Posted by kathryn in Fish and Ethics & Sustainablity

One of the bits I found interesting in the Matthew Evans’ article I linked to this morning: of the 166 species of fish available to chefs in Sydney, the top restaurants only use ten . As Evans says:

It’s a shame, because chefs cook seafood better than most home cooks can. They’re our inspiration, so it would be brilliant if they stopped relying on farmed fish and unsustainable species and showed their talents with the fantastic species we need exposure to, such as leatherjacket and trevally.

I haven’t cooked fish for years, but when I did it was always salmon, tuna, flathead and red snapper – I rarely strayed from this limited repertoire. People are eating less fish at home and in my experience, through talking to clients, it’s the main food group people are insecure about cooking.

If you are looking for ways to cook different types of fish and are thinking about experimenting with a new species, then I’d recommend looking at the Sydney Fish Market website first. They have a recipe database covering most of the species available in Sydney. You can look up leatherjacket and trevally and find recipes for each. Moreover under the “species” tab in the sidebar, you can find more general information on the types of fish, how to buy and cook.

08 March, 2007