Cookery

• Seafood


  Any form of sea life regarded as food by humans
• Seafood includes


  • Fish
  • Shellfish
• Shellfish include


  • Various species of mollusk
  • Crustaceans
  • Echinoderms
• A wide variety of fish and seafood are available in the market from many different sources
• There are so many methods for cooking seafood most of them are fast and easy, making them the perfect choice for a quick and healthy meal
• Classification of seafood


  • Fin fish (fish with fins and internal skeletons)
  • Shellfish (fish with external shells but no internal structure)
• Fin fish categories


  • Saltwater fish (fish that live in ocean water)
  • Freshwater fish (fish that live in fresh water)
• Saltwater fin fish


  • Flatfish (fish with flat-shaped body)
  • Round fish (fish with cylindrical round body)
• Mollusks


  • Bivalves have a pair of hinged shells (clams, oyster)
  • Univalves (have a single shell)
  • Cephalopods (octopus, squid)
• Crustaceans


  • Shrimps
  • Crabs
• Fish


  • Made up of water, protein, fats and small amount of minerals and vitamins
  • Has very little connective tissue
  • Cooks very quickly, even at low heat
  • Naturally tender, high heat will result in toughening of protein
  • Moist-heat methods are used to preserve moistness and provide variety
  • Cooked fish must be handled very carefully
• Fat fish


  High in fat (salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel)
• Lean fish


  Low in fat (haddock, cod, red snapper, bass)
• Market forms of fish

  • Whole or round (completely intact as caught)
  • Drawn (viscera removed)
  • Dressed (viscera, scales, head, tail and fins removed)
  • Steaks (cross section slices, each containing a section of backbone)
  • Fillets (boneless side of fish, with or without skin)
  • Butterflied fillets (both sides of a fish still joined but with bones removed)
  • Sticks or tranches (cross section slices of fillets)
• Mollusks


  • Have rough, irregular shells
  • Flesh of oyster is extremely soft and delicate and contains high percentage of water
  • Hard-shell clams can be eaten raw
  • Soft-shell clams are called steamers, usually steamed
• Storing fresh fish


  • Store on crushed ice
  • Use drip pans to allow for drainage of melted ice
  • Change ice daily
  • Cover container or store in separate box away from other food
  • Whole fish should be drawn because entrails deteriorate rapidly
  • Cut fish should be wrapped or left in original moisture-proof wrap
  • Store in refrigerated box at 30 to 54°F (-1° to 1'C)
• Fresh fish storage time

  1 to 2 days if kept longer, wrap and freeze immediately
• Check store fish for freshness list before using
• Storing frozen fish


  • Frozen products should be frozen, not thawed when received
  • Items should be well wrapped, with no freezer burn
  • Store at 0°F (-18 F, or colder)
  • Maximum storage time: 2 months for lean fish, 6 months for fatty fish
  • Rotate stock - first in first out
• Thawing and handling of frozen fish

  1. Thaw in refrigerator, never at room temperature

  2. Thaw in original moisture-proof wrapper and then under cold running water

  3. Small pieces like fillets and steaks can be cooked from frozen state to prevent excessive drip loss

  4. Large fish should be thawed for even cooking

  5. Fillets that are to be breaded can be partially thawed
• Handle thawed fish as fresh fish. Do not refreeze
• Checking freshness of fish

  • Fresh and mild odor
  • Eyes are clear, shiny and bulging
  • Gills are red or pink
  • Texture of flesh is firm
• Checking freshness of shellfish

  • Shiny shell, and tightly closed
  • Oysters, clams, mussels in the shell must be alive - Tightly closed, shells spring back when jostled
  • Live or shucked oysters must have a very mild, sweet smell
  • Discard any mussel that are very light in weight or seem to be hollow
  • Strong fishy odor or brownish color is a sign of age or spoilage
  • Live lobster must be alive when cooked, meat will be firm and the tail springs back when straightened
  • Frozen shrimp should be solidly frozen when received, glazed shrimp should be shiny with no freezer burn
  • All shrimp should smell fresh and sweet, a strong fishy or loading smell indicates age or spoilage
  • Live crabs should be kept alive until cooked
• Characteristics of different types of seafood

  • Mussels have thinner shells than clams, yellow to orange in color and firm but tender when cooked
  • Scallops are creamy white in color and have a sweet flavor
  • Squid is somewhat chewy and should be cooked quickly
  • Lobster shell is dark green or bluish green but turns red when cooked
• Market forms of seafood

  • Mollusks: live in the shell, shucked, fresh or frozen, canned
  • Crustaceans: live, cooked meat, fresh or frozen
• Storing shellfish

  • Mussels: keep refrigerated (32°F to 35°F/0° to 2°C), store in original sack and keep sack damp
  • Scallops: keep covered and refrigerated (30°F to 34°F), do not let them rest directly on ice
  • Lobster: live lobster can be kept packed in moist seaweed or in saltwater, cooked lobster meat must be covered and refrigerated at 30° to 34°F and used within 1-2 days
  • Shrimp: peeled shrimp should be wrapped before placing on ice, shrimp served hot must be peeled and deveined before cooking, shrimp to be served cold must be peeled after cooking
  • Crabmeat: frozen crabmeat is very perishable when thawed and must be treated like any other frozen fish
• Breaded, battered and other frozen prepared fish items are mostly cooked from frozen state