 Hi, I'm Christine Cushing and welcome to another helping of my favorite foods. I have met so many people in my life who are frustrated, even afraid of cooking fish. I want to change that. Today I'm going to show you a technique that's going to make you excited as excited as I am about cooking fish. Get ready for pan-fried filet of trout. Let's get going. Let me direct your attention to this gorgeous piece of trout. Look at this. The key with fish before you even start cooking it is buying it, selecting it. So, feast your eyes on this beauty. The two things you have to know about fish, the two S's. S for slime. Slime is good and S for stinky is bad. So, say yes to slime and say no to stinky. You want to have that protective layer of slime on top of any fish that you get, because that tells you that it hasn't been out of the water for a super long time. So, another thing you can look for is the texture. I want to show you. When you touch any sort of a fish, it should have a firmness. It should not leave an indentation. So, it should be springy, peppy like this. That tells me that that fish is fresh. Now you got yourself a nice fresh piece of fish. You want to do something to it to cook it properly. While my pan gets hot, I'm just going to simply here show you a spice blend. Really, this is all about how to cook the fish. So, I wanted to just make something simple. You could put salt and pepper on this and it would be awesome. But I always like to kick it up a little bit. So, I'm going to make a simple spice blend with some of my favorite spices, a little bit of coriander in my mortar and pestle. But half as much cumin as coriander. I love fennel and fish. That's also great. I'm going to kick it with a little bit of Aleppo or Turkish chili. And I'm going to add the salt right to that blend. And I'm going in with a little smoked salt. It looks like brown sugar, but it's actually salt. And I'm going to grind that all up together. It's feeling pretty hot now. And you notice the pan has nothing in it. Because what I do is I actually oil my fish, not the pan. Both sides. Anytime you're laying anything into a frying pan, you put it in away from you. So if it splashes, it doesn't splash on you. That's just a good technique. The fact that my pan is dry is going to stop my oil from smoking. I'm going to oil it just a slight bit more, just for a precaution. That's what I want to hear. My guess on this is about four to five minutes on the first side. Because with the skin, what I want to do is get that nice and crisp. And I'm going to cook it mostly on that side. Flip it over, finish it cooking it for about half the time. Spices. It smells so great. It'll make you love cooking fish. We are now at the five minute mark on one side. I moderate the heat, put it in when it's hot, and I turn it down slightly. What I want to look for is a crispy bottom that's going to release super quickly. And I want to flip it away from me. Yew. Did you see that? That is how you perfectly pan fry a filet of fish. They come away so beautifully with my little fish flipper. I can flip them over five minutes one side, about two and a half on the other. Look at that skin. How crispy is that? And very little oil. That was about a tablespoon of oil. Now the key is to take it out of this cast iron pan, because this really radiates and keeps the heat. So I want to take it out right away. Very happy with that fish. I'm just doing a cute little fun presentation here. The fish is perfectly cooked. Didn't I tell you you're going to be excited? I got to taste some for you because I think once you master cooking fish, it's like a whole new world. Look at this. Gorgeous. Look at this. Thanks for joining me on my favorite foods. See you next time. Be sure to subscribe and let me know what you want me to help you with.