They have lean, white, delicate flesh which tends to cook up flaky.
The other general category of fish is blue fish, which is oily fish because they store fat in the form of oil throughout their bodies. In white fish, their fat is stored in their liver.
White fish has more delicate flesh than blue fish.
White fish pieces often require some coat of coating to protect them when shallow-fying.
White Fish include:
- Bream
- Cod
- Coley
- Flounder
- Haddock
- Hake
- Halibut
- Monkfish
- Plaice
- Pollack
- Pouting
- Sea bass
- Silver Bass
- Skate
- Sole
- Striped Bass
- Torsk
- Whiting
Cooking Tips
One challenge in cooking white fish is getting flavouring into it, since the fish is not cooked long enough to be infused with the flavours of whatever you cook it with. Just cooking it with herbs on top — whether fresh or dried — really won’t do the trick.
You may have better luck if you first infuse any herbs or spices in oil or melted butter, and then brush and baste the fish with that, or marinate the fish in it in the fridge for an hour or so.