A comparison of fish (from an eating perspective)

We decided that we would do a side-by-side comparison of three different fish today, prepared in exactly the same way (a fillet of each, fried in unsalted butter).  We didn’t put any seasonings whatsoever on them while they were cooking so that we could assess the fish in its most basic cooked state.  We did however try them in a variety of different ways once plated (plain, lightly salted, with lemon and with accompanying white bread).  We even did a blind test.

Gurnard	This is a meaty fish that we found to have little flavour.  With salt however, more flavour was released and it then tasted like standard fish from the Fish & Chip shop (funnily enough).  Within a plain white bread sandwich no flavour was present.
Snapper	The Snapper fillet we had was blander than we expected.  We have Snapper a bit, so suspect this fillet may have been sitting around a bit long.  Salt did however bring out more flavour.  This was slightly more meaty than the Gurnard, and like the Gurnard lacked flavour in the sandwich.  It did however have a nicer texture than the Gurnard.
John Dory	This was the softest fish of the three, but not flaky.  It has a very sea/fishy taste, and Jane thought it lacked substance and tasted like it was watered down.  This was the best fish in a sandwich, with the fishy taste noticeable.  We would also look to use this in Fish Tacos.  The bread in fact enhanced the flavour.

From this little taste test, we determined that salt is very important for bringing out the flavour, that we should do a test like this again with whole fish, and that John Dory is our friend when it comes to a sandwich.

Photo credits: Flickr Creative Commons, click photo for link to photo on Flickr.