On 2014-10-15 03:59:04 +0000, Travis McGee said:

> On 10/14/2014 11:39 PM, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:
>> On 2014-10-13 02:15:18 +0000, Pringles CheezUms said:
>>
>>> I want to learn to cook fish dishes that people will actually want to
>>> eat.
>>>
>>> 1 - Do any of you have a very-easy-to-make fish dish that your family
>>> asks for over and over?
>>>
>>> 2 - What's a good cookbook, one that has good basic instruction as well
>>> as some great recipes?
>>> There are several high-rated books on amazon that have a decent number
>>> of reviews, including ones by Bittman, Moonen, and Peterson.
>>> But I prefer personal recommendations, which is why I'm posting here.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the help!
>>
>> You're making this a bit too complicated. The Joy of Cooking (1975
>> edition preferably) has all the basic recipes for all your different
>> broad categories of fish. Once you learn how long each type fish takes
>> to cook with each method, variations in seasoning and so forth come
>> naturally. Specialist cookbooks like the three you mention are largely
>> an exercise in photography, and there are plenty of nifty photos of
>> well-prepared fish on Flickr for free.
>>
>> We live less than 200 yards from the ocean, in a town with an active
>> fishing fleet. In addition to that, my wife and I are both into fishing
>> as a hobby. Each type of fish can be treated any number of ways, and
>> once you know how to prepare fish well your family will be excited to
>> have any *DECENT* fish. I see many errors committed by people who buy
>> and cook fish, though:
>>
>> 1.) People go to the store / market knowing what kind of fish they want
>> in advance. This is stupid. Unless you are buying frozen fish (which
>> you should avoid doing unless you live in an area with poor access to
>> fresh, high quality fish) you always determine which fish you purchase
>> according to a function that takes price and freshness into account with
>> freshness heavily weighted over price. And you never, EVER eat farmed
>> fish with the exception of Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway because of
>> their strict quality control regulations.
>>
>> 2.) People usually overcook fish. With any oilfish such as mackerel,
>> sardine, euchalon, sable, etc you should generally cook the fish just
>> until the flesh loosens, then take off the heat and let stand like a
>> steak. With tuna and family, you should cook until the inside is rare,
>> and let stand like a steak until the inside is medium rare at the MOST
>> well done. With cod and anything with cod-like meat with fat (firm
>> white flesh) you should cook the fish until the fat just starts to come
>> out then let stand like a steak (seeing a trend here?) for a few
>> minutes. With fat salmon, you should cook the fish until the fat just
>> starts to emerge and then let stand, but lean salmon and trout might not
>> have enough fat to visibly emerge (instead they often have more of an
>> oil) so you must watch them carefully like an oilfish and remove them
>> when the texture starts to flake. But with fat salmon and cod (and
>> cod-likes) if you wait for the fish to flake it will be overdone by the
>> time it is cool enough to eat. Specialty methods will take more
>> practice - I often broil sardines whole, which is delicate business. I
>> also often simmer sardines and mackerel whole, until every bone is soft
>> enough to eat. I cook sturgeon like a pork roast.
>>
>> 3.) Every fish has a season, so learn what they are and eat them in
>> season. There is a reason for this - many fish are decidedly inferior
>> out of season. Just because it's available frozen this is no guarantee
>> that the fish was caught at peak season either. I only rarely buy
>> frozen fish, and only from reputable fishmongers who obtained and froze
>> the fish themselves in season. And I would never buy a fish that I can
>> not at least visually inspect. I prefer to visually examine and even
>> smell a piece of fish or buy the fish whole and uncleaned, because it is
>> easiest to tell if a fish is fresh if you can view the whole carcass.
>> Look for bright, shiny eyes, firm flesh, good color, and a moist but not
>> slimy surface.
>>
>> 4.) Practice makes perfect, and there's no way in hell you are going to
>> do a super-great job unless you really get to know each and every fish
>> you intend to cook. If I encounter a new type of fish, unless it is
>> generically like one I already know how to cook I assume I might **** it
>> up the first half dozen times I prepare it and am pleasantly surprised
>> if it turns out great by the third preparation.
>>
>> I do have to say though, the idea that you can read a book and magically
>> become a great fish preparer is preposterous. I have spent decades
>> becoming proficient at cooking game, poultry, fowl, domesticated
>> animals, fish, and shellfish as well as everything else and I must say
>> that fish and shellfish are easily the most challenging foods to select
>> and prepare properly, followed by game and then vegetables.
>>
>
> Your argument overreaches. I don't think anyone thinks that reading a
> book will make you a master of fish preparation without any practice,
> but I do think it's possible for a beginner to read a basic cookbook
> and immediately prepare a simple dish, which is obviously what this
> poster was looking for.
>
> I have no doubt that you are a genius at fish preparation in particular
> and cooking in general, but you completely missed the intent of this
> person's post.

I think you missed the point of my post, which I summarized by the
second sentence - "Get and read The Joy of Cooking!" It's useful not
just to learn about fish, but it has everything you need to become an
adept at cooking. Anyway while I don't think I have attained the level
of genius fish perparer yet, I do think I'm well past the adept stage
and closing in on masterhood. Nobody told me what I summarized above,
and it would have been useful if they had.