(unfishy) Fish recommendations

[tele]

Looking for types of fish, specifically for my non-seafood eating wife. She tells me the other day, I want to try some fish that doesnt taste fishy. WTF? I am not sure this will turn out well, but anyway, what are some options?

[Nierman]

Halibut is a favorite. I marinade it in a little garlic/olive oil/lime overnight and grill it. Served up with a fresh mango pico and wild rice never disappoints.

Tilapia is popular mild fish, too. But if my budget allows I spring for halibut.

[Too Tall]

Good call on the Halibut.
Try her out with Talapia Tacos. The talapia are not "fishy" and take spice very well or are perfect with just salt / pepper. Build an simple taco with an fresh slaw, slice of avacado, squeeze of lime and declare victory.

[Chad]

+2 on tilapia or halibut. You really can't go wrong preparing them either.

[Dorman]

Swordfish and shark. Steak like and grill friendly.

[maunahaole]

And by all means, get something fresh. Looks like you are on the cape, so that should not be a problem. Tilapia is mild but is for the most part a junk fish that is pretty thin on nutrients. Halibut would work really well, since you could get local catch pretty easily. Mahi-mahi would work well, but you probably are not going to find a super fresh piece there.

[tele]

thanks for all the ideas, looks like a trip to market is in order. Will try the halibut first as long as it is fresh.

[bocarider]

Here is Thomas Keller's recipe for pan roasted halibut. I do this one a lot and it works really well. You get that really nice golden brown crust on the top side and the rest of the fillet is nicely cooked through. The trick to getting the crust is to just leave it alone for the time periods set forth in the instructions. Between the pan and the ambient heat in the oven, the fish cooks through and you maximize the time that the crust side is in contact with the hot metal, giving you the crust.

Squeeze a little lemon on and maybe sprinkle a little chopped thyme or italian parsley. If you have a good piece of fish, that's all you need.

2 pounds halibut fillet, cut into 12 rectangular pieces
Kosher salt
Canola oil
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel

Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let stand for 15 minutes.
Position oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Check the halibut to be sure all bones were removed. Season on both sides with salt. Add some canola oil to two large ovenproof frying pans and heat over high heat until it shimmers. (If you don’t have two pans, cook the fish in batches and transfer to a rack set over a baking sheet, then finish in the oven.) Add 6 pieces of halibut to each pan, presentation (nicer) side down, lower the heat to medium-high, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottom of the fish is golden.
Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 more minutes. Transfer the pans to the oven and cook for about 2 minutes, until just cooked through.
Remove the pans from the oven, flip the fish over, and “kiss” the second side for about 30 seconds. Transfer to a platter, and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of fleur de sel.

[maunahaole]

Good luck and give a report on the aftermath. When we first moved here, my wife would not eat fish. She has expanded her horizons somewhat and is now OK with several different kinds. Not to sushi yet, but seared ahi from a local place is good to go. If the fish stinks, don't get it - the stink comes from exposure to air, fresh should have very little aroma.

[caleb]

If the halibut doesn't work, good fresh scallops are often easy to find.

[Shoogs]

And by all means, get something fresh. Looks like you are on the cape, so that should not be a problem. Tilapia is mild but is for the most part a junk fish that is pretty thin on nutrients. Halibut would work really well, since you could get local catch pretty easily. Mahi-mahi would work well, but you probably are not going to find a super fresh piece there.

+1 to the whole post

[billrick]

If the "fishy taste" is an issue, I'd highly recommend a couple of Japanese dishes - teriyaki and misoyaki. These are very simple-to-make marinades that give meaty fish (i like salmon or cod) a great flavor and color. Fishy taste be gone!

I made a broiled misoyaki salmon tonight for dinner. My loose recipe calls for equal portions of white miso paste, sugar, and sake. For a medium sized filet tonight, I used 1/3 cup portions. Mix and marinade the fish in ziploc while at work. 9 hours later - place the marinated fish 6 inches from broiler and cook for 9 or 10 minutes. The miso slightly cures the fish and the broiler carmelizes the sugars for a nice, rich crust. We're talking real umami here.

Teriyaki is the same principal, just using a soy sauce based marinade. Make your own sauces, its super easy.

[maunahaole]

Misoyake is a great way to prepare fish.

[zetroc]

In my experience, fishy smell and taste can often be mitigated by buying fresher (and usually more expensive) fish.

[billrick]

Sometimes the fishy taste is 100% mental. My wife won't eat catfish because it quote tastes muddy. That's hard for a Southern boy like me.

