How to cook fish in the vitalizer ?

Marion's tip

Steam-cooked fish is considered wonderful but will be even more so when cooked in your Vitalizer which will make it ever-so melt-in-the-mouth and exceptionally tasty. However, this method of cooking requires a few adjustments to ensure your dish is perfect. First of all, I suggest you choose fresh fish whenever you can. This choice is important as it ensures fish is healthy and flavoursome.

Trawler-caught fish – pollock, coley, cod and monkfish – cause the most issues. These are generally big fish caught offshore. This fish is preserved in ice for several days before arriving in the wholesale food market or in the fish market, where it is stored prior to being delivered at your local fishmonger's. This fish has a tendency to foam when steam cooked. It is extremely complicated to avoid this phenomenon. Even if you add 1 cm of water, the ammonia residues from fish aging create foam which rises to the surface similar to that of milk. A little tip to try, however, is to add a teaspoon of oil to the water which reduces this reaction. I suggest you cook the fish separately from the rest of your food (vegetables, fruit, shellfish, etc.). Only salmon and fatty fish may be placed in the sieve at the same time as their side dish.

Whenever you buy fish, avoid buying ready-prepared fillets, as they are usually prepared in factories and are preserved using products which I tend to be suspicious of and even tend to avoid totally. Moreover, this preservation method means that your fillets have usually been stored for several days after having been caught. The more fish degrades, the more its ammonia substance develops and foams in the Vitalizer. Ask your fishmonger to cut the fillets from the fish in front of you: you'll have fewer issues with foam.

Cooking fish requires taking a precaution beforehand. I advise you to take it out of the fridge several hours before preparing it so that its flesh is at room temperature. It'll cook and taste even better!

If you've chosen frozen fish, leave it to return to its natural state slowly, so that all traces of ice disappear naturally. If you don't do this, it may be overly dry and overcooked. Fresh or frozen, it's best to undercook your fish rather than overcook it. The cooking times we specify are for informational purposes only.

Seafood like prawns, scallops and even mussels don't even need aromatic stock. It usually only takes one to two minutes to cook them. If cooked more, they become rubbery. If in doubt, lift the lid and taste them while they're cooking. Little by little, you'll learn to know your products and will become an expert.

Last but not least, make your sauces separately. The texture and taste of sea products are so refined that just a drizzle of olive oil with a sprinkling of herbs or clarified butter with chives is enough to obtain their quintessential flavours.