Buying / Cooking / Eating Fish

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Airtight

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I really like eating fish and wondered if anybody here could recommend a cheap source of fish in Ireland? Recipes and cooking methods would also be welcomed.
 
Airtight said:
I really like eating fish and wondered if anybody here could recommend a cheap source of fish in Ireland? Recipes and cooking methods would also be welcomed.
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Great to hear.

First thing is it has to be fresh. If you're half serious, get to know a local fish monger where you can see the fish sitting out whole. If your in dublin, beshoffs of howth is the best. There are others around the country. Its better even to buy v fresh fish and freeze it yourself for another time, if you do not live close to fishmonger.

start by ordering some cheaper (but still v tasty fish), Ling, Gurnard, Pollock etc and ask them to show you once how easy it is to fillet. (avoid supermarket vac packed and farmed fish (all salmon, sea bass & sea bream)

The buy some whole fish and fillet yourself. You can use the remaining fish for a stock, which becomes the most important base of any sauce. it really is easy then to add some things to the fish stock for basic sauce to pour over your pan-fried fillets (pan fry skin side down first for 4-6 minutes) then two minutes other side to finish (depending on thickness, v short time in oven to finish off, but this can dry the fish). Short cooking times to maintain moisture and texture.

you can add cream and chorizo sausage, fennel, herbs, fresh crab / mussels to fish stock to finish and serve with pototes and vegetables.
Whole flat fish (megrim, lemon/dover sole), a simple lemon & caper sauce over the grilled fish and you're away.

You will impress not just yourself. but depends on getting the freshest of fish

enjoy
 
sandrat said:
any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?
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buy Bridgestone Top 100 Restaurants 2009 by John McKenna, finsd a restaurant he recommends for fish and then start with meatier fish such as gurnard or monkfish.

by virture of being in this guide, it will be freshly sourced, and these are two meatier fish.
 
Thanks for the reply Meatmonger,

What is the best way of ensuring I get good value: is it to buy loads and freeze?

What are the likely prices per kg and how many grammes should be in a serving?
 
value is to be had by buying the following
(rough prices - whole fish - at fishmonger)

Ling (€4.50kg)
Gurnard (€4kg)
White Pollock (Blossom) (€4.50kg)

sure fishmonger might give you a deal when buying more.
if your up north send me a pm and i can get you sorted cheaper and fresher.
 
sandrat said:
any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?
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Yeah, fishfingers! :)

No, seriously meatmonger seems to be a mine of info. on this but I guess it depends on why you don't like fish? Personally, I love it but a few tips:

Trout - like salmon but a more subtle flavour - cheaper too. Some people who aren't mad about the relatively strong taste of salmon don't mind trout - great with mushrooms & almonds.

Hake - a bit like cod but less 'fishy' if you know what I mean....lovely texture.

Plaice? The classic 'kids fish' - probably because it's slightly sweet.
 
bord iascaigh mhara have some recipes and lots of information on their website, see here
[broken link removed]
 
with you on trout, even if that and salmon are mostly all farmed.

We export 95% of our hake to spain which is a shame, but gets a better price than trying to persude the irish form their farmed salmon.

Hake is lovely, expect to pay 7-8 per kg for size 1-2 lbs whole at fishmonger, same price for plaice, lovely too. (bigger fish get higher prices!)

fresh is the key with all
 
meatmonger said:
We export 95% of our hake to spain which is a shame, but gets a better price than trying to persude the irish form their farmed salmon.
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Wow - I had no idea - crazy.

So all that lovely Merluza that I eat when I'm in Spain is more than likely Irish!
 
Caveat said:
Wow - I had no idea - crazy.

So all that lovely Merluza that I eat when I'm in Spain is more than likely Irish!
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and 99.9% of our megrim goes to spain. leaves our fishing ports and lands in spanish markets next day. gorgeous fish.
 
Not a great lover of fish but I find Sea Bass "non" fishy and very tasty...just wrapped in tin foil with olive oil for approx 20 minutes in the over if you want a simple receipt.

-pm
 
well i am off to pick up some gurnard just out of the water today.
nice thing about fresh fish is the smell of the sea, not a fishy smell!

you might want to do a wee bit of research on that same farmed sea bass. lets just say i wouldn't eat it.

its a shame that along with cod and salmon, its about the only thing on irish restaurant menus
 
baldyman27 said:
Monkfish is a real meaty fish and has a lovely flavour. Lot of people I know who don't like fish are very impressed with monkfish.
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Really? I find monkfish quite tasteless compared with sea bass and hake. Also its fairly expensive....
 
I think it has a lovely flavour! It is expensive alright but well worth it IME. It's the subtle flavour that attracts people who normally wouldn't be too fond of fish.
 
30 years ago, local irish fishermen used to throw the monkfish and pollock back in the water as nobody eat them.

now monkfish, at least, is so popular/expensive.

gurnard is one fifth the price and even meatier / tastier.
 
Great info meatmonger.

Now I'm really getting interested - how widely avaialble is gurnard? I've certainly heard of it but I don't think I've noticed it for sale before.

Never even heard of megrim - do you happen to know what they call it in Spain? Also, if you know of any other fish little known here but widely eaten in Spain or France I'd love to know!!
 
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