Tips on steaming fish?
anyone have any tips / websites/ detailed instructions on steaming fish? i just had a magificent disaster involving attempting to steam fish.
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7 Comments:
I take a whole cleaned fish, smear the top with some Thai tom yum paste, top with ginger and cilantro, then steam in a big prepared wok. The wok has a rack set about 2 inches from the bottom and filled with water about halfway up the rack. Get a plate big enough to hold the fish and will fit in the wok without having the fish touch the lid when it's on tightly. The water should be at a light simmer. I usually start checking on it after about 15 minutes depending on how big the fish is.
Here are some tips from one of my favorite bloggers that are a bit more technical! :)
http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/07/06/chinese-steamed-fish/
Jacquie at 9:23PM on 03/27/08
Here is Delia Smith's advice:
http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/how-to/how-to-poach-and-steam-fish,30,AR.html
But for better/more targeted help, could you tell us what you did and how it went wrong?
renzata at 9:59PM on 03/27/08
Alton Brown did a show on pouch-steaming fish. Basically, you take your whole fish, put herbs in the body cavity, place them on a large piece of parchment, add some lemons and aeromatics, and fold the parchment "thusly" to make a pouch. The fish steams in the pouch. The actual recipe and pouch construction should be on the Food Network's site.
beth1 at 10:21PM on 03/27/08
I've been a fan of the oven/tinfoil pouch method for awhile. AB has a pretty good recipe that I saw on his show a couple of weeks back. It's easy, clean and the fish tastes great.
jayfallon at 12:15PM on 03/28/08
I can't vouch for this method because I'm reluctant to try it. I remember years ago, someone told me about steam cooking fish in the dishwasher. Apparently, you wrap it in foil and run the dishwasher through its cycle, without detergent, of course, and at the end of the cycle, the fish is perfectly steamed. Feeling adventurous?
1stmakearoux at 2:12PM on 03/28/08
@ Jacquie - steaming in a wok sounds like something even I couldn't mess up, too badly!
@ renzata - i did everything wrong, too bad i couldn't figure out how to put a link in my opening post -
steaming disaster
hopefully, you'll laugh.
redhead at 4:09AM on 03/29/08
@redhead--your foil packets would have worked perfectly in the oven on a baking sheet. Or for use on the grill, make packets with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil folding the edges over four times. You want moisture from your ingredients to stay inside and steam your food, not boil away and evaporate as it cooks. Your packet will get super puffy and the edges will start to unfold, but if you've assembled it right, it will stay folded until you're ready to take off the heat. For the cooking times, I would refer to AB's tutorial or any reference to cooking "en papillote."
Don't give up on cooking fish just yet. Pan searing and broiling are also super easy and tasty ways to cook fish at home.
wookie at 8:59PM on 03/30/08