FISH and SHELLFISH

FISH AND SHELLFISH

 Fish and Shellfish
• Two types of water animals eaten as food

– FISH
• Live in fresh or salt water
• Have FINS and BACKBONES

– SHELLFISH
• Have SHELLS instead
of backbones
 FISH

SHELLFISH
 SHELLFISH
• Shellfish can be divided into two groups:
– MOLLUSKS:
• Soft bodies that are partially covered by hard
shells
• EX: Oysters, clams, scallops
– CRUSTACEANS:
• Covered by firm shells and have segmented
bodies
• EX: Shrimp, lobster, crabs
 MOLLUSKS

CRUSTACEANS
 What nutrients are in fish and
shellfish?
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D
• Great source of protein
• Omega-3 fatty acids
– Fat that is good for you, reduces heart disease

Eating fish is a great way to lower the

amount of saturated fat in your diet!
 PURCHASING FISH
• Look for:
– Stiff body
– Tight scales
– Firm flesh
– Bright and bulging eyes
– No indentation when a finger is pressed into
the flesh
– Fresh smell!!! Odor indicates spoilage.
– Gills are red in color
 PURCHASING FISH
• Can purchase:
– WHOLE
– DRAWN: insides removed
– DRESSED: insides, head, fins,
and scales removed
– STEAKS: cross-sectional slices from a
dressed fish
– FILLETS: sides of the fish cut lengthwise
 FRESHWATER FISH
Catfish, Eel, Tilapia, Trout, Whitefish, Perch, Pike

, Pike
, Perch.
 MARKET FORMS

(a) Whole or round: completely intact, as (b) Drawn: viscera removed

caught

(c) Dressed: viscera, scales,

d) Steaks: cross-section slices, each
head, tail,
containing
and fins removed
a section of backbone
 MARKET FORMS

(e) Fillets: boneless sides of fish, (f) Butterflied fillets: both sides of a fish
with skin still
on or off joined, but with bones removed

(g) Sticks or tranches: cross-

section slices of fillets
 BASIC CUTS
• La Darne A slice or steak of round fish on the bone. E.g. Darne de Saumon, Darne
De cabillaud.
Le Troncon A slice or steak of flat fish on the bone. E.g. Troncon de Turbot, Troncon
De barbue.
Le Filet A fillet of fish, usually from a small fish without bones. E.g. Filet de sole,
Filet de plie.
Le Supreme Applied to large fillets of fish, cut into portion on the slant e.g. Supreme
de Fletan, Supreme de Aigrefin.
Le Delice Applied to neatly folded fillets of fish e.g. Delice de Sole, Delice de
Merlan.
Le Goujon Applied to fillet of fish cut into strips approx. 6 cm. x ½ cm. (3 in x ¼
in) usually floured, egg-washed and bread crumbed e.g. Goujon de Plie,
Goujon de Sole.
La Paupiette This term is applied to fillets of smaller fish, usually sole which are
stuffed with farce, fish or vegetables, or mixture of both, neatly rolled into a barrel
shape, tied or pinned.
• CLEANING OF FISH
De-scaling And Cleaning
• 1. Soaking the fish in cold water for a few minutes before descaling,
helps in removing scales more easily.
2. The blunt side of the knife should be used.
3. The head of the fish is held with the left hand and holding the
knife vertical, scraping is done starting from the tail, working towards
the head, the scales are scraped off. The fish is then washed to
remove any loose scales.
4. Cut off the fins, remove the head. The entrails should be removed
by cutting the length of the fish from the vent end to the head on the
belly side.
• Filleting
• Cut the flesh along the line of the backbone and raise the fillet from
the middle of the back, to the sides, first working towards the head,
then the tall.
• Skinning
• Hold the tail end of the fish in the left hand, first sprinkling salt on the
fingers for a good grip. Skin the flesh (skin side down) from tail to
head, with quick short sawing strokes of a sharp knife. Point the
knife blade towards the skin so that no flesh is wasted.
 DRESSING
Filleting flatfish.
AND FILLETING

(a) Use a thin-bladed, flexible knife. (b) Make a cut from head to tail just to
Cut off the head, just behind the gills. one side of the center line, down to
the backbone.
 DRESSING AND FILLETING

