Cooking Questions 4: More questions about cookery

[Inigima]

Tell me about fish.

I cook pretty much exclusively vegetarian, but I'm not a vegetarian, and I eat meat out sometimes. Considering trying to cook fish at home. I rarely eat fish out, so I don't really know what I like, or how to prep it. I don't even know what condition fish is in when you buy it, assuming you don't catch it and clean it yourself (which I've done, but no thanks). Do I have to remove scales? Does it already come ready to cook? What kind of fish are newbie-friendly both to cook and to eat? Prep suggestions?

I am vaguely aware that you barely have to cook fish for it to be done.

[Fragile Bird]

The issue with fish is that it is delicate and can be quickly overcooked. My favourites.

Easy fish to cook - salmon. You can usually find small pieces of salmon at the grocery store, either salmon steaks or salmon fillet. The steak is that piece sliced right through a salmon. The fillet is a piece cut lengthwise, and you can get a whole side or a small slice. Atlantic salmon is the most common available, but it's all farmed salmon and some people suggest you only eat it once a month because of the chemicals that can accumulate in their bodies from fish feed. Wild salmon is twice as expensive.

Trout - also usually farmed, not as full of chemicals because they are smaller and therefore don't eat as much and don't absorb as many chemicals.

Tilapia - the most farmed fish in the world. A mild tasting white fish with firm flesh.

Haddock and Halibut - firm, mild tasting white fish, wild.

Swordfish - don't buy, because they are endangered. Acceptable only if line caught, same with Seabass.

Easy way to cook fish - heat the oven to 350 F. Salt and pepper your fish, or buy a fish rub. Drizzle with olive oil, or dab with butter. Bake one piece for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness.

You can also roll the fish in breadcrumbs, or crushed nuts or sliced almonds, or panko crumbs, or even crushed corn flakes (!) I prefer my fish plain. Oh, or dip in egg and then flour. Or just flour.

Pan frying.

Put some butter and some olive oil (I like that mix, butter for taste, olive oil for higher temperature) heat up the pan, cook the fish for a couple of minutes, flip, cook for a couple of minutes more. If you don't know if the fish is ready, don't hesitate to take a knife or fork and split the fish in the middle and look to see if the centre is raw or cooked. After a try or two, you will learn how long to cook a slice of fish. Obviously the thicker the fish, the longer it needs to cook. Same applies for baked fish. Don't hesitate when first cooking fish to cut it in half to see how well it's cooked. After a while you'll just know how long to cook it.

One thing I like to do is either melt some butter and add soy sauce, or olive oil and soy sauce, and roll the fish in that mix and bake. Or fry.

If there are scales, remove them with a knife scraped across the fish against the direction of the scales. But before you do that, you should be able to find fish that is scaled.

There's also frozen fish, of course. I buy another white fish with a delicate flavour called Basa, available in fillets. Otherwise I pretty well buy fresh, because it's easily available in my local stores. For the most part I find frozen fish has too 'fishy' a flavour. I have no idea why, but I can usually identify fish that had been frozen when served it, immediately.

[Inigima]

That is super detailed. Thank you!

[lady narcissa]

Not much to add to what Fragile Bird has already said except to add that I find it easiest to broil fish. A piece of salmon, brushed with olive oil, a pat of butter, and a sprinkle of paprika takes about 10 minutes to cook under the broiler...plus or minus minutes depending on thickness.

[Fragile Bird]

Good point!

Broiling will give the fish a slightly different texture, making the fish surface crisper. Experiment, Ini, and see which texture you like better. But watch the fish, things can burn quickly under the broiler. :p

She said. :p

[wolverine]

Personally I prefer to grill salmon with the skin on.

[TerraPrime]

Bok choy is actually a big class of vegetables with many variants. If the bok choy is about the size of your hand or smaller, use them for stir fries. If the bok choy is bigger than that, it's better used as a filling.

