How to cook corvina fish

Corvina is a white firm fish similar to sea bass. It has a mild, sweet taste with firm, large flaked flesh. Pinkish when raw, but cooks up white. Although it is considered a versatile fish, ceviche is a popular recipe for this species.

Corvina is a generic name for a large variety of fish found all around the world. Corvina has a mild, sweet taste with firm, large flaked flesh which is pinkish when raw but cooks up white. The flesh resembles Snapper. In South America Corvina is regarded as a prime table fish and is very popular for ceviche.

Thin, white fish, such as tilapia, sole, and haddock, yield equally good results when cooked directly from frozen. Firmer fish and thicker fillets like salmon, halibut and cod also cook well from frozen when properly thawed.

The 10 Minute Rule.

Here’s a foolproof method of cooking perfect fish every time: the 10 Minute Rule: Cook your fish at 10 minutes per inch of thickness. And that’s it. This works whether you’re grilling, broiling, steaming, frying or baking your fish.

Seasoning the fish too soon before cooking.

Seasoning the fish with salt and pepper before cooking is a must for great flavor, but just as important is when you season. When seasoned too soon before cooking, the salt will start to break down the proteins in the salmon and draw moisture out of the fish.

Place the fish flesh side down in the pan. You want to cook the “presentation” side of the fish first. For most fillets, this generally means you want to show the diner the non-skin side. Of course, a lot of fillets in today’s market come with the skin off, in which case it wouldn’t matter which side you cook first.

Taking Off the Skin

So when you’re cooking salmon, keep that skin on: It provides a safety layer between your fish’s flesh and a hot pan or grill. Start with the skin-side down, and let it crisp up. It’s much easier to slide a fish spatula under the salmon’s skin than under its delicate flesh.

The key to frying a fresh fillet of fish is the temperature of the oil. In my kitchen test, both the corn meal and flour came out perfect although the cornmeal tended to be more uniformly golden across the fillet.

The trick to getting it right is the consistency of the batter. If your fish batter is not crispy enough when cooked try thinning the batter with a little more liquid. Pre-heating the oil to the proper temperature is also very important or the fish will absorb too much of the oil while cooking.

First make sure that the skin is thoroughly dry, as excess moisture will turn into steam and soften the skin. After 15 minutes scrape away the salt and moisture and pat the fish thoroughly dry with paper towels. Dusting the fish skin with flour can also help to give a crisp finish.

The flesh of a fresh fish fillet (say that five times fast) holds a lot of moisture. And moisture is actually the reason that both the flesh and skin stick to the pans or grills they are cooked in.

The best way to tell if your fish is done is by testing it with a fork at an angle, at the thickest point, and twist gently. The fish will flake easily when it’s done and it will lose its translucent or raw appearance.

Points to remember when cooking fish

Any harmful bacteria will be on the outside of the fish, and not in the middle. So, you can cook whole fish to preference or pink in the middle, as long as the outside is fully cooked. This is because they can contain harmful bacteria throughout.

Fish that seems tough when you bite into it is probably overcooked. As it moves from done to “overdone,” the flesh continues to firm then shrinks, pushing out moisture, which evaporates and leaves the fish dry and chewy. Fresh fish needs little embellishment, for its flavor is as fragile as its flesh.