Do these fish have bones, and are they dangerous?
I'm looking to start eating fish but I have never prepared any and never ate any except for smoked fish. I went to the store and saw that at least where I live, we don't have many fillets.
The best fish that I found were these, and I have no idea if they have any bones that are dangerous (the small ones), and if so, what's the best way to prepare them in a way that I wouldn't have to spend an hour eating it? I hate that!
The fish are: smelts, flounders, sprats, mackerel, rainbow trout, catfish (some weird species that I had to google up, they aren't even called catfish in my language!).
Any advice is appreciated, as I will be eating fish daily!
Best Answer
All fish have bones, some have more complicated bone structures than others. Generally the ones which you will find in the store are ones which are easier to deal with as that's what people want.
Preparation of them varies widely depending on whether they are smooth skinned, scaly, whether the skin is edible, and bone structure. Some fish like mackerel and trout can be cooked whole (just gutted and cleaned), without any scaling or filleting. Mackerel can be de-boned using your fingers.
Cooking and eating fish is not complicated or dangerous. It will be a better experience if you learn the skills to do the preparation work, youtube is your friend here as there's loads of videos on how to prepare and cook fish available.
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Answer 2
Of the fish you listed, smelt and flounder are pretty easy to prepare. Smelt bones are soft even prior to cooking, though honestly boiling isn't an ideal preparation for fish - pan frying tends to do a much better job of breaking down the cartilaginous structures. If it's a health issue, use a light oil (though I prefer olive oil or an olive oil and butter blend). If frying is completely out of the option, baking would probably still be better than boiling.
Really, most fish aren't particularly "bony" when prepared in any common manner. The only fish I can say off hand is VERY difficult and should be completely deboned is pike, particularly Northern Pike - but you aren't likely to find them in a grocery store.
Additionally, if you are buying filets, they will typically be deboned already as part of the filetting process. If you are buying whole fish to filet yourself, you really need to learn about each fish and work to remove as much of the bone as possible as you filet them. There are ways to filet even pike so that the resulting filet has no bones at all.
Answer 3
Buy a iron skillet and you can cook your fish over open fire in you yard. No cost other than scrounging some wood. Use a piece of heavy aluminum foil as a lid. Adjust temperature by height of pan above flame. As for fish, from your list flounder would be healthiest and easiest to check for bones. If you have to fillet yourself, make a cut across fish just behind head and across tail, you are not cutting head and tail off just to spine. Next make cut down spine. Start at spine and start carefully sliding your knife along rib bones towards outer edge of fish. Once fillet is separated from bones, flip it skin side down and you can slice along skin to separate leaving you a boneless skinless fillet. Repeat for other 3 fillets. Flounder does not have a lot of flavor, so you will want to use some spices. This info comes from my many years fishing and I even mated on a party boat
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