Burning questions: what to consider when cooking fish

Q: How to pan fry fish without it flaking apart or burning?

Pan-seared tilapia with bacon and shallots (links to a previous post)

A: We’re all scared of fish. Undercooked, fish of any but the best quality ends up cold, clammy and unappetizing. Overcooked, it falls apart or ends up chewy. Overcooked fish also tends to extrude its fishiest chemicals, which is one of the reasons reheating fish can be so difficult. But a pan-fried fish can be a wonderful thing. Simple, delicate, delicious. To successfully pan-fry fish, it’s important to consider the following: method, variety, fat, heat, hardware.

Method

I’m going to make the assumption that when you ask about pan-frying a fish, you’re talking about frying fish in a skillet with a little bit of oil, like you might sear tuna. The considerations I talk about here will work for any kind of frying, but fish usually doesn’t stick if you go with a traditional pan-fry method: a quarter to half an inch of oil in a heavy skillet, battered fish fried on one side, then the other. Fish you might find at the local southern diner comes to mind. If you ARE talking about a traditional pan fry, I’ve included some batter recipes at the bottom and some simple techniques you can use to pan fry or deep fry your fish to perfection.

Variety

Fish come in all shapes and sizes. It’s a no-brainer, I know, but it has a lot do with how well it will stand up to searing in a skillet.

In general, fish have much less connective tissue than other animals, and many fish have much less connective tissue than others. Connective tissue helps hold muscle fibers together and it melts away under high heat. Your fish probably flakes apart in the pan because you’ve cooked it too long, or it didn’t have much connective tissue to begin with.

The amount of connective tissue a fish has depends largely on the life it leads beneath the waves. Fish that move a lot, like tuna and salmon, have a great deal of connective tissue because their muscles are highly developed and are in constant or near-constant use. Fish that don’t have to move very often have less connective tissue, and fish that rarely move at all have almost none, relatively speaking. So, take a moment and think about the grouper spending its days moving gently to and fro among the coral reefs in shallow waters. It’s going to have less connective tissue than the tuna or mahi-mahi, but will probably have more than, say, bass, who spend ninety-percent of their time floating still beneath downed logs or rock ledges.

Fish with a high amount of connective tissue are going to stand up well to pan searing. Fish with little connective tissue are better suited to grilling (using a fish basket), poaching, steaming or baking.

Fat

No one likes to talk about fat. It’s become an ugly word, but if you’re pan searing, whether it be fish or steak or vegetables, you’re going to need some fat. White fish like cod work marvelously with butter, but butter has a very low smoke point. Olive oil, too, has a fairly low smoke point, but the flavor it can impart to certain fish is fantastic. What I would recommend is mixing an equal part canola or other high-heat, low-flavor oil with the butter or olive oil to help raise the overall smoke point. Raising the smoke point will allow you to work at higher temperatures which might be a key to your sticky problem.

Heat

The challenge with cooking any protein is managing heat. Specifically, getting the middle heated through without burning the exterior. They key? Let the meat or fish spend a little time outside the fridge, right there on the counter. I always try to allow any protein I’m cooking to come as close to room temperature as I feel comfortable. I’ll let steaks rest, salted, for about 15 minutes on the counter. I wait the same time with chicken. Fish, depending on the thickness, might not need as much time, but certainly five or ten minutes will help immensely.

When searing fish, you’re going to work hot and fast. I would suggest searing at about medium-high (it will vary some, depending on your oven), and for no more than a couple minutes on each side, depending on how thick the fish is and the variety you have. I’d say no more than a minute per side on thin fillets of delicate fish.

Hardware

Turning fish is next to impossible without a fish spatula, especially if the fish is delicate, like the grouper I mentioned above. If you cook fish a lot, I’d recommend buying one. They’re long and thin and designed to be able to support the whole fillet. If you’re like me, and don’t cook a lot of fish, then just keep two spatulas on hand and use them in tandem when you want to turn the fillet.

I’d also invest in a good, even-heating pan. You can get incredible deals on cookware at Amazon.com.

So now you’re ready to cook

Ingredients

Two thick grouper fillets
Kosher salt
fresh black pepper
Sliced lemon
One clove of garlic


Put about 1/2 a tablespoon butter and 1/2 a tablespoon canola oil in a medium-sized skillet (it’ll need to be big enough to hold both fillets). Set the skillet over medium-high heat.
While the oil heats, mince the garlic and sprinkle the fillets with salt.
Add the garlic to the oil and let it sizzle a few seconds, then place the fillets into the oil, skin side up.

(Note: by placing the fillets in the skillet flesh-side down, you’re allowing some of the naturally occuring fat in the fish to mingle with the oil in the pan, bringing some extra flavor to it. You’re also going to cook the most fragile side of the fish while its connective tissue is strongest)


After a couple minutes, use your fish spatula to flip the fillets, and cook them the same amount of time on the other side
Plate, sprinkle with pepper and hit them with a dash of lemon juice

The traditional fry

There are two variations on the traditional fried fish I’m familiar with: catfish, because I’m from the south, and shrimp, because shrimp tastes good.

Fried catfish:

Two catfish fillets

batter:

12 oz beer

1.5 cups flour + 1 cup flour

.5 tsp salt

Put one cup flour in a shallow dish. In a large bowl, mix together the remaining flour, the salt, and the beer. Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a heavy skillet. Pull out the catfish fillets, pat them dry, then dredge them through the flour. Dunk them briefly in the batter, and lay them into the hot oil. Cook about 90 seconds per side, serve with lemon and tartar sauce, corn bread with honey and cole slaw.

Fried shrimp

About a dozen large shrimp, peeled and deveined

breading and batter

.5 cup buttermilk

1.5 cups panko breadcrumbs

.5 tsp paprika

.5 tbl garlic powder (or less, to taste)

.5 tsp ground ginger

.5 tsp salt

black pepper to taste

Heat .5 inches of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the shrimp dry and dunk them in the buttermilk before dredging them through the dry ingredient mix. Toss them in the oil, and let them fry for no more than 90 seconds on each side. Drain on paper towels a couple moments, then enjoy.

Do you have a question about food or cooking? Drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer it in a future edition of Burning Questions.