Cooking Fish

My experience with cooking fish has had its ups and downs.  For the longest time, I even avoided it altogether, since it would leave the whole house smelling like fish for days.   However, I've found that certain ways of cooking fish cause less of a residual odor than others.

Steaming fish seems to leave a strong odor for a long time.  Quick pan fry less so; and small fish chunks work well for the dishes I've been cooking.  Baking can leave a lingering odor; but, one that worked fairly well was to broil (such as miso teriyaki salmon).

However, it wasn't until this weekend, that I feel like I've finally cooked fish really well.   It's a simple pan fry.   Salt and Pepper the fish; heat pan (not too hot) and oil; sear best side first (side without skin) a few minutes (rule of thumb I read was about 5 minutes per inch) until the sides look like fish was started to get done; then flip over and cook till done (NOTE:  it is best to turn over only once).   Then melt some butter and add lemon.  At end, add some herbs (like parsley).   This turned out really well.

14-Oct:  Using a similar method, I cooked fish with lemon butter and dill.  It was good, but the previous one seemed to have turned out a little better.  On the side, I also made a persian cucumber salad with dill, rice vinegar, red onions, salt, and sugar.   It was a nice light salad.