Fish Cooking Basics

I must admit that I have met more than a few fishermen that know every trick in the book to catch fish, but after they have caught it, have no idea what to do with it. So if you are still wondering what you should be doing with those fish you caught, I have some help for you. The basic techniques for turning those fish into food are very simple and I have outlined the basic information and cooking methods for you.

10 minutes to the inch
Whether you are grilling, frying, baking, poaching, steaming of broiling your fish, the basic rule is that it will take 8-10 minutes of cooking time for every inch of thickness. The biggest mistake most people make in cooking fish is to over cook it. Now if the fish is frozen, count on 20 minutes per inch.

It starts at the water
Fish can degrade quickly after you catch it. One thing you can do to prevent this is kill the fish as quickly as possible. Smack it in the head with a club, then cut the gills with a knife. This will bleed the fish out quickly and slow down spoilage.

You caught it, you clean it
OK, so you probably know this already, but you need to clean the innards out, using a sharpknife and your thumb or narrow spoon. The longer you leave that stuff in there, the more chance it will have to start messing with the fish's flavor.

When is it done?
The classical definition is that fish is done when it hits 160