How to eat more fish?
I'd really like to eat more fish. I feel like this might be difficult because: I cook for one, don't have a big budget, and can't stand canned fish like tuna. I live in the midwest, so most fish is shipped in from other places. Any tips on how to integrate fish into my life? What to buy and how to prepare it?
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13 Comments:
Yay, fish!
How do you feel about tilapia? It's readily available in most markets, doesn't cost very much and doesn't have that "fishy" taste to it. It's a very mild white fish that you can coat with bread crumbs and pan fry, stick under the broiler for a few minutes with some light seasoning, or just steam in a foil packet with some veggies and lemon/garlic butter. It only takes a second to cook, really.
Tell us what kind of fish is easiest for you to get, and we'll try to help you out from there. :)
sheeats at 12:55PM on 12/28/07
Even if you have to get bigger pieces of fish you can always portion it at home and freeze it. My parents are nuts about salmon (marinated in soy sauce, ginger, mustard, and maple syrup) and rainbow trout. Personally, I can't stomach any fish or seafood. I've tried, I just can't do it.
lexophile at 1:05PM on 12/28/07
Whoops, forgot to be more specific.
I love salmon, fresh tuna, walleye...pretty much anything. Even the fishy-smelling stuff. But the roommate wouldn't tolerate it. Tilapia sounds really good and light. Does it still have all the omega fatty acids like darker fish?
I like the idea of portioning the fish and freezing it. What about making something once and using leftovers? Is there a right way to reheat fish? or is it better cold?
LiveToEat at 1:17PM on 12/28/07
I also cook for one and always portion and freeze meats and fish. I order my food online and have it delivered from Acme. Last time, I ordered tilapia. I was pleasantly surprised that it came in single serving frozen packs. The brand name is Aqua Star and I'm going to see if they have other fish selections as well. There are four prep instructions on the back - to bake, broil, pan fry, or microwave.
I love nearly all fish, and prepare it many ways, from frying to poaching, although broil and pan fry are the most often used methods. I love leftovers - make for a quick meal. You can eat it as is from the fridge, or add to a salad, or reheat, or add mayo and celery, etc. and make a sandwich. Try it, you'll like it and it's so good for you.
One proviso - I have stopped purchasing farm raised salmon, due to things I've read about it. I only buy wild salmon.
PerkyMac at 1:39PM on 12/28/07
Don't.
Too many people are eating fish, many out of a sense of nutritional obligation rather than need or genuine desire. As a consequence, horrible farming practices that respond to demand are causing pollution and the supply of wild fish is being depleted at an alarming rate.
Besides, a recent report suggests that much of the nutrition we derive from fish actually comes from the food fish eat. I'm talking plants--not other little fishies. (Source: NPR story, sorry I can't be more precise, but it was some time in the last few months.)
FTR I am neither vegan nor vegetarian. I loves my smoked salmon, bluefish, scallops, lobster, you name it. Even have decapitated and gutted quite a few fresh sardines in my time. Okay, maybe a couple of dozen.
Nonetheless, no matter what those taut-skinned, rosy-cheeked PBS/Oprah proselytizing doctors tell you is going to prolong your good looks into your 90's, I take the ecological distress calls more seriously. In balancing the two, frankly, the dietary advice strikes me as selfish when weighed against the need to let some of these critters and coastlines be.
I also think the "Eat This!" and "Don't Eat That!" mentality does more harm than good. Except when it comes to vegetables.
Eliz. at 2:16PM on 12/28/07
Do not be put off by frozen fish. As a matter of fact, I'd prefer to buy frozen fish I know was frozen fresh vs. "fresh" fish whose origins I don't know. Unless I know for a fact that a fish resides happily in Gulf or southern Atlantic waters, give me frozen any day. The exception would be something like Maine lobster because they're alive when they're shipped - and should be handled while still alive.
Try different fish. Don't write off something because you tried it as a kid and found it yucky. Incorporate white fish fillets into other dishes. You could spoon a little marinara over sole and enjoy it with pasta. Or better yet, heat a little marinara in a skillet and "poach" the fish in the sauce. It causes less odor that way. You could coat catfish "fingers" with corn meal and oven fry them.
As far as your roommate's tolerance of fish, this will become an issue if you want to increase the amount of fish you're eating. Roomie is going to have to either buck up and be patient or you'll have to invest in a cyclone oven hood to suck out any smell.
PS, I love tilapia and it's usually dirt cheap. It's very adaptable to added flavors.
chiff0nade at 2:17PM on 12/28/07
I like to find individually frozen portions of fish (Alaskan wild cod, domestic farmed tilapia) and especially wild Gulf shrimp. If you defrost them carefully, the quality is still quite good and maybe even better than what you buy at the supermarket (which was probably frozen anyway).
