tilefish Porgy/Scup
Redfish
Rockfish
Shad
Trout, Rainbow

Firm Texture:

Halibut Shark Marlin
Monkfish Sturgeon Swordfish
Tuna

Cooking Fish

There are almost as many ways to cook fish as there are kinds of fish. Baking, broiling, frying, grilling and steaming are just a few. As a general guide for how long to cook fish, measure it at its thickest point, then cook 8 to 10 minutes per inch of thickness for fresh fish or 20 minutes per inch of thickness if the fish is frozen.

Determining When Fish Is Done

Fish is delicate and tender overcooking makes it dry and tough. Fish is done when you can flake it easily with a fork. Test this by inserting a fork at an angle into the thickest part of the fish and twisting gently. The flesh and any juices should be opaque. For food safety reasons, we recommend cooking fish to an internal temperature of 160°.

Microwaving Fish
Microwaves and fish were made for each other. Fish cooks quickly and gently in the microwave. For the best microwaved fish:
1. Arrange fish fillets or steaks with thickest parts to outside edge in shallow microwavable dish that’s large enough to hold fish in a single layer. (Fold thin ends of fillets under for more even thickness.)
2. Cover with plastic wrap, folding one edge or corner back about 1/4 inch to vent steam.
3. Microwave on Medium-High (70%) as directed below, rotating dish once if microwave does not have turntable, until fish flakes easily with fork.

From "Betty Crocker's Complete Cookbook, Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, 9th Edition." Text Copyright 2000 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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