Can anyone help me like fish?

Thumpette

Hi All,

I love the thought of eating fish for the healthiness of it (potentially) and also the huge variety of it you can get. My boyfriend loves Tuna and Salmon and Cod especially but he's never allowed to eat it as I have a real mental block where fish is concerned. I think its the way they sell it with the little beedy eyes looking at you- and also the smell!

I would love to slowly get myself comfortable with eating fish though.

Would anyone have any suggestions of a good 'starter' fish meal to get me into fish.....

Thanks

CJhaughey

How about a fish pie? You could start off with very little fish and progress up to a point where you have a lot in it.
Try whiting fillets, they are pretty inoffensive, and always always make sure the fish is fresh.
Fresh fish doesn't smell, as fish ages they smell more.
Worth taking a trip to a good fish shop IMO.

antoniosicily

fresh fish doesn't smell :-)

I'd suggest you to go to a place/restaurant where fish is cooked well and enjoy the dish; for example if you're going outside ireland there are many contries with a long tradition of fish cooking (Spain, Italy, Greece, etc), so if you're going there you can enjoy wonderful dishes.

In Dublin I've found only a few places, probably a Japananese restaurant (Yamamori) is a really difficult place to start, you could try with Salamanca and get some fish dishes, or try to cook it by yourself, or have a friend who's good in cooking it :-)

Remember, when you go outside, never it fish on Sundays and Mondays, the last day when the fish is fished is Friday evening, so eating fish on those days will give you only stale fish (even if many people are not able to figure that out).

Before going outside you could get a little practice with the fish itself, go to your local fishmongers (there are 6-7 in Dublin) and buy a fresh fish, there are some criteria to understand if a fish is fresh, try to apply it. Then go to your kitchen and touch it, cut it, see how wonderful it is and then cook it and enjoy it.

In terms of recipe, I won't go to fish pies or fish soups, I would suggest something which will give you a clear taste of fish, you can also try to do some fish sauce and add it to the pasta, remember that it's difficult to cook fish because it has to be fresh and it is a very delicate thing and many times you risk to overcook it.

And remember, use only fresh fish!!!

kittenkiller

Find a flavour you really like and try to encorporate the fish with it.

I love a nice piece of salmon baked with soy sauce, chilli, garlic, sugar, lime (whatever's around) served over noodles.
Pop the fish on a sheet of tin foil, mix your marinade, pour over the fish and wrap in the foil.
As the oven preheats, let the fish marinade and then pop in the oven for 15-20 mins depending on the thickness of the fish.

Dunnes have a fairly decent offer on pre-packaged salmon steaks at the moment and you hardly have to handle the fish itself due to the packaging.

tscul32

My husband never ate fish when I met him. In recent years, especially since the smallies have come along he's made more of an effort, tries off my plate, tries it incorporated into sauces, etc.
At present he loves monkfish (very meaty), cod, haddock, had whiting yesterday for the first time, canned tuna (in a bolognese type sauce). He never took to prawns but once I convinced him they weren't all rubbery he's given them more credit and he actually made a sweet and sour prawn dish the other night. The big one left is salmon. Myself and kids love it but not husband. BUT, I did a thai chilli salmon dish once and he said he could eat it, wouldn't opt for it, but because of all the chilli he could get used to it slowly. And hasn't turned his nose up at cooked smoked salmon or bbq salmon completely.
Very first thing he tried was breaded monkfish goujons in a restaurant. That was the beginning for him.
Dunnes do breaded haddock fillets which are actually quite nice, lovely with chips and beans for a comfort meal. My sister in law is another non fish eater but she has recently started on breaded cod/haddock too, again because she wants her baby girl to eat it too (she shares with her dad at the moment). M&S do a lovely breaded cod.
Just make sure that you get top quality first time you try it cos you'll never try it again if you get a bad bit on your first go.

