# Buying / Cooking / Eating  Fish



## Airtight (19 Apr 2009)

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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## meatmonger (19 Apr 2009)

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.


 
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


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## sandrat (19 Apr 2009)

any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?


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## meatmonger (19 Apr 2009)

sandrat said:


> any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?


 
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.


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## Airtight (19 Apr 2009)

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?


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## meatmonger (20 Apr 2009)

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.


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## Caveat (20 Apr 2009)

sandrat said:


> any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?


 
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.


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## dereko1969 (20 Apr 2009)

bord iascaigh mhara have some recipes and lots of information on their website, see here
[broken link removed]


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## meatmonger (20 Apr 2009)

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


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## Caveat (20 Apr 2009)

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.


 
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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## meatmonger (20 Apr 2009)

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!


 

and 99.9% of our megrim goes to spain.  leaves our fishing ports and lands in spanish markets next day.  gorgeous fish.


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## picassoman (20 Apr 2009)

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


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## meatmonger (20 Apr 2009)

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


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## baldyman27 (20 Apr 2009)

sandrat said:


> any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?


 
Pinch your nose.

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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## Guest128 (20 Apr 2009)

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.



Really? I find monkfish quite tasteless compared with sea bass and hake. Also its fairly expensive....


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## baldyman27 (20 Apr 2009)

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.


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## meatmonger (20 Apr 2009)

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.


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## Caveat (21 Apr 2009)

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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## mathepac (21 Apr 2009)

Caveat said:


> ... Also, if you know of any other fish little known here but widely eaten in Spain or France I'd love to know!!



Pike - regarded as a delicacy in France / Northern Spain, never eaten here. Some year I must start that hugely lucrative business of exporting 3 and 4 lb pike to France... 

Coincidentally, our buddy, AA Gill from last Sunday - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/li..._drink/eating_out/a_a_gill/article6090607.ece


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## mathepac (21 Apr 2009)

(sorry)


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## samanthajane (21 Apr 2009)

meatmonger said:


> (avoid supermarket vac packed and farmed fish (all salmon, sea bass & sea bream)


 
Is this because you feel they arn't good value or that tasty or is their some other horrible reason why. 

I like fish and have been trying to eat more cause it's so good for you, but i would never be able to get a whole fish and cut it up. I cant even walk past the fish counter without freaking out. Alive fish i have no problem with, it's just when they are dead, the head and those beadie little eyes that seem to follow you, the tail and the scales......makes me squirm!!!

I got 2 salmon fillets the other day from the supermarket and i thought they were ok. Dropped one on the floor when i went to take it out of the packet cause i didn't think the scales would still be on them. ( dont worry gave that one to the bf lol ) 

Never even heard of a lot of the fish people have mentioned, but a few of them sound really nice, usually all i eat is the frozen fish, or tuna. 

If i phoned a fish monger would they be able to fillet all the fish for me? and i'd get the bf to pick it up? Or would it not be worth their while to do all of that?


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## meatmonger (21 Apr 2009)

Caveat said:


> 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!!


 
Gurnard is a by-catch, so if a boat lands about 300 hundred boxes of fish, 3-6 might be boxes of gurnard (depending on where boat is fishing - south of dunmore east is good for the white fish, west towards Rockall is the best for prime / varieties).  Up to a year ago, gurnard was sold as lobster bait.  Now there is slightly improved demand, but its still cheap.  Good fresh fishmongers will have it if you keep your eye out for it.  Needs to be big enough to make it worthwhile as it requires pin-boning after filleting (chefs don't like work like this!).  But its gorgeous.

Renaming pollock is senseless.  Although BIM have the idea of renaming Megrim as Rockall Sole which i am in agreement with (not sure what it is in spain sorry).  Megrim is not a bargan as the spanish love it.

will be down at the pier on thursday am and find out the other varieties that go to spain.  there are several.


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## meatmonger (21 Apr 2009)

samanthajane said:


> Is this because you feel they arn't good value or that tasty or is their some other horrible reason why.
> 
> 
> If i phoned a fish monger would they be able to fillet all the fish for me? and i'd get the bf to pick it up? Or would it not be worth their while to do all of that?


 
farmed salmon is a start and good intro to fish.  but there are questions over nutriants as compared with wild fish.  Problem is there is half decent farmed salmon, and terrible farmed salmon and very little to tell the difference.

wild fish are tastier and a goodfishmonger will fillet there and then or over the phone.


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## Welfarite (21 Apr 2009)

meatmonger said:


> wild fish are tastier and a goodfishmonger will fillet there and then or over the phone.


 

so how do you fillet a fish over the phone then?


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## Vanilla (21 Apr 2009)

We would be fairly frequent fish eaters in our house, eating fish probably three out of seven nights in the week ( or more depending on circumstances). The variety available in Ireland is so poor compared to France- when you go over and back on the Ferry you see the Artic Lorries going over with fresh fish, it's really incredible how much we export. We were just over in France for 10 days a few weeks ago and ate fish every day- the supermarket fish counter would be bigger than the meat counter here. Although fresh is best we would buy quite a bit of frozen fish for the freezer, making middle of the week cooking easy. Aldi are good for value on frozen fish. I find it's easier to buy frozen prawns, crab claws, wild salmon and white fillets than to find really good fresh stock. And speaking of stock, has anyone ever tried to find fish stock in Ireland? Very difficult! Although we are big fish lovers I don't like monkfish at all. Wouldnt recommend it to someone a bit iffy about fish! Maybe just a personal thing.


