Baking cooks fish quickly at a high temperature and you can bake fish fillets, steaks, whole fish, or seafood.



Baking is a very popular way of cooking fish and many fish recipes call for it to be baked in the oven. People tend to worry about their fish drying out and how to prevent that from happening. If you leave your fish in the oven for even a few minutes too long, this might mean the difference between a moist piece of fish and a slightly dried out one. When fish dries out, this means the natural fish oil has gone. You need to check the fish often when it is cooking and remember that it keeps cooking for a couple of minutes after you remove it from the oven.

Selecting and Preparing Fish for Baked Fish Recipes

When you buy a fish, check the eyes are clear, bright, and slightly protruded and the gills are pink or red. If the eyes are sunken, cloudy, or pink and the gills are gray, the fish is stale.

No matter whether you are shopping for fish for tilapia fish recipes, a spicy baked catfish dish, or something else, the same rules apply. The fresher the fish, the more successful your fish recipes will be.

You must defrost the fish well to get the best results from the fish recipes. Frozen fish is just as nutritious as fresh fish and you can keep fish frozen for up to several months. You should defrost the fish for 8 to 12 hours on one of the lowest shelves in the refrigerator.

If you need it quicker than that, you can submerge it in cold water with 3 or 4 tablespoons of salt. This takes a couple of hours. If you have defrosted fish or fresh fish in the refrigerator, use it within 24 hours for the best results.

Depending on what kind of baked fish recipe you are making, you might want to marinate the fish fillets in salt and lemon before cooking for firmer flesh, a fresh taste and to make it easier to handle. You can also soak your fish in water with vinegar before baking, to make it sweeter, more tender and hold its shape better.

Baking Your Fish

Fish contains natural oils so it is not necessary to add fat or oil before baking. These natural oils will keep the fish moist as long as you do not overcook it. To make sure the fish remains moist while cooking, you might want to top it with some thinly sliced vegetables or seasoned breadcrumbs. There are plenty of tilapia fish recipes, which use vegetables or breadcrumbs to add texture and taste. Alternatively, you can brush some oil or melted butter over the top of the fish before cooking.

When baking fish recipes, the general rule is to bake the fish for 10 minutes per inch of its thickness. Most baked fish recipes call for a temperature of 450C. You will need to turn the fish halfway through its cooking time unless it is less than an inch thick.

Cooking times also vary depending on the density of the fish. While cooking fish, tuck any thin ends underneath so it cooks evenly. The fish is done when it is opaque all the way through, when it is 145F in the center, or when you can easily flake the flesh at its thickest point with a fork.

If you want to stop fish from sticking to the pan and therefore breaking up when trying to remove it, a good tip is to place the fish on a bed of celery, onions, or both. This will also give the fish extra flavor.