Grilled fish
Over 2 weeks have past since I last went to the Japanese grocery store since I try to stay home as much as possible and buy ingredients from the closest grocery store. But I couldn’t last any longer so I decided to take a bike ride to the Japanese market.
We’ve been eating a lot of vegetables, fruits, meat and carbs but not fish and seafood during this shelter-in-place order. We usually eat fish almost every day or at least 4 times a week, so I was craving to eat seafood. At the store they had mackerel so I decided to cook it for dinner tonight.
There are lot of different way to cook fish but i think the best way is grilled fish with only salt. Grilling fish sounds easy. And yes, it is easy. But in order to cook perfectly seasoned fish, with the skin nicely crunchy, while not over or under cooking it, you should keep several things in mind. I’m going to show you how I grill fish step by step.
Remove excess water from fish. Fish contains a lot of water. If you cook with the water as-is, it makes the fish taste watery and fishy. Removing excess water around the fish and inside of the fish is the first step.
Wipe off water around fish with a paper towel. Sprinkle the right amount of salt on the surface of the fish, mostly on the meat side. (See the next step for the right amount of salt) Leave on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. (If you don’t have time, 10 minutes is fine) You’ll see the fish is sweating. Wipe off excess water with a paper towel and start grilling. The salt brings water out from the inside of the meat. This process removes the excess water and concentrates the fish fat and umami in the meat.Right amount of salt. The right amount of salt is essential for any kind of cooking. Many people under salt fish, because they don’t take into account the loss of salt and water from the fish while cooking. I usually use 1% the fish’s weight in salt for a fillet of fish. (If the fish has a big bone, add less than 1%)
Cooking temperature. High temperature but not too close to the heat. If you cook fish with low temperature and slowly, it makes it taste fishy. If you cook with high heat and close to the heat, you will burn it before you cook through. I usually use the oven heated on high broil and place the oven rack second from the top. (See pictures above)
Cooking pan. I usually use an oven tray with a rack. While cooking fish, you’ll see a lot of water will come out. If you have space in between the fish and tray, the fish doesn’t touch the drippings and so it doesn’t become watery. If you cover the rack with aluminium foil and throw it away after use, you don’t have to scrub it clean later. (See pictures above)
Cooking time. It varies depending on the thickness of the fish, if the fish contains big bones or not, and how much you cook at the same time. If you cook 2 pieces of mackerel like the pictures shown above, around 1/2 inches thick, it takes about 6 minutes on one side and another 5 minutes in my oven (electric). It’s always good to check the color of the fish. If the color turns to golden brown, it’s ready. I usually grill skin side down first, and then flip and cook the skin side up because the heat comes from the top. The fish will get just the right crispiness if you cook the skin side at the end.