Akram's favorite food is fish. I personally do not like fish and therefore have never cooked it... or when I have it is terrible. (I tried to cook catfish ewwwwwwww) Can anyone who has their husband here now, tell me what fish they prefer here in the states. I know the fish in Egypt are different than the ones we can find here. Any help on what fish is comparable would be great. Also, ANY ADVICE on how to cook it....

where can you get WHOLE fish?? can you tell I have no clue here...

What is the kind of fish he has in Egypt? Is it a white ocean fish? Ammar likes most fish, but especially Salmon and Cod. He also likes Tilapia and whiting. You can get a whole fish most places that sell meat and fish-- so lots of grocery stores have them--even walmart. Otherwise, you'd have to go to a fish market which may or may not be available depending on the size of your location. Just FYI-- fish should have no smell. if it smells fishy, it isn't fresh.

I cook fish frequently as my husband loves it too. Though usually it's shellfish as opposed to fish fish. When I cook fish fish, I'll make salmon, haddock, tilapia, pollock, tuna.... I admit I don't know a lot about fish, but I think that we both prefer saltwater fish to freshwater fish. I know that I can't stand that moldy taste (IMO) that catfish has.

I find whole fish easily around here, though I've heard that it's not as widely available in some areas of the country.

ETA: Oops, sorry, I didn't realize when I posted that you were asking specifically about Egypt

I forgot the Arabic name of the fish I buy here but it's a kind of white fish. I buy it whole. I buy mine from the Mid Eastern fish & poultry market in my area. I stuff it with herbs (parsley and cilantro), minced garlic, a bit of jalapeno, salt and pepper. I flour the outside lightly and fry it whole. This is how my SILs make it in Egypt. They make it another way, too, but I don't have the type of oven (forn) they have there.

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You're just jealous cuz you're not getting any.

You and I both got that same "burn". It's a good one, no? Especially good coming from one who isn't getting any himself.

Ok

lol you are so right moody

ok my wife dont eat fish too at all . i told her i wont eat meat there for awhile after i come till i make sure it has no pork so i wouldnot have any choice but fish and since she dont eat fish or cook it so she need to learn too

In the United States, tilapia are considered important for their food value. These fish have also been popularized for their use in waste-water treatment schemes and aquatic-weed control programs.
Because of the diversity of culture systems it is impractical to describe all the different operations used for raising tilapia commercially. Life stages and culture technology for commercial production of hybrid tilapia in the United States are described in Figure 1 . Domestic production of hybrid tilapia consists mainly of all-male populations, which are raised primarily as a high-quality fish for human food. Culture is carried out in indoor tanks, water recirculating systems, outdoor raceways, ponds, and floating cages. In several states, primarily Florida and California, tilapia are also fished commercially. "Extensive" pond culture methods for tilapia, traditional in many countries throughout the world, are not commonly used in the United States. For example, culture of tilapia in wastewater fed ponds, a viable and less expensive production system, is not considered acceptable for ecological or sanitary reasons.

I love fish but will not eat tilapia because if it was imported to the US it may have been raised in sewer.

you should be able to distinguish the pork from the other meats quickly, theres all kinds of beef, chicken, turkey and fishes to pick from, and you just may need do the cooking of the fish for her

Don't worry about the pork. Your wife will know which items contain pork and which do not. She's Muslim (I'm assuming from the hijab) so she should already have a trained eye for hidden pork or pork byproducts in food items.

Will you be relocating to an area that has a Arab/Muslim population?

My husband does not like Salmon. I haven't cooked it but we watched some show about fishermen the other night and he said he doesn't like the fish with the pink inside. I'm afraid to cook him fish since everytime his sisters cooked it he got deathly ill. I mostly just take a nice piece of scrod, put in a casserole dish, cover with Ritz cracker crumbs and butter and serve with lemon on the side. Maybe I'll cook that one day and see if he likes it.

