Fish is not meat, but it doesn’t matter. It also requires a special approach, although it is prepared much faster and easier. Particular attention is paid to spices. They should emphasize the taste, but not interrupt it. Far from all kinds you can season fish dishes. What can and should be added to them?
River fish
River fish have a weak taste and aroma; it is important to strengthen and emphasize it. Types of spices and their quantity directly depends on the method of preparation. They practically have nothing to do with fish species. Zander, catfish, carp, common carp and crucian carp can be cooked under the same seasoning. Moreover, sometimes in the dishes at the same time combine different fish, which is also not prohibited.
Spices for frying fish
Frying is the most popular way to cook river fish. It is made in a pan, barbecue, grill. In any case, the product has a pleasant taste. When frying in oil, it is also saturated with fat, which is not very small in river fish. It is with this cooking method that many spices are not needed. A beautiful and crispy crust compensates for the missing taste.
How to season fish for frying:
- pepper;
- salt;
- coriander;
- thyme;
- turmeric.
With these seasonings, you can grate pieces, leave to pickle or immediately send to the pan. Before frying, the fish is often breaded in flour, semolina, and breadcrumbs. In this case, spices can be added to the dry base.
Spices for cooking fish, soups
When cooking, the taste of river fish is lost. It is for this reason that it is customary for soups and aspic to cook a broth from illiquid parts. They use heads, tails, fins in large quantities, then filter and already cook the fish directly.
What to add when cooking fish:
- onions, carrots;
- laurel;
- Dill seeds;
- peppercorns;
- celery.
If you do not plan to use the broth, you only need tasty fish, for example, for appetizers or salads, then you can add a lot of spices during cooking, and use a little water so that it barely covers the pieces.
Helpful advice! Boiled fish will be much tastier if it is cooled in the broth. And so that the pieces do not fall apart when slicing, you need to cool it well, you can hold it a little in the freezer.
Spices for salting fish
River fish can also be salted, but in this case other spices will be required. It is also salted before smoking. Seasonings can be added by boiling the brine or pour pieces of fish, then add the liquid. With dry salting, the spices are mixed with salt, sugar, it all depends on the recipe.
What to add when salting:
- umbrellas or dill seeds;
- laurel;
- peppercorns;
- mustard seeds;
- tarragon.
You can additionally cut the onion to the fish, put the root of celery, parsley or ginger. They definitely won’t spoil the snack.
Helpful advice! If the fish has an unpleasant smell of tina, you can soak it with a lemon peel or add lemon to the marinade.
Spices for Baked Fish
When baking fish, as well as when frying, you do not need to add a large number of spices, since they will settle on the crust. Usually seasonings are added to mayonnaise, sour cream, butter or sauce, which wipe the product.
How to season fish before cooking in the oven:
- salt pepper;
- marjoram;
- oregano;
- turmeric;
- coriander.
It is undesirable to use more than three types of spices at the same time. The addition of onions and carrots is welcome. They can be put inside the carcass or under the fish, then it just does not stick and does not burn.
Sea fish
Sea fish have a finer and lighter aroma, it does not smell of mud, does not require masking, spices should only emphasize the taste. No coriander, caraway seeds, cardamom. These spices only spoil the dish. Sometimes enough vegetables (onions, carrots), black pepper, salt.
How to season sea fish:
- When frying. Ground pepper mixture, lemon juice, nutmeg. In the finished fish or in the sauce for it, you can add a little oregano, ginger.
- When cooking. Vegetables, roots, peppercorns, laurel, dill seeds, umbrellas.
- Baked sea fish. It can be seasoned with sweet paprika, basil, fennel. You can put a sprig of rosemary under it, but in a ground form, you should not add it.
- Salting sea fish. It is better to give preference to classics: salt, pepper, peas, laurel. If you want to add a twist, a sprig of tarragon and rosemary will help.
If you need to cook delicious sea fish, it is better to use vegetables than spicy and bright spices. They spoil both the product itself and the broth, drown out the delicate and light aroma.
What you can not refuel fish
There are seasonings that are better not to add to the fish. Some spoil the view, others taste, others change the smell or give bitterness. They can be found in ready-made spice mixtures for fish, but usually in small quantities and as an additional ingredient.
What is not worth adding:
- Dill. When cooking and stewing, it spoils the taste of fish, gives an ugly color, when frying and cooking in the oven it burns, forms tan marks. But you can use fresh herbs when serving dishes. A few branches in a plate will not hurt.
- Chilli. It can only be used in Korean-style cold snacks. A striking example is the fish "He". When cooking and stewing, hot pepper is undesirable; it will clog the taste of the broth.
- Sage. You can add it to cold sauces with fish, but in no case to soups and stews. They will have an unpleasant bitterness.
- Rosemary. It is not added to the ear and fish soups, aspic. This spice gives too brilliant aroma to the broth. But it can be used for salting and cooking in the oven whole branches.
Citruses - a win-win
Professional chefs even have a saying: "If you do not know what to season fish with, lemon fields." And this is actually so.
Citruses can replace all spices except salt. They perfectly emphasize the taste of river and sea fish.
You can pour juice over the finished dish, add slices in the process, or use for decoration.
By the way, instead of citrus, you can use only zest. She will give the necessary aroma. You can grate a small amount in sour cream, mayonnaise, add salt and grease the carcasses before sending to the oven. Zest and juice of orange and lemon participate in sauces when serving fish to the table. Slices of lemons and oranges look gorgeous in aspic, add brightness and originality to the dish.
