Fish and shellfish
General advice
Automatic Cooking
Fresh Fish
(200 - 1000 g) Fish Fillet eg. Paice, Cod,
Arranging the fish:
fish steaks should be arranged in a circle with the thickest part on the outside. Uneven or very thin fish fillets should be rolled or folded in order to protect the thin parts. Whole small fish (herring, trout, mackerel)
should be arranged head to tail.
Liquid: add a little stock, white wine or lemon juice to the fish before cooking. Allow 2 to 3 tbsp per 500g of fish. Adding more liquid will slow down the cooking process, whereas less liquid will speed it up.
Salt: do not add salt before cooking as this will dry out the fish, but you can add pepper and herbs before cooking.
Composition of the fish: a fillet of oily fish (halibut, salmon, mackerel) will cook more quickly than a fillet of white fish (pollock, whiting, ling). Take this into account by possibly adding a little more liquid or reducing the cooking time.
Cooking: when the fish becomes opaque and starts to come apart when flaked, it is cooked.
Noise: it is normal to hear small noises during cooking (made by the steam trapped between the flesh and skin escaping). This noise occurs more frequently when cooking oily fish such as salmon or mackerel. You can reduce the noise by pricking the fish skin in several places.
Speed: fish cooks very quickly in the microwave; do not cook it until the last minute, to avoid the need to reheat.
Shellfish: shellfish can be put in the oven as are they are, but must be taken out as they open, otherwise they will dry out; if they are stuffed, their preparation and cooking depends on the type of filling.
Large fish (more than 500g): it recommended to turn the fish
Fish parcels: you can cook fish parcels in the microwave by replacing the aluminium foil with greaseproof paper (also called baking paper), which is microwave safe.
