Cooked it Too Long
Overcooking the food is one of the most common mistakes when cooking fish and seafood. Overcooked pan-fried fish, unfortunately, is dry, tasteless, and tough. The range is generally 3 to 5 minutes per side. For faultless cooking use your meat thermometer.
To reduce the risk of foodborne illness, people who fish need to handle, process, and prepare their catch properly, being careful to prevent contamination from the stream to the table.
washing hands, utensils, and cooking surfaces often, cooking seafood to a minimum of 145°F for 15 seconds, keeping raw and cooked seafood separate to avoid cross-contamination, and. storing seafood in the refrigerator below 40°F or in the freezer below 0°F.
Washing raw fish carries the same risks as washing poultry — by attempting to clean your seafood in the sink, you're actually spreading harmful bacteria to surfaces that likely won't be sanitized by heat or disinfectants before they come into contact with other food, according to Reader's Digest.
Unlike meat, fish and shellfish do not need to be "tenderized" by cooking. In fact, overcooking toughens seafood and makes it dry out because its natural juices are lost. Remember, if your immune system is compromised in any way (see above), it is important to cook all seafood and protein-based foods.
Firm-fleshed white fish with a dense, meaty texture can rest for a short period to improve texture (such as pan-roasted monkfish). Fattier fish like salmon can cook for an extended period of time and can tolerate a rest of 5–10 minutes.
How to Tell if Fish is Overcooked. When you overcook fish, it can become dry, tough, and lack flavor. Overcooked fish loses its natural moisture, which can result in a dry and chewy texture. The proteins in the fish also begin to tighten, which can make the fish tough and rubbery.
Steaming and poaching are two great ways to cook fish, leaving it moist and not dried out. Broiling is ideal for oil-rich fish, like salmon. Grilling and baking are heart-healthy ways to serve fish and seafood, too.
During cooking of fish, some chemical and physical reactions take place such as protein denaturation that increases its digestibility and improves the nutritional value. Meanwhile, the contents of thermolabile compounds, fat-soluble vitamins or polyunsaturated fatty acids are often reduced [3].
Juices from the raw fish can transfer bacteria onto the cooked. Don't purchase cooked seafood housed near or in the same place as raw. If purchasing frozen, do you see what looks like a coating of frost, or well-formed ice crystals?
Fish absorb contaminants such as PCBs, PBDEs, dioxins, and chlorinated pesticides from water, sediments, and the food they eat. In contaminated areas, bottom-dwelling fish are especially likely to have high levels of these chemicals because these substances settle to the bottom where the fish feed.
Remove the skin and trim all the fat from the belly flap, the line along the sides, and the fat along the back and under the skin (see diagram). Cooking or soaking fish cannot eliminate the contaminants, but heat from cooking melts some of the fat in fish and allows some of the contaminated fat to drip away.
Ciguatera. You can get ciguatera (sig-wah-TARE-ah) poisoning by eating fish contaminated with toxins produced by tiny algae found around coral reefs. It can be difficult to tell if fish is contaminated as the toxins that cause ciguatera do not change the appearance, taste, or smell of the fish.
Symptoms of fish or shellfish allergies vary and range from mild reactions to a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). The most common symptom is raised red bumps of skin (hives). Other symptoms include wheezing and trouble breathing, cramps, nausea or vomiting.
Symptoms usually appear 30–60 minutes after a person eats toxic shellfish and include numbness and tingling of the face, lips, tongue, arms, and legs. Patients also might have diarrhea and vomiting, headache, and nausea.
Fresh seafood can be contaminated at any point from rearing or harvesting to processing to transport or due to cross-contamination by consumer mishandling at home.
Per WebMD, fish is similar to poultry in that washing it raw can cause any bacteria to spread around your sink and kitchen, increasing the likelihood you will get sick. Raw fish is known to contain dangerous bacteria, including salmonella, listeria, and clostridium.
Soak fish in 1/4 cup vinegar, lemon juice or wine and water before cooking it for a sweet tender taste. Remove the fishy smell from your hands by washing with vinegar and water or salt and water. When baking whole fish, wrap it in well-oiled cheesecloth.
A general rule of thumb for cooking is 10 minutes per inch of thickness, but this varies according to cooking method, heat intensity, and fish size. Use a cooking thermometer to gauge doneness more precisely.