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## Caveat (21 Apr 2009)

Thanks for the info meatmonger.

@mathepac - yeah, I'd forgotten about pike - renowned for being easy to catch here too, even by amateurs I hear?  Might just take the oul fishing up if pike is that good!

...mind you...the French? sure they'd eat anything


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## Firefly (21 Apr 2009)

Hi Meatmonger. As the gurnard are small fish, would fish mongers be happy to fillet these normally? Also, how many fillets would make a main course?
Thanks for the info. As Vanilla mentioned, it's a pity we don't have the same selection of fish in our super markets as the French do, but maybe if we ate more of what was available the selection might improve - kind of catch 22


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## Caveat (21 Apr 2009)

What's the crack with _Grouper_ meatmonger?

Never seen it for sale or in restaurants here but it's fairly common in the Canaries. I loved it, but it is pretty ugly which is possibly another reason why it mightn't be popular here - my impression is that Spanish/Canarian restaurants and diners are far less precious about presentation than we are.

_Angler fish_ is common there too - nice enough, but big boned and not much meat - reminded me of shark.


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## Vanilla (21 Apr 2009)

Mackerel is lovely on the barbeque with a bit of mustard for days like this. At least it's easy enough to buy here! Also full of those fish oils that are supposed to be good for you.


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## Firefly (22 Apr 2009)

Nothing like very fresh mackerel, we used to sail a bit when we were younger and would drop a line outside. By the time we'd get across to where we were going (30 mins only) we'd have lunch. Gutting thte fish on the back of the boat and throwing mackerel heads to the gulls brings back very fond memories


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## Guest128 (22 Apr 2009)

Firefly said:


> but maybe if we ate more of what was available the selection might improve - kind of catch 22



No pun intended i assume


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## Guest128 (22 Apr 2009)

Caveat said:


> What's the crack with _Grouper_ meatmonger?
> 
> Never seen it for sale or in restaurants here but it's fairly common in the Canaries. I loved it, but it is pretty ugly which is possibly another reason why it mightn't be popular here - my impression is that Spanish/Canarian restaurants and diners are far less precious about presentation than we are.
> 
> _Angler fish_ is common there too - nice enough, but big boned and not much meat - reminded me of shark.




Grouper is well tasty alright....I had it in Mexico last year, never even heard of it before! Also red snapper is pretty tasty though I lament a lack of fish knowledge as I do like fish and try to have it at least once a week...


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## meatmonger (22 Apr 2009)

Firefly said:


> Hi Meatmonger. As the gurnard are small fish, would fish mongers be happy to fillet these normally? Also, how many fillets would make a main course?
> Thanks for the info. As Vanilla mentioned, it's a pity we don't have the same selection of fish in our super markets as the French do, but maybe if we ate more of what was available the selection might improve - kind of catch 22


 
filleting a gurnard (and most fish) takes juts a couple of minutes even for someone not used to it.  Pin-boning (set of tweezers, just rub your figers over fillet under you hit the bones, then pluck out) takes 10mins per fish (novice time).  a v big one will give you two fillets, one each ebing enough.  Medium size ones you might need a fillet and a half to keep you going.

far as i know. Grouper and Red Snapper are warmer water fish.

Mackerel is briliant.  nothing like dropping a line with several hooks and catching a bucket load for the craic and cooking on barbie.

The general rule in ireland is that demand is needed to create markets, otherwise the fish goes off.  but fish sales have rocketed in last 18 months and now more interest in different types.  Supermarkets are taking it more seriously, good fishmongers are hard to find.


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## mathepac (22 Apr 2009)

meatmonger said:


> ... Mackerel is briliant.  nothing like dropping a line with several hooks and catching a bucket load ...


Ah yes, the lemmings of the fish world.


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## Bronte (22 Apr 2009)

sandrat said:


> any ideas for someone who hates fish but wants to eat more?


 
Try starting with making say salmon or crab fishcakes but using a lot of breadcrumbs or potatoes to start with so you gradually get used to the taste of fish.  Helps with starting off children on fish as well.  Another way is having fish pie that has a lot of cheese/potatoes.  Or try this really easy receipe, cod, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, couple of slices of lemon, parsley, drop of olive oil wrapped up in tin foil and baked in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Samanthajane that's very funny you droppng the salmon steaks to the ground because of the scales............


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## samanthajane (22 Apr 2009)

Yeah dont think the bf would laugh if he knew he got the dropped one lol. 

If i had known that they were there i wouldn't of even picked them up from the supermarket, it was just the shock of feeling the scales when i was taking them from the packaging to put them in the tin foil and cook them. 

I dont even know where the fear/hate what ever it is has comes from. I wont even walk past the fish counter where the whole ones are i'll go back down and walk around. It's weird i know. 

I haven't phoned anyone yet but god knows what there going to think when i ring one and ask them to get rid of the head, tail and scales for me and then the bf will be in to pick them up.......poor lad will think i'm a right freak lol (mmmm maybe i am )


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## Firefly (22 Apr 2009)

FLANDERS` said:


> No pun intended i assume


 
Yeah, sorry about that, that one was right off the scales


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## mercury16 (10 Aug 2009)

Hi All,
       Was wondering if it was possible to buy fish cheaper from the boats etc on the piers???? heard that the markup on fish from the boat to the shop is 3x, 4x 5x times what the fishermen get for it... so it is possible to buy from fishermen direct??? where and what's the best time????

I am living around dublin, but am around Dunmore East a lot too???

Thanks !

M.


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