10 Best Tools to Cook Fish & Shellfish

It is possible to prepare and cook fish without any special equipment, but there are a few items that make the process much easier.

If your kitchen is like mine, you have your draw with all your kitchen tools, a lot of them, at the point that when you are looking for something, you do not even know if you have it. That last statement happened a lot to my husband, he always call me to find thing in the draw when he is going to cook something, he cooks more than me, but I am who buy every single thing for the kitchen, so I know what we have in the kitchen.

Last time we bought some fish, I checked my draw and I found that I did not have the right tools to prepare the fish, we do not eat fish very often at home and when we buy it , we usually buy it clean. This was not the case. It took me a while to clean that fish and prepare it with the improvised tools.

Here the 10 tools that every kitchen should have to prepare fish and shellfish:

1. Chef's Knife: A large knife with 20 - 25 cm (8 - 10 in) blade is essential for cutting fish steak and splitting open crustaceans (crayfish and lobster)



Chef's Knife

2. Filleting Knife:  For filleting and skinning fish, you will needed a sharp knife with a flexible blade, at least 15 cm (6-in) long. The filleting knife can be used for opening some kinds of shellfish. It is essential to keep this knife very sharp.



Filleting Knife

3. Oyster Knife: This short, stubby knife has a wide , two-edge blade to help price open the shells of oysters and other bivalves. Make sure it has a safety guard above the handler to protect your hands.



Kitchen Scissor





Oyster Knife


4. Kitchen Scissors: A sturdy, sharp pair of scissors that have a serrated edge for cutting fins and trimming tails.
5. Fish  Scaler: This item is very important, the fish scaler resembled a small, rough grater.



Fish Scalers



Oval Frying Pan

6. Oval frying Pan: The concept of the oval frying pan is so simple but intensely practical. This large pan enable you to cook whole fish flat instead of bending them to fit a round pan and spoiling the shape.
7. Grilled Pan: A ribbed cast-iron grilled pan is ideal for  searing fish. There are in different shapes, round, oval or rectangular.



Griddle Pan





Barbecue Grilling Rack


8. Barbecue Grilling Rack: A hinged rack in the  shape of a fish makes cooking and turning a single large fish relatively easy.You can find racks that can hold 6 to 12 small fish.

9. Smoker: The cheapest home-smoker is a lidded metal box with a rack to hold the fish. Smoke produced by placing dampened aromatic wood chippings or herbs on coals gives extra flavour.  Stovetop models can be used indoors.



Stovetop Smoker

10. Fish Kettle: This pan is long and deep with rounded edges, it is very useful when you want to cook a whole fish, such as salmon or sea  trout, it can be used for steaming other food. The fish kettle has a handler at either end, and a tightly-fitting lid.  Inside is a perforated rack  or grid  on which to lay the fish. This, too, has handles, and enable the cook to lift out the fish without braking it.

Fish Kettle

Information taken from: The World Encyclopedia of Fish and Shellfish - Kate Whiteman