A sashimi plate that includes (from left) salmon, swordfish and tuna - a range of fish texture and color.

Fish doesn’t have to be battered or breaded to taste great. There are many healthy reasons to eat fresh fish on a weekly basis – especially the oilier kinds that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Startcooking.com has already covered the basics of choosing fish and seafood, in terms of figuring out what is fresh. But you may still be uncertain about the difference between various types of fish, such as sole, cod, salmon and trout. This post focuses on how to choose the right fish to suit your dish.

Lean, moderate and high fat

Fish can be subdivided into three groups based on their fat content. The higher the fat content , the richer the taste. (No surprises there!)

Lean fish typically have about 2 per cent fat content. Some examples are: cod, turbot, haddock, halibut, brook trout, red snapper, hake and tile fish.

• Cooking Tip: poaching, steaming and pan-frying are good cooking methods for lean fish. This kind of fish tends to flake and fall apart when cooked, so it’s not a good candidate for barbecuing.

Medium-fat fish typically has around 6 per cent fat. Some examples are: swordfish, pompano, striped bass and bonito tuna.

• Cooking Tip: pan-frying is a good cooking method for many varieties of fish with a moderate fat content. These varieties can also be baked, broiled or grilled.

The fat content of high fat fish is typically around 12 per cent. Some varieties are: salmon, butterfish, grouper, herring and yellowtail.

• Cooking Tip: Grilling works well with higher fat fish, because it has rich flavor and holds together better than lower-fat varieties.

Whole, fillets or steak

When you’re at the fish counter, you’ll see that fish is available in several different forms:

• Whole: These have the heads and tails on and are probably best left to more experienced cooks.
• Fillets: These are usually boneless cuts that may or may not have the skin on. You can always ask to have the skin removed.
• Steaks: Steaks (shown below) are typically thicker cross-sections from the back of the fish, which have bone attached.

These salmon steaks contain part of the backbone.

Ways to Cook Fish

Microwaving Fish

These salmon fillets are all ready to go in the microwave. They'll take about five minutes.

The microwave is a great place to cook fish when you’re in a hurry. Cooking time will depend on the strength of your microwave and on the thickness of the fish. For reference, microwaving 2-inch-thick salmon steaks takes about 5 minutes. It’s better to underestimate than overestimate cooking times. Remember that fish will continue cooking for a few minutes even after it’s come out of the microwave. If you’re microwaving fish, you can jazz up the flavor by adding lemon juice, salt and pepper and spices just prior to cooking. Or, you can marinate it for half an hour before cooking. This demonstration of Cold Salmon with Creamy Mustard Sauce shows that you can get a head start on dinner by zapping the salmon for five minutes in the morning, then refrigerating it to eat later in the day.

Baking Fish

Here are baked cod fillets with salsa.

This is another simple cooking method that works for almost any kind of fish. The rule of thumb is to cook it four or five minutes per half-inch of thickness, or eight to 10 minutes per inch of thickness. In this demonstration of baked cod with breadcrumbs, the thick fillets take about 25 minutes to cook. The fish can be seasoned, marinated or cooked in a sauce, as startcooking.com demonstrates in this preparation of Baked Cod with Salsa.

Pan Frying Fish

This is pan-fried Kona Kampachi, but pan-frying works well with many kinds of fish.

This method works with all kinds of fish, but especially with milder fish. Use fillets that already have the skin removed. It’s fine to use steaks that have a strip of skin on the side. Depending on the kind of fish you’re using, you may want to dredge, or coat it in flour, for a crispy finish. This will also give a bit more flavor and substance to lean varieties of fish.

But there’s no need to dredge meatier kinds of fish. Startcooking.com's tutorial on Pan-Fried Fish with Lemon and Parsley shows this simple and quick method. Fans of fish sticks won’t go near the frozen kind after trying our recipe for homemade fish fingers (shown below) – these are so easy and so out of this world!

Fish fingers get a coating of flour and breadcrumbs before being pan-fried.

Broiling Fish

When you set the oven to broil, the heat comes directly from above, browning the top of the fish nicely. Put the fish skin-side down on a broiling pan, or on foil-lined baking sheet four to six inches from the broiler. It can take anywhere from two minutes to 10 minutes to cook, depending on the thickness. If the fish is very thick, it may need to be flipped halfway through.

Poaching Fish

This is a good method for lighter, more delicate kinds of fish. The fish gets GENTLY simmered in liquid in a pan on the stove for a few minutes. The key is not to let the liquid boil because this will cause the fish to come apart. Cooking For Engineers offers a very helpful tutorial on poached fish.

Fish in foil or parchment (en papillote)

This may sound like a fancy cooking method, but it’s actually one of the easiest ways to cook your whole meal all in one go! You simply place your fish, with some chopped vegetables, on foil or parchment paper, then fold the foil/paper over the ingredients and close up the edges so that it’s like a sealed packet. Cook at 400F for 15 to 20 minutes -- the steam inside the packet cooks the food.

The meaty texture of swordfish does well on the grill.

Grilling Fish

Our post on Grilling Fish 101 covers the basics of cooking fish on an outdoor grill. In short, grilling works best on thicker, fattier fish like salmon, swordfish, mahi mahi and tuna. Although you can grill leaner, flakier fish, you’ll need to use a fish basket or grill it on foil.

Happy fishing!!

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