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Buying the whole fish is frugal?
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Finding my way aroudn this frugal lifestyle and ran into something new yesterday.
At Costco five whole Tilapia $12.49 next to that was a packet of Tilapia filets for $19.00
Long story short, I took them home and tried to cut em up and fry for the kids. Made for an intersting sleepover and what we salvaged was tasty. If I knew how to filet and had a sharp knife, I could see this opening up a new world of possiblities. Without the skills and knife, quite a bit was wasted.
Is anyone buying whole fish as part of a frugal lifestyle? I remember seeing so many choices at the local asian mega shop next to live frogs and other live critters, Nothing in english and live frogs kinda deal, love buying duck their so good excuse to go back.
Top Comment: If you buy fish at a grocer with a seafood counter, they will clean the fish for you. This is especially important and helpful when the fish have scales - scaling a fish is insanely messy to do at home. Many fish are easily roasted whole, and have excellent value beyond the fillet. I recommend starting with snapper or something similarly sized. Flounder is another excellent fish that's simple to make and wonderful when baked whole. Finally, if there are sales at your seafood counter, ask the fishmonger if they have the item frozen in packs. For instance, shrimp are frequently defrosted then displayed for sale at the counter. You can usually buy the shrimp while still frozen so they just go in the freezer for when you need them. I hope this helps!
How are you meant to eat fish cooked whole?
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I'm a pretty big seafood lover, and I've cooked a lot of fileted fish but I've never taken the plunge and cooked whole fish.
Things like grilled whole seabass or sardines look delicious but I'm always really off put by the idea of spend most of my meal picking through the bones.
Is that something you just have to put up with or is there a way to remove the bones before eating?
Top Comment: Bass is a total bitch to eat whole of you've not done it before, many a small bone. Try trout or a flat fish like plaice if you can. They pull away from the spine more like a fillet.
I want to learn how to cook a whole fish (the kind you'd get from a fish market).
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Something like this. I know how to cook a cut of salmon or tuna from a grocery store but I don't know how to deal with full, cleaned, still-has-scales-and-head fish. Is there any special technique or recipe for it?
I know there are many kinds of fish so lets say a Red Snapper.
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A general technique you can do is to season it inside and out, make a few slashes in the flesh, put it in an aluminum foil packet with a liquid and some aromatics, then cook in the oven. The slashes speed up the cooking and help it cook more evenly, and the liquid is aromatic and will steam the fish. It's a moist environment so it helps keep the fish juicy too.
So you could do something like snapper with a bit of white wine/Vermouth/Pernod, some lemon slices, some fresh herbs such as parsley/tarragon/basil/thyme.
You could also try doing a Thai-style dish where the liquid is a red curry sauce (curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce), add some lemon grass, lime leaves and cook the fish, then add fresh Thai basil, chile, lime and some fried onions/shallots when you serve. If you can find some you could also try steaming it in banana leaves instead of foil.
You can also just roast it whole on a baking sheet in the oven or on the grill to get some nice char and crispy skin. I'd advocate those methods over doing it in a pan since you have heat from all around, not just one direction so it cooks much more evenly. I've cooked whole salmon this way that was rubbed with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, harissa, and garlic and it was really tasty.
How to buy whole fish?
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I feel so dumb for asking this 😆. I grew up far away from the ocean and am not very knowledgeable about seafood. My husband has mentioned that he misses the meals his mom made with small fish fried whole (I assume something like fresh sardines because I see lots of recipes with them.)
If I wanted to buy some sardines to fry whole, will the guy at the seafood counter (like at WholeFoods or a local grocery store) clean them for me? Do they need to be deboned? What exactly should I ask for?
Top Comment: I recommend going to Asian markets for this, ad they often have live or really fresh fish to sell you. Look for sashimi-grade fish, which are fresh enough to serve raw. Also, if there is a strong “fishy” smell, it means the fish has been sitting out for too long and has begun to rot.
Whole Fish
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Heading down to the beach for Memorial Day. The family wants me to do a whole fish on the egg. I’ve never done that before. Do you guys have experience here? I need to feed 10 adults.