(c) Turn the knife so that it is almost (d) Remove the fillet completely. Repeat
parallel to to
the table. Making long, smooth cuts, remove the three remaining fillets.
cut
horizontally against the backbone
toward the
outer edge of the fish. Gently
separate the fillet
from the bone.
 DRESSING
AND FILLETING
(e) To skin, place the fillet skin side down on
the
work surface with the tail pointing toward
you.
Holding the skin at the tail end, slide the
knife
between the skin and flesh, scraping
against
the skin to avoid cutting into the fillet. Note:
Dover or English sole is skinned before
filleting.
Cut through the skin at the tail. Holding the
tail
with one hand, peel off the skin toward the
head. Caution: Do not do this with flounder.
You
will tear the flesh.
 DRESSING AND FILLETING
Filleting round fish.

(a) Cut into the top of the fish along one side of
the backbone from head to tail. Cut against the (b) Cut under the flesh
bone with smooth strokes of the knife to toward the tail; detach it.
separate the flesh from the bone.
DRESSING AND FILLETING

(c) Cut along the curved rib bones and

finish
detaching the fillet at the head end. Turn
the fish
over and repeat to remove the second
fillet.
Lightly run your finger along the flesh side
of the
fillets to see if any bones remain in them.
Pull
out any you find. Skin the fillets as for
flatfish.
 COOKING FISH

Flaking- when fish is cooked, the • Fat fish : are those that are
flesh breaks apart into its natural high in fat. Ex: salmon, trout,
separations. butterfish, cod, seabass
Doneness: • Lean fish : are those that
• The fish just separates into flakes; are low in fat. Ex: flounder, red
that is, it is beginning to flake but
snapper, sole, perch, halibut.
does not yet fall apart easily.
• If bone is present, the flesh *the fat content of fish
separates from the bone, and the ranges from 0.5 percent
bone is no longer pink.
• The flesh has turned from
to 20 percent.
transluscent to opaque ( usually
white depending on the kind of fish
 COOKING FAT FISH
• The fat in these fish enables them to tolerate more heat without
becoming dry.
• Moist-heat methods. Fat fish, like lean fish, can be cooked by
moist heat.Poached
• salmon and trout are very popular.
• Dry-heat methods. Fat fish are well suited to broiling and
baking.The dry heat
• helps eliminate excessive oiliness.
• Dry-heat methods with fat. Large fat fish, like salmon, and
stronger-flavored fish,
• like bluefish and mackerel,may be cooked in fat,but care should
be taken to avoid
• excessive greasiness.Smaller ones,like trout,are often pan-
fried.Drain the fish well
• before serving.
 Cooking Lean Fish
• Because lean fish has almost no fat,it can easily
become dry,especially if overcooked.It
• is often served with sauces to enhance moistness and
give richness.
• Moist-heat methods. Lean fish is especially well suited
to poaching.This method
• preserves moistness.
• Dry-heat methods.Lean fish,if it is broiled or
baked,should be basted with butter
• or oil.Take special care not to overcook it, or the fish
will be dry.
• Dry-heat methods with fat.Lean fish may be fried or
sautéed.The fish gains palatability
• from the added fat.
Preparing foods en papillote.
 SHELLFISH
Are distinguished from fin fish by their hard outer shells and their lack
of backbones or internal skeletons.
 Purchasing SHELLFISH
• Shrimp-
– Come in different colors and sizes when raw
– Most are sold without head and thorax
– May want to remove intestinal tract
• DEVEINED shrimp is sold without intestinal tract
– Sold by the pound
– Comes in sizes- jumbo, large, med., small
– Can buy cooked or uncooked
 CLASSIFICATION
• Mollusks- are soft sea
animals.
Categories:
Bivalves: which have pair of
hinged shells
Ex: clams, oysters, mussels,
scallops
Univalves: which have a single
shell Ex: abalone, conch

Cephalopods: squids, octopus,

cuttlefish.
• Crustaceans – are
animals with segmented shells
and jointed legs.
• CLAMS:

