a flavorful sauce.) Fish don’t require long cooking to dissolve their connective tissue and become tender The purpose of any given technique is to get the center of the fish promptly to the proper temperature without overcooking the outer portions Handling Delicate Flesh Its delicate and sparse connective tissue means that most cooked fish is troublesomely fragile to work with It’s best to manipulate fish as little as possible during and after cooking, and to support the whole piece when moving it, small ones with a spatula, large ones on a rack or a stretcher of foil or cheesecloth Neat individual portions should be cut before cooking, when the tissue is still cohesive; after cooking, even a sharp knife pulls flakes and shreds from the weakened matrix Grilling and Broiling Grilling and broiling are high-temperature techniques that cook mainly by radiant heat, and are well suited to relatively thin whole fish, fillets, and steaks For successful results, the thickness of the fish and the distance from the heat must be balanced so that the fish can be cooked through at the center without the outer portions becoming badly overcooked and dry The fish must either be firm enough to hold together when turned with a spatula — tuna, swordfish, and halibut well — or be supported in a closed wire rack that can be turned without disturbing the fish Thin fillets of sole and other flatfish are sometimes put on a preheated buttered plate or aromatic cedar board and broiled without turning Mush-Prone Fish and Shellfish Japanese studies have found that the following fish and shellfish have especially active protein-digesting enzymes in their muscle, and tend to become mushy when cooked slowly or held at temperatures around 130–140ºF/55–60ºC ... fillets, and steaks For successful results, the thickness of the fish and the distance from the heat must be balanced so that the fish can be cooked through at the center without the outer portions becoming badly overcooked and dry... turned without disturbing the fish Thin fillets of sole and other flatfish are sometimes put on a preheated buttered plate or aromatic cedar board and broiled without turning Mush-Prone Fish and Shellfish... the outer portions becoming badly overcooked and dry The fish must either be firm enough to hold together when turned with a spatula — tuna, swordfish, and halibut well — or be supported in a closed