For stir fry bok choy, separate the green leaves from the white stalk, and wash both thoroughly. Spin or pat dry to remove water.

In stir fry pan, heat 2 tble spoon oil until hot, then throw in 2 cloves of crushed garlic. Stir around until it just starts to turn brown, then add your stalks. Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the leaves, then season with salt. Keep stir frying until the leaf parts are cooked through.

It makes for an easy side dish. The stalks should not be mushy and it should have a sweet taste to it. The leaves can be slightly bitter, like some of the lettuce varieties. And they also like to give out water once cooked, so don't fret if there's a pool of liquid forming under the dish. High heat cooking and thoroughly drying the vegetables before stir fry will eliminate most of that problem.

[Inigima]

Thanks Terra. I had bok choy two weeks ago and pac choy last week, and I ended up stir frying both of them pretty much as you described. Not sure what I'm getting this week, I'll find out tomorrow.

[ithanos]

Love me some bok choy, pak choy, choi sum. When I make a noodle broth I often add a fistfull at the very last so it cooks with the simmering heat of the soup. Friends & I often dine out at a local Chinese hotpot where a plate or two of fresh choy is always ordered. As Terra mentions if the stalks are large break them off to cook first allowing them time to soak up any flavours from whatever tincture you've prepared, then add the leaves to wilt.

On fish, I see suggestions on preparing fish cuts (steaks, fillets) which are fine - but dude, some of the best meals I've enjoyed have been whilst dining on whole fish - including the heads. Damn the heads are the best part IMO :) Of course you need to be buying (or legally catching) smaller sized fish because as every fisherman worth his lures knows the smaller fish are the more tastier.

Snapper is popular around these parts (Chrysophrys auratus - not the Lutjanidae family kind you may know as Red Snapper). I have a friend who guts & scales whole Snappers, then throws in a couple stalks of lemongrass and spring onions into the bellies and steams them on a bed of vermicelli & waterlily flowers. We dine on flakes from the body after wrapping them in spring roll paper layered with leafy lettuce, mints, coriander, some of the vermicelli & waterlily flowers soaked from the fish juices - and dip them in sauce made from fish sauce, shrimp paste and freshly chopped chillies. Delish - but the pinnacle of the meal is fighting over who gets the head!

You should be able to buy fish heads real cheap from your local fish monger - heck if you're lucky they may be giving them away for free!. My mum makes a decent fish head soup simmered with coconut cream, onions and sometimes ocra.

[Inigima]

Ima roast some turnips today. How do I prep turnips? Do I need to peel them?

EDIT: Looks like yes. They are now peeled and chopped along with some carrots. Oven is preheating while I grab a shower.

[Inigima]

Am I likely to be able to find sweet potatoes at the store if I go today?

[Larry of the Lawn]

Yes sweet potatoes are everywhere

[MercenaryChef]

Am I likely to be able to find sweet potatoes at the store if I go today?

without a doubt. if you fail to find some i have two nice looking ones at home. i could part for them at $20 a piece. it is a seller's market.

i love turnips.

peeled and roasted in duck fat with thyme and sea salt are amazing. simmered in salted water and smashed with butter and nutmeg is a classic fall dish.

[KiDisaster]

Operation Learn2Cook has been going fairly well.

I've stuck mostly to simple things so far, and haven't made any massive fuck ups so I'm gonna start to move up a notch or two.

Today I got a couple nice rib eyes from the butcher shop, marinated one tonight and grilled it. Had rice (because I thought I had potatoes but was mistaken) and garlic broccoli with it. Tasty stuff. Going to just salt & pepper the other one and pan fry it tomorrow, pick up a sweet potato to bake to go with it. Can't wait :)

Also my uncle just came back from the Keys with a ton of yellowfin tuna and wahoo, gonna get some from him and get some fish recipes from my pops. He always made the best fish. Looking forward to the cheesy fish recipe. Wahoo marinaded in a sort-of-but-not-exactly terriyaki sauce, grilled and topped with melted cheddar cheese. Sounds weird, tastes amazing. People have told me you're not supposed to mix cheese and fish. They've clearly never had cheesy fish.