Farmed, US tilapia is a good choice. The stuff from Asia is much riskier. I dont think it's so high in omega 3s as the oily stuff, but it's still good and quite neutral.
Most fish doesn't reheat well, though, so you're better off cooking what you can eat at that meal.
How do you feel about canned salmon? Smoked salmon?
renzata at 3:23PM on 12/28/07
Almost all farmed fishes carry health concerns, not just salmon. Tilapia is pretty much always a farmed freshwater fish.
For convenient, always on hand, inexpensive fish, my local Costco stores (So Calif) carry a really good quality flash-frozen wild orange roughy. I keep some in my freezer at all times.
Costco also usually has an excellent selection of fresh wild halibut, salmon (when available) and ahi, along with some random others that show up, such a Dover sole. The nice thing about salmon and ahi is their affinity to freezing. Halibut not so much, at least for me. Anyway, the packs are pretty big, but they're easily cut up or divided into smaller portions and frozen.
Back when I used to shop at Trader Joe's I found their frozen fish usually was acceptable, so you might look at that, too, if it's an option.
LoCo at 3:56PM on 12/28/07
Visit Trader Joes and get some the freshest frozen fish available in IQF packs. Then learn to use your mise to include shallots, lemon, olive oil, fennel, white wine and good mustard and turn out some great fish,
Be wary of Costco salmon it smells funny when you open the package. Fish should NOT smell fishy.
JerzeeTomato at 4:09PM on 12/28/07
Thanks for the great tips! I'll definitely check out Trader Joe's and try some new fishes! The roommate will just have to deal with my cooking smells, which will be A LOT more pleasant than fish-type-product she feeds her cats.
@Eliz.- I hear you and am mindful of fish farming and the environmental impact of our food sources out there. I'm not eating fish to find the fountain of youth, but rather to get out of the cooking rut I'm in. Thank you for expressing your thoughts because I agree that too many people following a craze can lead to more harm than good.
LiveToEat at 4:33PM on 12/28/07
I face the same issues you do when it comes to fish. It can be discouraging to read this and that about fresh fish being best, but living here in the Midwest, you just have to get over it. I have found that the fresh fish that I can get at my local grocer or Sam's Club is no better in quality than what I can buy in IQF form. Living where I do, it's impossible for the fish to actually be fresh, so when I buy it at the counter, (at say, Cub Foods) it's already been frozen and then thawed for me to by "fresh" at the counter. I'm ultimately eating much fresher fish when I buy the frozen fillets, which have not been frozen prior to packaging.
I definitely don't recommend the "buy larger portions and freeze in smaller portions" simply because you'd be re-freezing and quality would suffer. That's fine advice for truly fresh fish bought at a fish market. Look for the packages of individually frozen fillets at Cub or Sam's and start there.
ErikaWaz at 4:40PM on 12/28/07
Hey LiveToEat,
I see you live in Minneapolis. I used to live in St. Paul, and as a former commercial fisherman I am picky about quality, BUT there is at least one fine option in the Twin Cities: Coastal Seafood. They have very good quality fish, as do many of the Asian markets. Only caveat with the Asian markets is that you must be able to spot a good fish from one that is a little off - they will often have them side by side. You'll see a gorgeous walleye next to a crappy-looking trout or some such.
Try Coastal seafood, and start buying fresh Midwestern fish, such as walleye, perch, Great Lakes trout and salmon, sturgeon, crappie, etc. If you can't find them, follow the advice others have mentioned here, which is buy high-quality frozen fish that was flash-frozen onboard ship. It is WAAAY better quality than a "fresh" version shipped from, say, Hawai'i to Minnie-Noplace.
Good luck!
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 12:26PM on 12/29/07
In response to the farming practices issue: Some stores sell fish that's been ethically farmed. Here's some information about that from the Whole Foods website.
I recently made a pasta bake (a casserole) that included a can of salmon. I'm not a fan of canned salmon, but it was tasty as part of a dish that was flavored with other ingredients. I made it on a Sunday to give me a week's worth of lunches. Refrigerated in portions it's a quick, easy lunch. Just grab and go in the morning when your brain isn't completely awake. The one I made had lots of cheese in it and was best reheated in the microwave.
Many types of fish do not taste good reheated but do taste good cold or at room temperature, or just slightly warmed in the microwave. If you choose to warm slightly, be careful with thinner fish. They can turn rubbery and inedible in the microwave.
I like to sometimes slice or flake cooked tuna steaks onto a salad. Works well for tuna steak leftovers too. You could experiment with different types of fish.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 10:35AM on 12/31/07