Who has the best recipe and method? We like spice and creativity. We like extravagant and over the top. We also like to sit back and simplicity. Very easy to please crowd.
Top Comment: Rub it down lightly with oil and heavily season both the inside and outside of the fish with s+p or other spice rub. I usually stuff the cavity with lemon, lemon or lime wedges, and herbs (I like tarragon) Then cook indirect at like 380-400 for about 10/15 mins a side depending on the size of the fish. If they’re big fish, don’t forget to eat the cheeks :)
whole fish
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Okay y'all. I was given a whole frozen salmon. Head and tail still on 😣 I'm so grateful especially since salmon is incredibly expensive. I'm usually okay at cooking fish but this is a whole freaking fish. what's the best way to go about it. Do I let it thaw? Cook frozen? Try and saw through it? It's just my boyfriend and I so we don't want any to go to waste if I cook it all. HELP haha!!!!
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Let it thaw and use a YouTube video on how to hack into a whole fish
Cooking and eating a whole fish
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I want to broil or bake a whole fish, as is, and eat the whole thing nose to tail including bones. Any common fish (somewhat easy to find) with easily chewable and digestible bones, either before or after cooking this way?
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Sardines, but even those are gutted. Other than that, you have a couple of issues if you don’t gut it, and several bones that are not chewable nor digestible in most fish (primarily spine and skull, even cats leave them behind.). Smaller bones may be chewable, but they do present a fairly serious choking hazard. Overall, this is not super advisable.
I wanted to buy a whole fish. Did I do something wrong?
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I wanted to bake a whole fish for the first time.
Recipe (Martha Stewart) said it needed to be gutted and de-scaled.
I went to Whole Foods fish counter. Asked for a branzini. Guy says: "How do you want it?" and I said: "Gutted and descaled" and he responded: "YES, but how do you want it?"
I said: "What do you mean?"
He said: "You need to know how you want it. Or I can't help you."
Eventually he picked up the whole fish and started wrapping it without doing any of what I asked, so I walked off.
Felt like he was being deliberately difficult, but wanted to check I wasn't asking for something totally insane before going back and trying again?
EDIT: Someone in the comments made the really good point that he may have heard 'cut it' when I said 'gut it' (I'm from England, so may be some accent thing going on).
Top Comment: He was likely asking you if you wanted it whole, fileted, head on or not, and like that. If that is what he was asking he could and should have been much clearer.
How to cook a whole fish but remove the bones first? Is that something to ask the monger?
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Had a fish served whole at a restaurant and all the bones had been removed. Not a huge fan of having to eat around the bones so this was perfect (and also happened to be delicious).
How would I go about doing this at home? Or better yet, can I ask them to remove for me when I buy?
Top Comment: I remember seeing a video of where the entire topside of the (cooked) fish was lifted, the spine pulled out, and the topside placed back onto the bottomside, but I can't find it for the life of me. The answer to your question is, you can do it carefully.
Best whole fish in LA?
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I am specifically looking for downtown or east, but feel free to post any recommendations in this thread, as I'm sure they'll be useful for others. Not necessarily looking for a specific style; I'm open to any suggestions.
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https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/reviews/coniseafood
Is there any benefit to cook a fish whole other than presentation?
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I have a pretty retro fish-themed cookbook and a lot of the recipes are centred around baking, frying, poaching etc. a whole fish; head, tail, everything (minus the guts, of course). Is there any culinary benefit to cooking a fish this way? It seems like it would be a pain to try and scour through all the little bones, and frankly I find eating something with the head still attached just a little creepy. But, if it imparts some incredible flavour or helps keep the fish moist I’d be willing to try it.
Top Comment: It’s a common technique in Asian cooking to steam or braise a fish whole. It’s easy, allows you to cook it very gently to preserve moisture, and not at all hard to eat as the flesh flakes off the spine easily and the fish can be turned after the presentation half is eaten. You get fish head meat prized for its tenderness and sweetness, and braising also allows a lot more time for sauces to absorb.