A guide to cooking fish #TrickyFishy

Grilling

Grilling is fantastic if you want to seal in the moisture and delicious flavor of your fish. Just baste your seafood during cooking to stop it drying out, place it skin-side up and cook it on medium heat, turning it occasionally for 8-10 minutes. Our top fish favourites for grilling are halibut steaks, sea bass, mackerel, herring and sardines!

Poaching

To create a tasty sauce for your fish, you can poach your seafood in either, milk, stock, wine, water or cider. It should take about 5 minutes for cubes of fish, or 10-15 minutes for thicker pieces. Pop it in the hob or oven and keep the liquid you choose just below boiling point. Fish which are fantastic to poach are cod fillets, turbot steaks, halibut, sole, sea bass, smoked cod and haddock.

Baking

With this method all fish apart from shellfish cooks exceptionally. Add in your favourite herbs and seasoning, a bit of lemon juice, stock, wine or milk, and then a range of vegetables for a healthy wholesome meal.

Steam

To seal in all the vitamins of your fish, cook it between two plates over a large pan of boiling water, or in a steamer. Add a little lemon juice and seasoning for tastiness and steam 5-10 minutes for thin fish fillets, or 15-20 minutes for thicker pieces or whole fish. All whitefish, particularly sole, sea bass, plaice, smoked cod and haddock taste amazing steamed!

Shallow frying white flatfish

Our top tip for frying is to remember to coat the fish thoroughly in batter or breadcrumbs as this will stop the fish absorbing too much fat! Use seasoned flour and a small amount of oil, frying for about 4-5 minutes and making sure to turn the fish once. To ensure your fish is fully cooked, a fork should easily be able to pass through the flesh. We like white flatfish such as halibut or plaice as these taste fantastic shallow fried.

Deep frying white roundfish

For a crunchy texture we recommend using breadcrumbs, but to protect the fish and lock in the flavour and moisture try a batter instead. You can deep fry your fish with a range of coatings from seasoned flour, breadcrumbs, oatmeal or batter depending on what you prefer! Heat the oil to 180ºC/350ºF and cook for approximately 4-6 minutes until it is golden brown, draining any excess oils on absorbent kitchen paper before serving. This method works particularly well with cod, haddock and prawns.

Microwave

The microwave is excellent for cooking seafood, just remember to always cover the seafood with a lid or microwaveable food wrap! Add two tablespoons of liquid and as a rule of thumb 450g (1lb) of fish fillets should cook in about 4-5 minutes.

Barbecuing

Barbecuing adds a delicious smoky flavour best suited for oil-rich fish on the bone, as this can cope with fierce heat best. For extra flavour marinate your fish for half an hour before cooking, and to ensure even cooking slash your fish at the thickest part. Make sure the BBQ has glowing red coals, is flame free and is under a thin layer of ash so  the fish doesn’t cook to quickly. Our top fish picks for barbecuing are monkfish, tuna, mackerel, herring and sardines and prawns.