Frying fish

Fish is always processed by diverse methods before eating. Heating process (boiling, grilling, baking and frying) is applied to enhance flavor and taste of food and inactivate pathogenic microorganisms.

Cooking process gives them the desired features which are produced through an elaborate sequence of physiochemical modifications during processing. The changes in the amount of protein and fat were found to be significantly higher in frying and grilling fish.

Frying is the ancient food preparation method which intensifications the physical feature of meal by creation of good odor, appealing look, coating and crispy feature. Since frying involve with a very high temperature it degrades nutrients through hydrolysis and oxidation of fatty acids.

The fish is well known for its taste, high nutritive value, recuperative and medicinal qualities. Fresh fish’s eyes should be bright, clear and bulging. Gills should be bright red and free of slime. Flesh should be firm and elastic. Skin should be iridescent. Frozen fish must be thawed before frying. Separate the pieces and cut to uniform size.

Deep Fat Frying of Fish
The fish may be dipped in a liquid and coated with a breading. or dipped in batter. Oils are not more than half full in fryer, this allows room for fish and bubbling oil.

Breaded or batter dipped fish placed, one layer at a time, in the fry basket so the pieces do not touch. This prevents the temperature of the fat from dropping suddenly and assures thorough cooking and even browning.

Fry in deep oil temperature 350 to 375 °F, until fish is brown and flakes easily when tested with a fork. The temperature of the fat is extremely important. Too high heat will brown the outside of the fish before the centers are cooked. Too low heat will give a pale. greasy. fat-soaked product.

Good batter needs the right grades of flour and other ingredients in a correct balance. It should coat the food evenly and fry crisply.

Pan Frying
Only a small amount of oil is used this method approximately about 1/8 inch of oil in the bottom of a heavy fry pan. Breaded fish is placed in a single layer in the hot oil. Fish is fried at a moderate temperature until lightly browned on one side, before turn and cook on the other side until brown.
Frying fish

Cooking fish by steaming

Steaming is a rapid way to cook fish. Small whole fish, fillets or other small cuts of fish can be cooked with excellent results by steaming.

Steaming has an advantage of being easy to carry out, while offering rapid cooking, with little loss of flavor, color or nutrients.

Steaming means cooking the fish on a rack placed just above boiling liquid. With this technique, the fish are more likely to retain their natural flavor shape and texture. It is particularly useful when preparing large quantities for banquets as it reduces the number of times the fish is handled and allows the sauces to be made in advance.

Even cooking requires that the fish pieces be the same thickness, and that the steam have equal access to all surfaces. If fillets taper down to a very thin end, fold the thin layers over or interleave them with each other.

Steamed fish is usually served with melted butter or a sauce. Dieters, who like the low calorie count of fish cooked by these methods, add only a squirt of lemon juice.
Cooking fish by steaming

Sardines

Young pilchards are known commercially as sardines. It is packed in oil and canned. But in Great Britain, sardines are young fish and pilchards older fish.

The name pilchard refers to five species of fish belonging to the family Clupeidae including the European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus, and the South American pilchard.

The word sardine derives from the island of Sardinia, where the canning of pilchards, now called sardines, was popularized.

The fine flesh of sardines can be eaten bones and all. The best are Norwegian sild sardines; the Portuguese or Spanish sardines being larger, coarser and more robust in flavor.

Sardines are often grilled, especially over hardwood charcoal, because their soft, dark, rather oily flesh takes well to direct heat.

Fresh sardines are seasonal, usually local, and most common in summer. In Portugal, were fresh sardines are hugely popular; the season lasts from the end of May to the end of October.
Sardines