You won't regret it.

joolsveer

I have always hated fish since the time I was made to eat it at home every Wednesday and Friday (something to do with the Catholic Church). Out of eight kids at home I am the only one who doesn't eat fish. My wife and daughter like fish but since I do most of the cooking at home I don't cook fish for them because I can't stand the smell or taste of it. I now find that I have high cholesterol and the doctor says that I should cut back on the meat and start eating fish.

Like the OP I would like a painless way of easing myself into trying some fish dishes.

Sparks

I've got one single word from one fish-hater to another:
Sushi.

Seriously. The stuff's addictive.


If you have to go the more traditional route though, use fish you get steaks from (tuna, swordfish) as their taste and texture is closer to meat and thus easier to get into. Just be sure if you get tuna to cook it right - ie. the same way you'd cook fillet steak: hot pan, seared all round, still medium rare in the middle. None of this cook-it-till-it-falls-apart nonsense. This is tuna, not catfood!

Faith

I'd start off with inoffensive white fish, like lemon sole, monkfish, haddock, etc. I used hate fish but now I love it after starting to eat fish like that. I still don't like it if it tastes too strong though, so I stick to safe white fish mostly.

bullpost

If you like spicy food indian fish curries are easy to make and delicious.

Monkfish , cooked with a chilli butter sauce is also delicious.

I like fish but find a lot of varieties can be bland unless cooked in an interesting sauce.

Owen

Until very recently, I couldn't stand fish - and this 'if the fish is fresh, there's no smell', yes, yes there is. I've recently started eating bit of fish - but nothing crazy, I've had Donegal Catch Cod in breadcrumbs - which was fine, but I got a chance recently to have a swordfish which tasted a lot like chicken. Similarly, I got monkfish too recently, and that didn't taste at all fishy.

Sparks

ned78 wrote: »

Until very recently, I couldn't stand fish - and this 'if the fish is fresh, there's no smell', yes, yes there is.

No, seriously, if it's fresh, a fillet has very, very, very little smell. I usually can't smell it at all. If there's any smell, it's not fresh.

antoniosicily

I'd suggest to buy fish from your local fishmongers, stop buying from big grocery stores where the quality is not the first thing considered and *ABOVE ALL*, stop buying frozen fish!

Thumpette

Thanks for all the advise. I live near to Howth, so no bother in getting nice fresh fish. I went into Beshoffs for a wander a couple of weeks ago and loved the thought of all the variety and choice but i was totally overwhelmed at the thought of all the gutting and boning and skinning- eek.

Would a fishmonger do that for you- or is that asking a bit much?

I totally agree that getting a nice inoffensive but well prepared piece of fish in a good resteraunt id probably the way to go, but I always wuss out at the last moment when trying this. In the 'current economic climate' i dont et to go to resteaunts that much and when i do the temptation towards a nice meaty dish is always a bit of a draw!

Anyway I'm finally gonna try to take my first steps into this new fishy world very soon!

rocknchef

start of with fish fingers or donegal catch and swim your way up stream from there:D

antoniosicily

Thumpette wrote: »

Thanks for all the advise. I live near to Howth, so no bother in getting nice fresh fish. I went into Beshoffs for a wander a couple of weeks ago and loved the thought of all the variety and choice but i was totally overwhelmed at the thought of all the gutting and boning and skinning- eek.

Would a fishmonger do that for you- or is that asking a bit much?

A seabass is just 4 euro, you can even buy seabass fillets or ask your fishmongers to fillet the fish, it's a simple operation which will take around a minute per fish :-)

Carawaystick

Thumpette wrote: »

Thanks for all the advise. I live near to Howth, so no bother in getting nice fresh fish. I went into Beshoffs for a wander a couple of weeks ago and loved the thought of all the variety and choice but i was totally overwhelmed at the thought of all the gutting and boning and skinning- eek.

Would a fishmonger do that for you- or is that asking a bit much?

go further down the pier, the fish is the same only cheaper.


of course a fishmonger'd fillet the fish for you, you'ld very rarely get offered an uncleaned fish anyway, but they wouldn't always be scaled.

If you ask for a fillet, it only needs to be fried on a pan and eaten.