We try to keep our recipes fairly basic in terms of kit and techniques. 

We would recommend rinsing our fish under cold running water, then giving them a pat dry before cooking.

With all our fish, you can’t really go wrong baking them whole in the oven with oil, lemon and herbs.

Most of our fish come gutted, we'll let you know when they're not!

Equipment

• Baking sheet- a good solid sheet of metal that doesn’t warp with the heat.
• Baking parchment- for lining said baking sheet and saving on washing up.
• Strong kitchen scissors- for cutting through fins and spines.
• A small, sharp pairing knife- for gutting fish.
• Good cast iron skillet/non stick frying pan- even heat distribution that doesn’t stick to fish skin.
• Filleting knife*- 7 inches, flexible, holds an edge.
• Fish scaler*- you can use the back of a stiff knife (something blunt like a butter knife), a scallop shell, or make one using bottle tops, but a proper fish scaler will make the job much easier.
• Oyster knife/shucker*- you can open or ‘shuck’ an oyster with a screwdriver (see here), but an oyster knife will be quicker (and probably a bit safer).

*Available in our survival kit, which costs just £25 for members. 

Store cupboard essentials

We have lots of recipes for anything and everything we might give you. These range from the quick and simple, to the more involved and time consuming.

Fish as fresh as ours doesn’t need too much fancy treatment though and as long as you have the items listed below, you’ll be able to knock up a delicious dinner in no time. 

• Maldon sea salt- it’s the best.
• Black pepper corns in a pepper mill- don’t use preground pepper, it’s horrible.
• Olive oil- just the normal stuff, don’t use extra virgin for roasting/frying, it’s got a lower burning point and can leave a bitter taste.
• Fresh thyme- you can grow thyme in a pot on a windowsill, it’s hardy as anything and won’t die if you forget to water it for a couple of weeks.
• Bay leaves- dried is fine, but like thyme, a bay bush will grow in a smallish pot on a windowsill/balcony and the flavour really is something else.
• Fresh parsley- when you buy herbs from the supermarket sealed in plastic bags, they tend to turn to mush fairly rapidly. Buy parsley in bunches from a greengrocer/market/corner shop and keep in a glass of water. It’ll keep for the best part of a week.
• Lemon- if you don’t have fresh lemons in the fridge you’re clearly not drinking enough gin
• White wine- If, like us, this doesn’t last long, you can buy small bottles of cooking wine and keep them in your cupboard for sauces etc.
• Good butter- don’t listen to the internet, it’s good for you and is the basis of all the best sauces. We’re not talking spreadable either, splash out on a block of something golden from Normandy or Jersey, it makes all the difference.

Storage

Domestic fridges aren’t really cold enough to store seafood for a long time, so try and eat our fish as quickly as possible. There are a few things you can do to keep it fresh for longer though.

• Keep seafood at the back of the fridge, where it’s coldest.
• Always cover fish with clingfilm or in a resealable container.
• Elasmobranchs- skate and huss, should be eaten quickly as their flavour really goes down hill after a few days.
• Dover soles are one of the few fish whose flavour improves over time and can happily sit in a fridge for a few days.
• If you won’t be eating your fish for a few days, you’re better off freezing it as soon as you get it home. Gut it (if necessary), rinse it, pat it dry inside and out and seal it in a ziplock bag.