I am unable to cook a whole fish because I'll think it's staring at me and it'll give me a guilt trip. Same thing with lobster.....I don't have the heart to put them in the boiling water.

wild salmon is pink cause they eat shrimp. farm raised salmon is pink because they use dye to make it look like wild salmon.

i dont just talk about pork as meat as pork products enter in alot of foods and candies(Gelatine) and also oils so it is hard to know
and yes moody i will be in virginia but ther is no alot of muslim there!

so just cover its head birdget

I've never seen any oils that contain pork byproducts. Lard you mean? To be on the safe side only eat what your wife prepares for you for the time being. Don't eat any candy (other than chocolates) or gel products before your wife reads the labels. Like I said, she will know which foods contain pork gelatin and which do not. Maybe have her look into halal markets nearby or mail order.

my husband and i eat mediterranean fish here.... bronzino (mediterranean sea bass), tilapia from the the mediterranean when we can find it. not that i dont think its not better to buy local fish, i do - its fresher - however bronzino is the most delicious fish in my opinion as is the tilapia from the med vs local.

local fish we like are red snapper, grouper, mullet.

we eat every fish whole except the grouper and mullet which we eat in steaks. we arent really big on filets but we do have filets sometimes. and we love chilean sea bass.

we get whole fish at our farmers markets which have fish counters. we never buy it at the supermarket they dont have the selection.

our favorite way to serve whole fish is to either fry it in olive oil, grill it or broil/bake it and then pour a sauce over it that we make with lemon juice, garlic, parsley and white wine (the white wine isnt really necessary). sometimes we add hot peppers. sometimes we also make an asian sauce, or a carribean style sauce but we always fry, grill or broil. when i was in the carribbean they made delicious whole fish by making three 1inch cuts on the sides and then taking foil and brushing it with melted butter, then they sprinkled salt, pepper, mccormick seasonall and badia season mix on it. then they made a pocket with the foil put the fish inside and put it on the grill it was fabulous. we bought the spices but we didnt try it yet. maybe this week!

you could teach her by cooking it when you get here? (i didnt read all of the postings yet but i dont doubt someone has already posted this)

Oh I love branzino! We ate that all the time in Italy - I'd just wrap it in foil with some olive oil, lemon and spices and bake it. I have not seen it here...I probably need to go to a fish market as I always buy my fish at the grocery store and they don't carry it.

Where do you live, chaishai?

if he gets sick maybe hes allergic?!
my husband and i dont like salmon either only if it is raw ie sashimi.

if you buy oil (or any other product) that is kosher ie with an U with a circle around it it will not have pork in it for sure. most of the major brands of oil have this symbol. there are other symbols also but this is the most widely used.



i dont even want to say what we pay for it it is ridiculous. but it is so unbelievably delicious. it is the perfect fish in my opinion, especially to eat whole - i think it would actually be a waste to filet it.

I edited after you replied, but may I ask where you live that you're able to find it?

I also used to make whole orata - I looked up the translation and it's called seabream (never heard of it here). Also very good, but not quite as good as branzino.

I try to cook tilapia similarly, but it's just not the same.

Tilapia, Smoked Salmon, Whole smoked Tuna Those are my favorite fish. You can look up middle eastern recipes, spices or other style recipes.

I think rubbing the spices on the fish and letting it marinate for 30 minutes makes it taste good then lemons/lemon juice on the side. Smoking it on a barbeque or just cooking on a skillet 5 mins each on each side or more depending how long it takes to fully cook the fish.

i love sea bream and WISH i could find it here. I live near philly. I agree tilapia isnt the same esp. if its US tilapia - its just different!

I was thinking steak tonight but all of this fish talk is making me want fish!

I love cooking fish. Badr eats most types of fish. We went to get fish last time I was with him and he knew what each of them were.

As for catfish, a little trick my grandmother taught me, soak it in buttermilk. I know it sounds wierd, but it works. It takes the moldy dirt taste away. I think they're bottom feeders so they taste like that. I usually take catfish filets with no skin and soak them in buttermilk for 30 minutes, then I take them out and cut them either into chunks or strips and then put them back into the buttermilk for another 3o minutes. Then I take out the pieces, coat them in a flour mixture and then fry them. They make great fish sticks. My 5 year old eats them. And the bite size chunks are great finger foods for parties.

I made fish last Saturday and it was really good. I picked up a package of Tilapia fillets from Costco and I marinated them in lemon juice, salt, pepper, arabic spice mix (bharat),and garlic. After a few hours, I coated them in flour which was seasoned with salt & pepper and deep fried them. They were really good.

I made a ton of side dishes too:

Hummos
Baba Ghanouj
Tabouli
Avocado salad (chunks of avocado mixed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic)
French Fries
Bagdonseyah (a sauce made from chopped parsley, tahini, lemon, serrano pepper)


We pigged out! I usually like Tilapia whole instead of fillets but right now I can't bear to eat anything on bones.

