Cooking Fish?

[JMayer]

Hello,

I was wondering are there any rules regarding which fish should be cooked with skin on and which should not? Thanks in advance!

-Justin

[melkor]

I leave the skin on for pretty much everything except battered, crusted, poached fish.

[Busboy]

Skin on. The best -- I have yet to master this, but actual pros have served it to me -- is when you can squeegee the skin dry, salt and sautee at a high enough temperature that it crisps up, providing a great contrasting crunch to the softer flesh. It adds good flavor, as well.

I've also eaten in places where they skin the fish and then fry the skin separately, serving it on the side, like some kind of briny crouton.

[slbunge]

I like to cook with the skin on unless I am doing something like poaching or a pepper crust. I usually only eat the skin if I've been able to crisp it successfully (that doesn't happen all that often) but I still think it is important to cook with it on so it gives up its wonderful fat to the flesh.

If I'm cooking a reasonably thin filet on the grill, the skin becomes sacrificial, protecting the flesh from the intense heat of the charcoal below. I usually lift the flesh off the skin and platter it, leaving the skin behind to burn completely so I can brush it away after it cools.

[dano1]

the only rule i have is if it's served with the skin on, crisp the skin. Like busboy said the skin can be "squeegeed" dry before sautee. Start skin side down in pan, whole butter added will help-the solids help brown the skin-cook 3/4 done flip and finish.

Other than that it depends on the dish and where i want to go with it. Some fish won't take to leaving the skin on though-halibut, shark, sword, ahi come to mind. Smooth vs scaley skin :). Of course steaming and other asian styles of cookery are a different thing altogether.

hth, danny

[Human Bean]

Skin on. But I remove it after cooking and don't eat it, even though it's de-scaled. Feel free to tell me that I'm making a big mistake. I don't eat chicken skin either, no matter how crispy and delicious it's supposed to be.

[ducphat30]

Take a look at the skin, if it is extremely thick, some types of snapper and halibut for example, will curl on you when you go to crisp it. make sure that your filet is "squeegeed" and hit it with a little bit of salt. I would pull the filets out 30 minutes before you are ready to cook them. Make sure that the pan is hot, not screaming, a thin coating of oil and place them in gently. Use a fish spatula to hold them down if they start to curl. It will take up to 2 minutes before you should even think about peaking at the skin. I would leave it skin side down and finish it in a hot oven.

Another way is a la "plancha". If you have a pancake griddle, get it good and hot. Dry the filet, brush with oil, season with salt and sear on the griddle, you will have to hold them down if they start to curl and cook them the majority of the way on the skin side. This works great for thinner filets of fish, fresh sardines, red mullet, small snappers, black bass. You flip them over and give the other side a kiss and call it day.

Now you could take the skin off your filet, scrape it with a spoon. Spray it with the fat of your choice, place it between two flat sheet pans, silpats work great for this, and bake at 200 degrees until crispy. Season it when it comes out and while it is still hot there is some pliability, so you can cut it into shapes. This works really great for salmon skin, small cod skin, even striped bass skin. Play with your fats, and you can get some great flavors, ie bacon fat, really good olive oil, sesame oil.

Hope this helps.

[foodie52]

As my fishmonger has explained to me, most of the flavor of the fish is directly under the skin, in the slightly fatty part that will get removed if you take the skin off. His recommendation is to always cook the fish with the skin on.

It's your choice whether or not to eat it. I get it really crisp and enjoy it.

However, he also pointed out to me ( spoilsport...) that the skin is also where the various contaminants that fish pick up, hide.

He eats the skin too, btw. For what it's worth, this is what I've been told.

[Bond Girl]

Here is a way to get the crispy-iest skin on a fish possible as told by Cornelius Gallagher of Oceana. It works on fish like Black Bass nd Striped Bass. I've yet to try it on any other fiish. You first take the back of a knife and scrape down in skin, almost like the window squeege thing that Busbuy mentions. Then you get the oil really hot and put the fish skin side down, hold it down with a spatula or bacon press. When you think the fish is almost done, meaning that you can see a brown crust formiing and the fish isn't sticking to the pan, drop a dollop of cream fraiche, or a spoon of heavy cream into the pan. The cream will bubble and break. Shake the pan to move to move the cream around. Once it stops bubbling, flip the fish onto a plate for the crispiest skin possible or put in oven to keep warm.