The healthiest way to cook fish

Read on to know about the healthiest way to prepare fish.

Fish is one of the healthiest food product that is also a great source of proteins. Regular consumption of fish is also associated with a lower risk of stroke, depression, and heart diseases.

However, one must cook fish carefully to preserve all its nutrients as the nutritional composition of fish tends to change with certain cooking methods. Here are some of the best cooking methods that you can choose from.

Broiling and Grilling

These very similar methods involve the use of dry heat to cook food. The only difference being, in grilling the food is heated from below and in broiling the heat is applied from the top. But, both these methods result in the formation of HAs (heterocyclic amines), PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and AGEs (advanced glycation end products), which are very harmful compounds for our health. However, health risks for these cooking methods have been studied only for red and processed meats and not for fish. To prevent the formation of these harmful compounds it is best to not cook on an open flame, cook for the shortest time possible, apply marinade on fish before grilling, and prevent charring of the food.

Deep frying and pan frying

Both of these cooking methods involve cooking at very high temperatures. Deep frying requires cooking in a large quantity of fat but pan frying requires little quantity of oil to cook fish. Lean variety of fish tends to absorb more oil than the oily variety. Frying at high temperatures also damage the omega-3, omega-6, and vitamin D content of fish.

Poaching and Steaming

These cooking methods require some sort of liquid for cooking. While poaching requires submerging the food in liquid, steaming requires the use of water to make vapors for cooking. These methods do not require the addition of any type of oil and use a slightly low temperature than other cooking methods to prepare food, which is beneficial to preserve the nutrients in fish.

Baking

It is a method to cook in an oven, which cooks the food because of the dry heat. There are studies which support the use of the baking method in cooking fish as the amount of omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D lost is very less.

Microwaving

This method involves cooking the food by using microwave energy. It is a fast way to cook food because of which it has been studied to preserve some nutrients better than some of the other cooking methods.

Sous Vide

It is the method which requires cooking food under vacuum. In this method, the food is kept in a sealed plastic bag and then cooked at a controlled temperature in a water bath. It is also a low-temperature cooking method and takes a bit longer than other methods to cook food. However, it is considered as a very healthy way to prepare food as it helps to retain the moisture and most of the nutrients.