Fish Needs Care In Its Cooking

Taupo Times, Volume IX, Issue 79, 13 October 1961, Page 9

Fish Needs Care In Its

Cooking

Fish needs very little cooking compared with meat. The most common culinary fault with fish is over cooking. There is much less connective tissue in fish than meat and this is gelatinous and tender and softens readily when heated.

Fish is sufficiently cooked when the flesh loses the semi-transparent look and becomes white or creamy coloured ; at this stage the flesh is flaky, tender and moist. With continued cooking it becomes dryer and more the consistency of rubber! For steaming and poaching, allow seven minutes to the pound and seven minutes over for thin cuts; ten minutes and ten minutes over for thicker cuts. For baking up to four pounds, allow ten minutes to each pound, then five minutes for each additional pound. Small cutlets or fillets need about ten to fifteen minutes. Fish is best cooked without liquid or with as little liquid as possible. Any liquid, such as the poaching liquor, should be served or used as the basis of a sauce to serve with the fish. Cooking is intended to develop and bring out the flavour of the fish, not destroy it, and any sauces or fldvourings served should enhance, not overpower the fish. Most cookery books, especially those from overseas, give many interesting recipes for cooking and serving fish. That fish is served so frequently either fried or boiled is a sad reflection on the cook. Fish, of course, should never be boiled; it results in a tasteless mess, the flavour and food value lost in the process. Quick freezing, the best method yet devised of storing fish in prime condition, is today within the province of many housewives. Fish for freezing must be fresh and of good quality. Prepare the fish as for table use. Cut large fish into cutlets or fillets; leave small fish whole. Rinse pieces of fish in cold brine (1 cup salt dissolved in four pints boiling water, then chilled). Wrap individual pieces or pack sufficient for a family meal, using waxed paper or cellophane between the pieces; wrap in plastic or use plastie bags and seal completely to exclude the air. ■ Smaller pieces of fish can be packed in waxed or lined eartons; either pack dry or in potfles in chilled brine. Label containers clearly with contents, date of packing and number of servings. Fish with an oily flesh such as salmon can be kept for up to two months, while fish such as sole, flounder, hlue cod, etc., are best used within three months.

Never thaw fish before cooking ;if necessary, thaw enough to remove from the container in a refrigerator. Never refreeze. When there is a successful angler in the family and no freezing available, bottling is a practical method of preserving the surplus catch. As for freezing, fish can be really fresh; it can be packed either precooked or raw. Clean and prepare the fish and divide into suitably sized pieces; leave on the bone unless the fish is large. Precook by baking, / steaming, poaching or frying (keep fat to minimum) five — ten minutes; then pack, adding one teaspoon of salt and three to four tablespoons liquid to each quart jar; with raw fish add salt but no liquid. Pack firmly but do not break or crush the fish and leave quarter of an inch headspace at the top of the jar. For soused fish, precook by steaming or poaching, and pour over hot sousing liquor (vinegar, fish liquor and spices), seal jars and process. Fish must be processed in a waterbath or pressure cooker. Do not attempt to sterilise fish in an oven. Jars in the waterbath must be completely covered by the boiling water. Sterilise in a waterbath: 4 hours — fresh fish; 3 hours — soused fish; or,

pressure cooker 80 minutes — fresh fish; 60 minutes — soused fish. A MEMORY LINGEKS Fish is often accused of leaving a smell. Fish properly cooked does not leave an over-power-ing smell — that is usually the result of boiling fish. If a fishy smeil does linger, heat a piece of orange peel or a few cloves in a pan. Rinse^ dishes used to prepare or cook fish in vinegar and water (1 tablespoon vinegar to 1 pint water) before washing in the usual way, and remove any smell from the hands by rubbing with salt and rinsing in warm water. — Home Science Extension, Department of Adult Education, University of Otago.