To remove fine pin bones, use either tweezers or a

swivel-bladed vegetable peeler. Catch the bones between the two blades and flick up, twisting as you do so, to pull out the bones. Pin

bones in some larger fish, such as cod, can be difficult to

remove without tearing the flesh. These are best removed once the fish is cooked.

HOW TO SHUCK AN OYSTER

Just before serving, scrub any dirt from the shell under

running water. Holding the oyster level in a clean tea towel, insert a shucking knife through the hinge (tapered end) of the oyster and twist until the shell pops open. Run your knife around the inside of the top shell to release the oyster.

Remove the top shell, being careful not to spill any of its precious juice.

HOW TO BUTTERFLY A

MACKEREL FILLET

By removing the backbone from small fish but leaving the two fillets intact, you make them easier to stuff and much less fiddly to eat. Remove the head, but leave the tail. Cut along the length of the belly and place the fish, belly down, on a work surface. Now push down on its backbone to flatten the fish out. Using your fingers and a sharp knife, you should be able to work the backbone free. Don’t worry about any small bones as they will be soft enough to eat.

COOKING

Unlike meat, which doesn’t generally require minute-precise cooking times, fish does require more accuracy.

Overcooked fish will dry out and turn mushy. You want to bring your fish to the stage where the flesh has just turned white or opaque instead of translucent, and it divides easily into individual flakes.

The thinner the fish, obviously, the quicker it will cook. Check by inserting a sharp knife. If it meets no resistance, it’s done.

FRYING

This is probably the most common method for cooking filleted fish as you have total control and can easily see when it is cooked. There are a couple of rules. First, as with frying meat, make sure your pan is properly hot. I can’t say often enough that overcoming the fear of a really hot pan will improve your cooking no end.

This, along with confident seasoning, are the two things that most mark out a

professional chef from an amateur.

Add olive oil and once it is at smoking point, lay your fish in. It should sizzle on contact with the oil. If it is a skinned fillet, especially of white fish, which has more delicate flesh, you may need to dust it in flour or breadcrumbs first to protect it from the heat.

However, I always like to cook my fish with the skin on because the skin does that job for you and also adds extra flavour. So cook it skin side down for 90 per cent of the time, finishing it off only

briefly on the other side. Don’t

worry if it looks like it is sticking. If you wait, it will release itself once it is

cooked. The worst thing to do is to keep fiddling and shifting it around, or it will break up.

During the last minute or so of cooking, add a knob of butter and baste the fish continuously to keep it moist and

flavoursome.

GRILLING AND ROASTING

Both these methods work well for whole fish and large

steaks, particularly oily types such as salmon or mackerel.

Sometimes I will pan-fry thick

fillets first to get some colour on the skin, and then finish them off in a hot oven for about 10 minutes, this time with the skin on the top. White fish may need brushing with oil or melted butter to stop it from drying out.

POACHING

This is the gentlest way of cooking fish to enhance its delicate flavour and ensure it stays perfectly moist. The fish is cooked in liquid, sometimes wine, sometimes stock,

sometimes milk, to which you

can add herbs, spices and vegetables to infuse the fish.

The key is to let the liquid barely simmer as a rolling boil will break up the fish. The stock you are left with can then be used to make a sauce to go with the fish.

STEAMING

Another very easy cooking method. You can, of course, use a fish kettle or steamer, but it is more interesting to steam fish en papillote, where you wrap the fish (normally a fillet) in a paper or foil parcel along with a splash of liquid,

herbs and other flavourings.

The great thing about cooking this way is that all the flavour is trapped in the bag and it makes a great dinner dish because each guest can cut open their own parcel.

HOW TO COOK A CRAB

Yes, it is time-consuming and fiddly to cook a crab, but it’s also incredibly satisfying. The first thing to check in a crab is the weight: it should feel quite heavy for its size. A good live crab will also have extremely strong reflexes. A flaccid crab

is a half-dead crab, and that’s no good because the minute it begins to die, an enzyme is released that starts to break down the meat, making it wet and lacklustre.

Every fisherman and cook seems to have different

opinions on the correct way to kill and cook a crab (for the most humane way, consult the RSPCA website). I think the simplest solution is to place it in a large pan of salted, cold water and boil for five minutes per 500g. Remove from the

heat, allow it to cool and prepare to pick.

Cover the table in plenty of old newspaper. Twist the claws to remove them from the body. Now hold the crab

upside-down by its shell and pull the abdomen away. Inside the shell you will find all the brown meat. You can now take this meat out with a teaspoon and set it aside for later. Next, remove the crab’s gills, or dead man’s fingers, from the abdomen and throw them away.

Now, using a sharp knife, dissect the abdomen. You will be able to see small tunnels, like a honeycomb, crammed with good, white crab meat.

Here the real work begins. Use any small, sharp instrument, such as a skewer, to pick out the meat, keeping it separate from the dark meat.

Finally, gently crush the claws with a hammer or rolling pin and pick out more of the white meat. There will also be some meat in the legs but you might feel they are not worth the

trouble.

FISH

Roasted cod with a walnut, lemon and Parmesan crust

Pan-fried scallops with crunchy apple salad

Chilli and spice whitebait

Grilled seafood with sweet pepper sauce

Roasted mackerel with garlic and paprika

Crab and mascarpone crêpes Gordon’s kedgeree

Sea bream with tomato and herb salsa

Sea bass with fennel, lemon and capers

Red mullet with sweet chilli sauce Fish pie

Mussels with celery and chilli