Fear of fish?
Bake it, don’t fry it, for no-fuss, foolproof results
In a town known for Friday fish fry, baked fish sometimes needs a nudge or two to the
dinner plate. It shouldn’t. ❚ When it comes to fish, your oven offers opportunity. Think
no-fuss weeknight dinners, yet food definitely good enough for guests. ❚ Cookbook
author Alison Roman, a former editor at Bon Appetit magazine, spent years working
with readers and recipes and acknowledges that fish can be a hard sell. Yet she’s come
to embrace the oven as her friend, and she notes that one of her most popular recipes is
probably a slow-roasted salmon, as featured in “Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes” (Clarkson
Potter, $30). ❚ “People don’t think of fish as easy, but I’ve seen more people overcook and
undercook chicken rather than fish,” said Roman. “Really, if you’ve ever baked anything, you
can bake a fish.
“I think sometimes people don’t like to do fish on the stove because it can make their house smell fishy and it’s messy. Throwing it in the oven is super-easy.”
Roman also sees the oven as a good way to handle whole fish, which intimidates some people. “If you can roast a chicken, you can roast a fish. It’s not that different. In fact, I think it’s a bit easier because it cooks a lot faster more evenly,” she added.
As a culinary instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College, chef Brian Moran teaches a three-week seafood segment every semester, and he sees more than a few people come in with a fear of cooking fish.
“The biggest fear is the unknown,” said Moran, who has cooked in the Milwaukee area since 1986. “It is all about techniques. We bake salmon en papillote because it is a fun way to do it, but it’s almost impossible to mess up.
“I think more people are eating more fish, period,” he added. “People are trying to balance their diets more.
“I’m a Midwestern meat and potatoes kid from Green Bay. We didn’t eat fish. We got fish if we ate bluegills from the lake. Now I eat fish once a week or more at home.”
It’s not just about taste and healthier options. Using the oven can mean less mess than frying or sautéing. It also frees up your time, because you’re not stuck at the stovetop. Once you get everything in the oven, you can move on to other things until dinner is ready.
Moran suggests starting with salmon, and his go-to starter preparation is the can’t-miss fish en papillote. The technique of fish in packets of parchment paper or aluminum foil makes it hard to overcook, and your entire meal is contained in one packet.
“I’m going to do things like salmon or golden tilefish, which I just had recently in Atlanta,” Moran said. “We used to carry golden tilefish a lot at St. Paul Fish Market, but I haven’t seen it around in a bit. Empire (Fish Co. in Wauwatosa) may carry it. It will flake like cod, but it is a little bit tighter, like corvina.
“Cod bakes great, it is simple. Salmon is more forgiving because it is fatty. Whitefish is great. Grouper. Halibut bakes really nice, and the season starts at the end of April or early May and goes to October.” It comes down to preference.
“What you think might be a good baked fish, I might not. Steak fish, like a shark steak, things that come from a large fish that have what we call a loin, I don’t think those bake well,” added Moran, who has worked with St. Paul Fish Market and taught at Milwaukee Public Market. “It doesn’t mean you can’t do it. That is just preference.”
Another area that trips people up when it comes to making fish at home is the skin. “It always seems to freak people out,” said Roman. “When in doubt, you can just go skinless. Many fish like branzino are sold skin-on. They’re not super-fatty, so the skin isn’t going to add that fishy taste you associate with skin-on fish.” Still, when in doubt, ask a fishmonger. “People who sell fish love talking fish,” said Roman. “Don’t be ashamed to ask, ‘What’s the best fish to throw in the oven?’ I love trout, actually. It is a super-underestimated fish. It is thin and cooks really easily. It is mildly flavored but not flavorless. It is fatty without being fishy, always tender and delicious.
“The skin is really, really thin, so you can eat it without feeling like you have to remove it or feeling like you taste it. You can cook it whole, or you can ask somebody to fillet it and it almost always turns out. It is also sustainable if fished properly, so it is a good option.”
Whole fish tends to scare people, yet Roman asks us to reconsider.
“You roast anything on the bone, there is less chance it will dry out, you literally smear it in a paste and throw it in the oven. I can’t think of anything more low-maintenance.
“The hardest part is getting the meat off the bone, and if it doesn’t fall off the bone, keep cooking it because it is not done. That’s a good way to test your fish. If you’re looking for a gateway whole fish, branzino is an excellent option.”
Because some fish aren’t always readily available, it pays to be flexible. Visit a market like Empire or St. Paul Fish Market and talk to the fishmonger. Fresh fish is Moran’s first choice, but if that isn’t an option, frozen works.
“Fish isn’t something to mess around with,” said Roman. “If it looks like it has seen better days, feel free to skip it. There are so many varieties out there, maybe this is the chance to try something new.”
Choosing the freshest fish is important for taste, but also for smell.
“It is the freshness and quality of fish that determine whether your pan will smell,” said Moran. He lines a pan with parchment paper and brushes it with oil or a spray so the fish won’t stick.
When it comes to temperatures, Roman says don’t be afraid to crank the oven up.
“High heat is your friend, unless you’re doing a low and slow roast like the salmon. Otherwise, you want a high and fast heat to cook the fish quickly. Whether you’re doing a whole fish or throwing a few fillets on a sheet tray, it should be high and fast.
“Higher-fat fish, like salmon, lends itself to a good olive oil bath and low and slow treatment. Smaller fillets and whole fish, you want like a 450 degree oven."
There are several clues to tell you when your fish is done. Fish will change color as it cooks, going from translucent to opaque. Fish also changes in texture and will become firmer when cooked.