Pan-frying
You can pan fry any type of fish, including shellfish, but it’s not a great cooking method for oily fish. The healthiest frying choice is to pan-fry in a little oil (sauté). You can cook fish in a deep fat fryer but this isn’t recommended for a healthy diet. To achieve a similar, traditional fish and chip meal follow our recipe for oven-baked battered fish — it’s the healthy way to go!
How to pan-fry fish
1. Dry the fish and coat it with seasoned flour. Don’t let floured fish get damp or sticky as this will make it stick to the bottom of the pan.
2. Place the fish presentation side (the side that diners will see) down in a little oil and / or butter hot enough to seal the surface of the fish. This keeps the fish juicy and stops the cooking fat from soaking into the fish. (Cook the presentation side first because this is the side you’ll see on the plate.)
3. Follow the cooking times below, and turn the fish over half way through the cooking time.
| Recommended cooking times to shallow fry fish | ||
|---|---|---|
| How fat is the thickest part of the fish? | Frying time (in minutes) | |
| Fresh | Frozen | |
| 1cm | 4 | 7 |
| 2cm | 7 | 11 |
| 3cm | 10 | 15 |
| 4cm | 13 | 18 |
How to pan-fry shellfish
Place the shellfish in their shells into a little hot oil and / or butter in the pan. Be extremely careful with this method as fat will splatter. Toss the shellfish in the fat while they are cooking, and cook them as rapidly as possible to prevent them becoming tough — a very few minutes is usually all that is needed. Shellfish that have been steamed open require very little time in the frying pan — raw shellfish take a little longer. You know they are cooked when the shells open.
Home-made fish and chips - the healthy way
Fish and chips are part of our Kiwi way of life, and you can have them as part of a healthy, balanced diet without deep frying! Just follow our recipe for home-made fish and chips for a tasty, healthy, home-made alternative to deep-frying.