Should You Cut An Uneven Piece Of Fish For Even Cooking?

Preparing a fish filet can be intimidating, but it doesn't need to be. In an exclusive interview for The Takeout, Australian cookbook author and gourmet food tour guide Roberta Muir shares her best tips for preparing fish at home. Muir spent more than 20 years running the Sydney Seafood School at the Sydney Fish Market, so she's an expert on cooking everything from cephalopods to crustaceans, and of course, fish. 

Although chefs often trim filets for presentation, Muir recommends cooking the entire piece of fish. She notes that cutting off thinner bits of fish is "wasteful unless the trimmings are going into another dish such as a fish cake or soup, as will usually happen in a commercial kitchen." At home, where presentation is not so important, you want to get the most out of your cut. The only exception is extremely thin or ragged edges, which make a great treat for pets. If one side of a filet is noticeably thicker than the other, Muir does not recommend butterflying the fish and instead advises home cooks to cut the thicker side in half horizontally to create a more even size. 

Roberta Muir notes that the most important part of evenly cooking a fish filet is to remember that the flesh burns easily. After seasoning the filet with your favorite spices, Muir advises you to cook it with the skin on (you can remove it later). Not only does the skin protect the filet from burning, but it also contains nutritious oils and helps lock in moisture. Muir cooks filets skin-side down for around ¾ of the allotted cooking time. During the last one to two minutes, she flips them over (using a fish spatula), and carefully watches the pan. 

Muir reminds home cooks that fish "will continue to cook in the residual heat once it's removed from the pan. So be brave and take it off the heat before you think it's fully cooked — chances are you'll eat the thinner edges first working your way toward the center, which will be perfectly cooked by the time you get to it."