FISHERMAN’S FRIEND
Australian Chef Josh Niland is hoping to change the conversation around cooking seafood, as ELLA WALKER discovers
OPEN Josh Niland’s new cookbook and you will see a literal representation of its title – a whole fish (a bass grouper), severed into its many edible, cookable parts. All 31 of them.
There are, it turns out, far more parts of a fish that deserve a lick of heat and hit a of salt than you might think.
The Whole Fish Cookbook distils the Australian chef’s belief that we should treat fish cookery with the same confidence we do meat, in terms of hob action as well as the butchery that comes first.
His aim is to arm us with some methods “beyond just pan frying”, to diversify the kind of fish we’re bringing home, and make us think about seafood a little differently.
Take a tuna cheek compared to a beef cheek. Sure, you’ll cook them for different lengths of time, but, Josh notes, “you can braise a beef cheek in red wine, so why can’t I do that with tuna? And why can’t I serve it with mashed potatoes and a little onion and bacon and do a tuna cheek bourguignon?”
The chef, who heads up celebrated seafood restaurant Saint Peter in Sydney, Australia, says one of the major problems is a lack of confidence.
“To go home with a whole fish is super intimidating for a novice cook.”
The idea is, The Whole Fish will break things down, and build up your seafood confidence and technique as you work your way through it.
■ The Whole Fish Cookbook: New ways to cook, eat and drink by Josh Niland (left), published by Hardie Grant, priced £25. Photography by Rob Palmer.