Hard shell clams or quahogs: These go by different names depending on

size.
little necks: the smallest and tenderest, for eating raw or steam.
Cherrystones: med sized, most common, they can be eaten raw and
good for steaming, a little tougher than little neck.
Chowders: largest also called quahogs. Tough they are chopped for
cooking chowders.
Soft shell clams: these are sometimes called longnecks, because of the long
tube that protrudes bet the shells, they have very thin shells that sometimes
they don’t close completely, also called steamers, because the usual way of
cooking them is to steam.
MARKET FORMS:
• Live in the shell
• Shucked, fresh or frozen
• Canned whole or chopped
 CLAMS

Clams, clockwise from top left: steamers, littlenecks, cherrystones, chowder

clams.
Opening Clams
(a) Examine the shell to see that it is
tightly
closed, indicating a live clam. Rinse the
shell
under cold, running water. Avoid jostling
the
clam too much, or it will “clam up” tighter.
Hold clam in left hand as shown (or in
right
hand if you are left-handed). Place the
sharp
edge of the clam knife against the crack
between the shells.

b) Squeeze with the fingers of the left

hand,
forcing the knife between the shells.
 Opening Clams

d) Open the clam and finish detaching

the meat
from the upper shell.

(c) Change the angle of the blade (e) Cut the muscles
as shown in against the lower shell
the illustration and slide the knife to
against the loosen the clam
top shell to cut the adductor completely. Discard
muscles (clams the top
have two; oysters have only one). shell. Remove any
Be careful particles of shell from
not to cut or pierce the soft clam. the
clam before serving.
• MUSSELS:

most common mussels resemble small, black, dark or

dark blue clams. Their shells are not as heavy as clams.
Their flesh is yellow to orange in color and firm but tender
when cooked. Messels are harvested worldwide.
Green mussles are from new zealand and southeast asia.
MARKET FORMS:
• Live in the shell
• Shucked, fresh or frozen
• Packed in brine
• OYSTERS:

have rough, irregular shells, the botoom shell is slightly

bowl shaped, top shell is flat.
The flesh is extremely soft and delicate and contains a high
percentage of water. Available all year round.
VARIETY:
Eastern – known by many local names, depending on their
place of origin.
Olympia – very small from the pacific coast.
Belon – european oyster, grown in North America. Shells
are flatter that those of Eastern oyster.
Japanese or Pacific – large oyster from the pacific coast.
 Opening Oysters

(a) Examine the shell to see that it is tightly (b) Twist the knife to break the
closed, indicating a live oyster. Rinse the hinge.
shell
under cold, running water. Hold oyster in left
hand, as shown. (Left-handers will hold
oyster
in right hand.) Hold the oyster knife near the
tip
as shown. Insert the knife between the shells
near the hinge.
 Opening Oysters

(c) Slide the knife under the top shell (d) Carefully cut the lower end of the
and cut muscle
through the adductor muscle (which from the bottom shell to loosen oyster.
closes the Remove
shells) near the top shell. Try not to any particles of shell from the oyster
cut the flesh before
of the oyster, or it will lose serving.
plumpness. Remove
the top shell.
• SCALLOPS:

• are almost always sold shucked. The only part we usually eat is the
abductor muscle, which closes the shell, if live scallops in the shell are
available,leave the orange crescent shaped coral attached to the abductor
muscle when shucking. Creamy and white in color, available all year round.
Variety:
• Bay scallops – small with delicate flavor and texture, expensive.
• Sea scallops – larger not as delicate as bay scallops but still tender unless
overcooked.
MARKET FORMS:
• Fresh, shucked.
• Frozen; IQF
• CEPHALOPODS: means head-foot referring to the fact
that these animals have tentacles or legs attached to the
head, surrounding the mouth.
• Most common cephalopods in food service are squid and
octopus. Cuttlefish is similar to squid but is usually seen in
limited market only.
• Squid:

• also called calamari, also classified as mollusks, they

have no external shell, they are soft bodied animals
somewhat resembling octopus, but they have ten
tentacles, two of them longer than the others.
OCTOPUS:

It means eight feet, range size from less than ounce to a pounds. All sizes are firm
textured, even chewy. Larger size consider too tough to eat.

CUTTLEFISH:

similar to a squid, has a shorter, thicker body, instead of a thin transparent interior
quill, has a hard chalky cuttlebone.
 Cleaning of Squid

(a) Pull off the head. The interior organs (b) Pull off the skin.
will come out with it.

