What Not To Do When Cooking Fish

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Much to my embarrassment, last week I had a night where I swear it were as though I forgot how to cook. I've been cooking all my life--plus there's the hospitality school and culinary school degrees--and that night I couldn’t have done more wrong. In a pan that was too hot, a fish that was too wet met a pool of too much oil. I was not paying attention while trying to do too much, and my skin--that was too bare--paid the price for my errors with five second-degree burns from flying hot oil. As I nurse the wounds of my flesh as well as my more seriously wounded ego, I might as well put this experience to good use, to remind us all what not to do when cooking fish.

1. Unless your name is Martha Stewart, you need to wear an apron. And as much as I would like to think I am Martha from time to time, I especially need to wear an apron. You might think wearing an apron is unfashionable, but if you want to keep those fashionable clothes you like to cook in stain-free, the apron is really the only way to go. Not to mention the far more important safety factor. There is a reason why chefs who slave away over hot stoves dripping sweat still wear long-sleeve jackets, long pants and closed-toed shoes. This is a hazardous business and given some cracking hot oil or an errant splash of boiling sauce without something protecting the skin . . . well, you will be nursing burns like mine.

2. The pan should be hot, but not that hot. A hot pan is really necessary for a good sauté or browning meat. Too cool and it will simply stew or steam rather than forming the crispy brown crust you are looking for. But too hot, and a layer of oil awaiting the fish becomes a deep fryer. Burnt fish and smoking acrid oil is never a recipe for success.

3. Pat the fish dry. If the fish is to be sautéed, the less moisture on the surface before it hits the pan, the better. Pat the fillets dry with some paper towels. If there is skin, use the blunt end of your chef’s knife to scrape down the skin removing any excess moisture that might be trapped there. Not only does a drier fish make for a crispier skin, but also it saves you from so much of that feared splattering when something wet meets hot oil.

4. Use oil within reason. Fish typically needs a fair amount of oil in the pan as it has a real tendency to stick. But non-stick pans will need even less oil than a standard stainless steel pan, which itself really only needs a thin coat on the surface to do the job. Again, too much oil and you are deep-frying not sautéing. And a wet fish in a deep fryer leads to splattering oil leads to second-degree burns.

5. Multi-tasking is important, especially when trying to cook dinner in under 30 minutes. But it requires thinking things through before you start cooking and actually paying attention while you are in the kitchen. In a professional kitchen you might draw out a flow chart for the evening, as many dishes have to be prepped at once but varying cooking times mean they all will have to overlap.

Preparing different elements of a meal in your home kitchen is no different. Writing out a flow chart may not be necessary, but it couldn’t hurt to think in advance if, say, you are making grilled chicken with pasta and sautéed vegetables. The pasta water might need to be heated first since it will take time to reach a boil. The veggies can then be prepped, before the chicken goes in the pan, at which point the pasta should go in the water before the vegetables are sautéed because they require the least amount of cooking time.

After a week of trying to redeem myself in the kitchen by cooking every night while repeating the mantra “I do know how to cook… I do know how to cook,” I think it is fair to say that my year of culinary school was not a total waste and that I can in fact, cook. That is to say, I am cooking with more caution and attention. Though I always strive to embrace my inner Martha, this Martha wears an apron.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cups couscous
• 2 cups diced summer vegetables, such as zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, PLUS
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless sole fillets
• 2/3 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (more as needed)
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into a dice
• 4 tablespoons capers
• 1 lemon