[all swedes are racist]

Operation Learn2Cook has been going fairly well.

I've stuck mostly to simple things so far, and haven't made any massive fuck ups so I'm gonna start to move up a notch or two.

Today I got a couple nice rib eyes from the butcher shop, marinated one tonight and grilled it. Had rice (because I thought I had potatoes but was mistaken) and garlic broccoli with it. Tasty stuff. Going to just salt & pepper the other one and pan fry it tomorrow, pick up a sweet potato to bake to go with it. Can't wait :)

Also my uncle just came back from the Keys with a ton of yellowfin tuna and wahoo, gonna get some from him and get some fish recipes from my pops. He always made the best fish. Looking forward to the cheesy fish recipe. Wahoo marinaded in a sort-of-but-not-exactly terriyaki sauce, grilled and topped with melted cheddar cheese. Sounds weird, tastes amazing. People have told me you're not supposed to mix cheese and fish. They've clearly never had cheesy fish.

Right on man, sounds rad. I hated seafood for most of my life, and one of the first dished to change my mind was this like sea bass with diced tomatoes and herb goat cheese thing my mom made. And sure, I know seafood =\= fish, but lobster Mac n cheese? C'mon!

[Lily Valley]

Does anyone have a recipe for a nice creamy alfredo sauce? Mine usually turns into a separated grainy mess even when I'm careful with the temperature. I tried searching the board and found a recipe for alfredo that contained margarine and something called "green can". I had a nice laugh, but it didn't look too helpful.

[aceluby]

Does anyone have a recipe for a nice creamy alfredo sauce? Mine usually turns into a separated grainy mess even when I'm careful with the temperature. I tried searching the board and found a recipe for alfredo that contained margarine and something called "green can". I had a nice laugh, but it didn't look too helpful.

This is actually really, really simple if you have a bit of patience.

Melt a full stick of butter with a couple cloves of minced garlic

Once melted add to it a pint of whole cream and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The key to this is keeping it at a simmer and giving the sauce time to let the heat break down the milk and butter fats. The reason yours is separated is most likely because you aren't giving it enough time and the milk and butter fats aren't combining, so you get a layer of fat and a layer of milk/cheese.

Add in about 1-2 cups of parmesan cheese to taste, and stir until melted. I also add in basil, and pepper at this point.

Another option I've used which is MUCH lower in fat, but is actually still VERY good is the following:

Melt 2 TBS of butter w/ a couple cloves of minced garlic

Mix in 2 tsp of flour to the butter

Whisk in a cup of low fat milk with a pinch of salt until smooth (3 min)

Add 2 TBS of low fat cream cheese and 3/4 cups of parmesan cheese and mix

At this point you'll have this pretty thick cheesy mixture, so just add milk until you get the consistency you want. Salt, pepper (basil, oregano, etc..) to taste.

[aceluby]

Personally I prefer to grill salmon with the skin on.

Me too, sear up the flesh side for a min or two then flip it to the skin side to finish it up. Delicious.

[Lily Valley]

Thank you. I have definitely not cooked the cream/butter down this long. I really appreciate it.

The second sauce looks like my quick and dirty mac'n'cheese, I add chedder too.

[aceluby]

Thank you. I have definitely not cooked the cream/butter down this long. I really appreciate it.

The second sauce looks like my quick and dirty mac'n'cheese, I add chedder too.

Yep, time is the key. I had made it for YEARS w/out doing it and stumbled upon a recipe that said to simmer for 20 min. It also helps thicken up the sauce instead of using the cheese to thicken it up as I had previously done. It doesn't taste bad if you don't simmer it, but it ends up chunky and oily.

Also, I like to add shrimp, carrots, and peas to my alfredo to give it even more color.