Taking Care of Your Fish Out of Water
Written by Eric Keener
I hope you’re hungry for more fish, food and adventure! We certainly are! Let’s assume you’ve already read through the article on how to dispatch your fish and care for it while diving (if not, you should… don’t worry, I’ll wait for you). We’re going to spend some time on how to take care of your fish post dive and pre-meal.
Sometimes, fresh ain’t fresh
Did you know fresh water has a negative affect on fish meat? One of the most common mistakes I see fishermen and spearos make is cleaning their fish with tap water from the sink or hose. Tap water breaks down the meat faster and allows rapid bacteria growth which spoils the meat sooner. It is best to develop a routine:
Keep your fish from touching as little as possible that could contaminate it
Keep it as cold as possible without freezing it
Keep it dry as possible
Keep It Cold and Clean
Typically, I keep my fish whole until I get home. Once out of the ocean, you want to get them in a cooler as fast as possible. Being that you’re likely using ice in the cooler, toss your fish in a thick plastic bag before burying it in the ice. One of the quickest ways to ruin fish (much more so than other meats) is to let it get warm. I also keep a 5 gallon jug in my car to fill with ocean water to use during the cleaning routine. Once you’re home, you’ll want to process the fish as soon and fast as possible. You’ll notice that having the fish on ice, along with the effect of disambiguation (Rigor Mortis), will actually make filleting your fish far easier so long as they were kept relatively flat in the cooler.
Whether you plan on freezing some of the meat for later or eating it fresh, you’ll want to keep anything that touches the meat as clean as possible (cutting board, knife, hands, etc.). I even rinse my knife and cutting board every time I work on a different section of the fish to do my best to ensure I’m not getting bacteria on the meat. The goal is that you shouldn’t need to rinse your edible fish portions after processing. Keeping them clean and dry is what you aim for.
World renown chef and author of The Whole Fish Cook Book, Josh Niland, says this about the process:
“The steps to prepare fish for storage are the same whether you are receiving boxes of fish into a commercial environment or are bringing home a few fish from the market or shop. First, source fish that hasn’t been rinsed under tap water. Ideally, the last time your fish touched water was when it left the ocean. This will remain the case throughout the preparation of the fish. Fish is generally rinsed at market during the scaling and gutting process (a commercial necessity it seems, given the volumes). For this reason, I recommend scaling and gutting your own fish.”
However, if you do need to rinse them, here is where the jug of ocean water comes into play (you can also use filtered water mixed with kosher salt - don’t use tap water if you have the choice). I like to use a 5 gallon bucket and pour about a gallon of water in at a time. I use this to rinse my fillets of any scales or blood particles that may have been stuck to the various parts of the fish. Once the water gets a little dirty, pour it out and pour in another gallon of sea water. After a thorough rinse of the fillets, collars, bones and any other parts that needed to be washed off, I pat them completely dry with a towel and vacuum seal them. This ensures that they will stay the freshest, the longest. Remember when you go to thaw the fish, you’ll want to slice open the bag first or the vacuum pressure can affect the meat as it thaws. Of course, instead of vacuum sealing, you might want to dry age the fillets. If so, take a look at this guide on how to do that!
Overall, just remember to keep the fish cold and clean.
Use More Fish
Having fished for nearly 3 decades now, it has been very rare for me to see a fisherman or spearfisher harvest more than just the 2 fillets on a fish. Most other countries in the world make as much use of the fish as possible, but for some reason, we have a stigma about using offal (edible innards), eyes, skin, roe, belly meat, collars, and bones. You may have just winced at the thought of eating a breaded fish eye or roe, but if you prepare it right, they are absurdly tasty. I’m drooling while thinking about the last time I fried up some halibut roe and added it to my scrambled eggs—It’s creamy, buttery, and full of delicious flavor. Fish skin is an amazing addition to a meal; you can make chicharrons out of it like I did in this sushi recipe or scale the fish and leave it on the fillet for crispy skin like Matt Bond did here. Or you could make a very simple fish stock out of the bones, head and fins. However, like coastal or inland foraging, it is very important to make sure you know which parts are edible (e.g. cabezon roe is poisonous) and how to prepare them—so make sure to do your homework!
The lingcod featured in this article was used to make a dish inspired by Josh Niland’s “The Whole Fish Cookbook” where every single edible portion of the fish was used in one dish.
If you’d like to learn some basic fish cooking techniques, take a look at this video we did with Fin + Forage head chef, Colin Moody.
If you’re looking for recipes and food inspiration, take a look at the food page.
And remember, play with your food!