(d) Cut off the tentacles just above the

(c) Pull out the plasticlike quill from the
eyes.
body sac. Rinse out the sac to clean it
Discard the head and organs.
well.
 Cleaning of Squid

(e) Be sure to remove the hard beak, (f) The body sac may be left whole for
which is stuffing or cut into rings for frying, sautéing,
found at the center of the tentacle or stewing.
cluster, as shown by the tip of the
knife in this picture.
CRUSTACEANS
• LOBSTER:

Lobster
has a large flexible tail, four pairs of legs and 2 large claws. Its
shell is dark green or bluish green, but turns red when cooked.
Meat from the tail, claws and legs is eaten. It is white and sweet
distinctive taste. Claw meat is considered specially good.
The Coral (roe or eggs), which is dark green when raw and red
when cooked. And the green tomalley
(liver) in the thorax or body portion are also eaten.
Lobster are classified by weight;
Chicken – 1lb (450g)
Quarteres 1 1/4lb ( 575g)
Selects – 11/2lb to 21/4lb(675g-1025g)
Jumbos – over 21/2lb (1130g)
Yield – a 500g lobster yields about 125g cooked meat.
• Market Forms: live, cooked meat, fresh or frozen.
• Checking Freshness:
live lobster must be alive when cooked. This indicated by movement
of the legs and claws and by tightly curled tail.
If the lobster is dead when cooked, the meat will fall apart. If alive, the
meat will be firm and the tail will spring back when straightened.
sleepers, (dying lobsters) should be cooked immediately so that the
meat will be usable.
cooked lobster meat (fresh or thawed) should smell fresh and sweet.
ROCK LOBSTER
Also known as spiny lobster or langoustes. They are warm water relative
of lobster but have no claws.
Langoustines or langoustinos are smaller relatives of the rock lobster.
 Splitting a lobster for broiling.

(a) Place the lobster on its back on a (b) Bring the knife down firmly through
cutting board. With a firm thrust of a the
French knife, pierce the head. center of the lobster to split it in half.
 Splitting a lobster for broiling

(c) With the hands, crack the back of the (d) Pull out and discard stomach, a
shell by spreading the lobster open. sac just behind the eyes.
 Splitting a lobster for broiling

(e) If desired, remove the tomalley for use (f) With a sharp blow of the back of
in the crumb stuffing. the knife, crack the claws.
 Splitting a lobster for broiling

(g) The lobster is ready for (h) You may also split the tail all the way
broiling. If it is broiled as through and curl up the two sides as shown. In
shown, the end of the tail this position, weighting the tail is not necessary.
should be weighted down to Note that the claws have been broken off and
keep it from curling. placed beside the lobster.
Cutting a lobster for sautés
and stews.
Cutting a lobster for sautés and stews.
BODY PARTS OF LOBSTER
PARTS OF LOBSTER
• CRABS:
Alaskan king crab – largest of the crabs. Weighing from 2.7-9kg
Expensive, meat can be removed in large chunks.
Alaskan Snow Crab – smaller and cheaper than king crab
Dungeness of crab – west coast crab, weighing about 700g-1.8kg.
Blue Crab – Small crab, weighing about 5oz. Most common frozen crab
meat is from blue crab.
Soft Shell crab – actually a molting blue crab, harvested before the new
shell has hardened.
 SIGNS of FRESHNESS
• Shell covering shrimp
should be firmly attached,
and ODORLESS
• Tails of lobster should
snap back quickly after
you flatten it
• Live oyster and clam shell
should be tightly closed
or close when touched
• BUY ONLY FROM A
REPUTABLE DEALER!
Stored on beds of ice.
STORING Fish/Shellfish
• Fish is very
perishable!
– Store with care!
– Keep in coolest part of
the refrigerator

Use within
1-2 days
 Cooking FISH and
SHELLFISH

• Finfish contain tender muscle fibers and

little connective tissue, so…
– Tenderizing is not a goal in cooking fish!
– Cook for a SHORT amount of time

• Shellfish is also naturally tender. Cook for

a short amount of time at moderate
temperatures.