I'm with you bridget I've never touched whole fish I only cook fillets, My dad will touch the eyes and all that mess! I mean seriously what do we have husbands for to do all that nasty stuff taking fish guts and eyes out.

Costco Vs Walmart which one is cheaper and holds quality? I've never been to costco.

You should look into where they buy their tilapia. Other countries farm them in their waste water treatment ponds. (Human waste)

I'm not sure what to cook tonight....

I know! I think I'll make some tilapia. I saw some nice imported tilapia at the store!

costco has good quality for very reasonable prices.

The label said Honduras. Costco is known for high quality products so I have never really worried about it. I saw some in another store that said it was farmed in China so I didn't buy any.

JP - I was the same way with the fish and bones when i was pregnant with our first. I loved fish on bones with our second though.... Also thanks so much for the muhammarah sp? recipe - it was a huge hit this past weekend.

Oh yay! I'm so glad everyone liked it! It was a huge hit the first time I made it too!

we make a marinade of tons of crushed cilantro, some garlic, ginger, paprika, salt, lemon juice, olive oil and some vinegar. we use either a food processor or a mortar and pestle to make it into kind of a paste. then we marinate the fish in it for several hours. Dip it in flour and fry and mmm, its so delicious. Also there is a baked tagine-y type dish that has fish layered with potatoes, tomatoes and red peppers using the same basic marinade/spice paste. its also very delicious

well i made it for a bunch of israelis (americans too) but you know israelis are also used to eating tons of salads mezze etc and noone had ever had this before! they were like WALNUTS?! yet it had the middle eastern taste and feel to it. so that was really fun.

Mohamed I will try some of these recipes I see for ur fish as long as the fish doesnt have the head on it !!!I will do fish fillets only!!!

Skip the cilantro and this sound so good, especially the tagine part! Would you still flour the fish if using the tagine, or would you pour in some type of liquid? - I will use it next week...Thanks for sharing Sara

i haven't read this thread so if anyone else posted this already.. i had no idea... but i wanted to give u my recipe coz it NEVER fails to please....





Amal's recipe for cooking fish.............









DON'T!!

fish, yuck ...

no flour for the tagine.. just layer on the bottom some sliced potatoes, then the fish, then tomatoes, then some sliced red pepper rings and pour over the marinating liquid. cover and bake for a while. eat with good moroccan bread. mmm.

dont you like cilantro Dorothy? I love it so we use a LOT around here.

1 simple Filipino recipe for Tilapia or any freshwater fish...
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 kilo tilapia (fillet or medium sized)
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. pepper
2 tbsp. cooking oil

Scrape scales of fish. Clean. Arrange on shallow pan.

Add all ingredients. Cover. Let boil, then lower heat and cook for 15 - 20 minutes

Enjoy

I love salmon... Mmmmm! Oh another tip, don't buy tilapia IMO.. *ptuuii* It has that sand after taste

You can go online and see if their is an Arabic market near you...............there is one near us and they
have lots of foods that are common in Egypt.

A lot of fish tastes great baked in the oven.........it cooks quickly.......like salmon.........
just put a little butter on it.......when it comes out of the oven, sprinkle lemon and dill on it and you're done.
It's not too complicated.
I am sure there is tons on the net about it.

Ahmed also loves shrimp.

Egyptian Red Snapper


Ingredients:

• 6-8 Ounces Red Snapper fillets
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Large Spanish Onion
• 2 Cloves garlic
• 1 Red pepper, charred, skinned, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 Tablespoon thyme (dried)
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 5 Mint leaves
• Cayenne Pepper, to taste






Preparation:

Sauté onions in olive oil until golden for the sauce
Add garlic, red pepper and remaining ingredients, simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour sauce over Red snapper fillets and bake covered at 350° F for 18 minutes. Serve over rice or couscous.

i wish i could give good tips on cooking fish but i dont but i make one heck of a tuna fish sandwich!

Thanks again Sara - I will be making this on Sunday - can't wait for the end result. As for cilantro, I actually hate it. The flavor is just too overpowering.

Talking about cilantro, last week I went out with my girls to a hip lower east site Moroccan restaurant with the idea of introducing them to the Moroccan cuisine. The place was nice, service OK but the food - FULL OF CILANTRO - I was so dissapointed... there is nothing better then good authentic Moroccan food in Astoria, Queens...