On the misoyaki, i should mention that some people add grated ginger to their marinade, which will really cut out any fishy taste. Also, experiment with your sugar and miso ratios. Some misos are really sweet to begin with.

Great thread, btw. I'll be trying that halibut recipe soon.

[WadePatton]

Whilst I'm not the best person to ask about store-bought fish, I have spent much of my life collecting wild species and subduing them, mostly in a skillet.

WRT muddy flavor, never serve Spanish Mackeral when King is available (FL fish camp ~2005). And more importanly also, my heritage demands that I set the record straight wrt muddy catfish. Because I got a piece of the muddy crap as a kid and forevermore after thought that adults were stupid or without tastebuds for extolling the virtues of fried catfish.

But I wasn't raised by an outdoorsman. All I know I learned from similar aged/experience pals, read about, and/or did mydangself. Anyone who has ever gotten the damnawful muddy pieces of catfish or who wants to learn how to avoid them should tune in now because here it comes.

The muddy tasting flesh is everything that touches the digestive tract on a Channel or Blue Catfish (freshwater yo). Extensive, repeated testing has confirmed this for me. First I learned to associate the muddiness with only Blues and Channels, because it simply doesn't exist on Yellow/Flathead cats.

AT ALL--mof the belly is the best "cut" of the big square-tailed uglies. I don't give this info to those who fish where I do. Flatheads also don't feed on funky baits. You'll only catch them with fresh cut or live bait-what they eat. They're a top-tier predator of the river. I found a mouse in the belly of a Channel once.

If you want to eliminate the chance of possibility of funky-meat from the Blue and Channel, clean as I do: take the tail and "shoulders". I make a diagonal cut from near the dorsal to BEHIND the vent. That's the tail, fillet or skin. Then I take the rest _above_ the lateral line--nothing touching ribs/digestive system lining. NOTHING. From habit I also sniff the flesh as I make the cuts, but it works as stated without sniffing.

SALTWATER catfish: Gafftopsail Cat, Hardhead Cat. Sailcat is slimy as hell, but reportedly good. Hardhead is what I fed 9 folks tonight-to great reviews and most of the reviewers are juveniles of the female species (tend to pick).

BACK TO the OP: If you can get some freshwater stuff, try to get Crappie or Sauger/Walleye. Crappie is the most delicate/non-fishy of all species I've encountered. Sauger/Walleye have a distinctive flavor, but it's not fishy at all. Both are light flaky and white fleshed.

Yeah, I'm fishing-caught a ride to the salty waters and we're givin' it as much hell as two men can with 7 womerns/ womernettes in tow.

[Lowdown]

While I realize that there is both counterintuitive as well as a big mental hurdle for many, the least "fishy" tasting fish is sashimi grade and raw. Pure briny goodness. There are a few exceptions that have strong tastes, but even those are not what most think of as "fishy" which is usually indicative of a fish past its best by date. Slimy is mental or also the result of less than fresh and less than clean.

Dave

[WadePatton]

guess who now has a cooler full of mackerel now. methinks the spanish is better uncooked.

[WadePatton]

Changed the title for clarity.

Also note that the old haggard, nails-down-the-chalkboard, salty (pick your source) fish wranglers such as myself or Meester Garro, whilst having strong and seasoned opinions wrt fishes, might not agree as to the "fishiness" of a given species. MOF, if it smells fishy to _me_, it's either overripe or about 5 minutes from being overripe.

That, and I like strong flavors and spices and sech.

But, back to my point. Non-fishy people can smell the fish market 5 miles away...or even the clothes of one who has been there. So be really careful in the acquisition and preparation of fish for the un-fishy. If you can get 'em hooked, then maybe they'll open up to more diversity of palette.

Speaking of fish stories and fishiness:

I have been known to catch eating fish w/in sight of fish camp while the cook fire is going. The first time I did this was with a smallmouth bass. It was fantastic. Then some years later I did the same thing with a largemouth, and it was awful-muddy and mushy. I blamed the river and time of year-and the fish. I didn't eat largemouth again for a long time. I have since then, from small slow streams, and they were fine, but realize that any one fish can be the wrong fish-even when eaten on site of the harvest (but not often).

The safe rule is to always have more than one specimen prepared-be ready to pitch/pass over any that's not great.

Never suffer through not-great fish.

[tele]

report on the experiment:
got some halibut; didnt have time to try the excellent suggestions, so threw the steak on the grill with some salt/pepper. cooked up nice, grill marks etc... Wife tries some, get the look that means what else is for dinner? think it comes down to her having a physiological aversion to the whole seafood realm. On the plus side, 1 kid liked it better than salmon so I got that going for me....

thanks to all for the great ideas!