Buying whole fish to save money?

nuatha

fart wrote: »

Well i'm in Edinburgh so close to Salmon-country, but plenty of fishmongers round here that will do it for you.

Still, quite keen to learn, perhaps i'll go have a chat with the local 'monger

If 75% is fillet and let's say maybe 5-10% scrapings for fishcakes (we already make our own with fresh Salmon, fresh home grown herbs and potato) i'd probably place £8/kg at more like £8/800g, which translates to £10/kg - still a massive massive difference between that and shop bought. Even the cheapest stuff in Asda is £11.80/kg.

My maths are shocking but i hope i worked that out. My goals (now i'm buying my own house outright) is to get my food bill down to as little as possible! We already try to grow our own veg and spuds, as well as making our own bread and balancing our meals to be cost effective, so we're on the right track On a side note - i got back from Asda tonight and had already decided on buying a whole chicken rather than buying the breast on its own. Chopped it up without diagrams or anything, as the diagrams were unclear; i don't know the front end from the back end on a chicken haha. So i just dove right in, got all the breasts out whole, two perfect legs/wings/thighs, giblets and bits went to the cat (minus bone/cartilidge) and we even had enough left over after that to get a small sandwich bag full of small chicken bits which will do for a pasta or something.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Well done on butchering the chicken - which is far more difficult than filleting most round fish. (Herring are the particularly awkward one, and dogfish and monkfish are the easiest)
You could turn that chicken skeleton into stock which is fairly useful to have around.

Incidentally I find larger fish give a proportionately better yield, so I'd look for a 3-4kg salmon rather than a 1kg one. But is definitely worth learning on cheap whitefish first - you could always turn them into fishcakes.
(I learned to fillet with a stone of codling, the first few pounds were poor with as much fish left on the bone as on the skin, but once I had the knack it was easy.)

fart

nuatha wrote: »

Well done on butchering the chicken - which is far more difficult than filleting most round fish. (Herring are the particularly awkward one, and dogfish and monkfish are the easiest)
You could turn that chicken skeleton into stock which is fairly useful to have around.

Incidentally I find larger fish give a proportionately better yield, so I'd look for a 3-4kg salmon rather than a 1kg one. But is definitely worth learning on cheap whitefish first - you could always turn them into fishcakes.
(I learned to fillet with a stone of codling, the first few pounds were poor with as much fish left on the bone as on the skin, but once I had the knack it was easy.)

Very helpful advice, thanks pal.

A few more questions:

1) How do you make stock? We tried to boil down the carcass but it just sort of turned to a jelly thing which didn't seem right. The missus has tried before and never seems to be able to get it right.

2) Any advice on doing the fish without having your house smelling like a fish mongers? On the house we're hoping to get, we would have an outhouse/garage, and i'm hoping to put a chest freezer and fridge in there so could probably get some kitchen worktop in there too for doing the butchering/'mongering stuff, but if that doesn't come off it'll have to be in the kitchen!

Dunroamin

fart wrote: »

Literally can't be doing with bones in fish - the mere thought of them being present means i can't enjoy it. Or do you mean Chicken?

Why would I mean chicken?

All meat and fish taste better when cooked on the bone.

fart

Dunroamin wrote: »

Why would I mean chicken?

All meat and fish taste better when cooked on the bone.

Fair enough, can't say i notice.

twofishes

The 'jelly thing' is stock - it's how stock is supposed to be! If you watch chefs in the kitchen on cooking shows, they always use semi-solid stock from a tub rather than liquid stock. You just need to use less of it as it has more concentrated flavour. And making stock is just boiling up a carcass - usually adding onion, herbs etc but strictly speaking you don't really need to. If you want a more liquid stock, just let it simmer on a lower heat so the water evaporates more slowly. Slow cookers are good for making stock as the heat is constant.

As for the smell, fresh fish should not smell fishy. To get any smell off your hands though, wash your hands with a pinch of bicarb as well as soap.

I have to say though, I would just cook it on the bone - bones act as natural heat conductors so it cooks more evenly, and just tastes better. Most fish comes away from the bone easily anyway.

nuatha

fart wrote: »

Very helpful advice, thanks pal.

A few more questions:

1) How do you make stock? We tried to boil down the carcass but it just sort of turned to a jelly thing which didn't seem right. The missus has tried before and never seems to be able to get it right.

Remove the gills from the fish heads.
Chop an onion into wedges, gently fry in a mixture of butter and oil (or just oil if you prefer) until its just turning translucent.
Add the fish bones, head etc and fry for another minute or two - the bones turn slightly opaque.
Add a couple of peppercorns, a bayleaf and a couple of chunks of carrot (and a stick of celery if you have one)
Add two pints of cold water for every 1lb of fish bones.
Bring to boil, then turn the heat down till you have a gentle simmer and simmer for 45 minutes.
Strain the liquid off and allow to cool.
Store in the fridge or it will freeze.
Generally I'd only use a salmon based stock in salmon dishes.
White fish stock is more versatile.

2) Any advice on doing the fish without having your house smelling like a fish mongers? On the house we're hoping to get, we would have an outhouse/garage, and i'm hoping to put a chest freezer and fridge in there so could probably get some kitchen worktop in there too for doing the butchering/'mongering stuff, but if that doesn't come off it'll have to be in the kitchen!

Unless you have a supply of fresh water and a sink in the garage I'd prep in the kitchen (I use my kitchen)
A sink trap is useful for collecting scales that escape the bag (I descale in a carrier bag).
Ensure all you gear and work surfaces are washed down when you are finished and all the prepped fish is either cooking, refrigerated, or frozen.
Double bag all your waste and get it out of the house (or freeze it if you have several days before your bin collection - just remember to bin it).
Bicard or lemon juice will help shift the smell off your hands and any residual smell on your work surfaces (though if you are using fresh fish you really shouldn't have any).
HTH

wogglemaker

To add extra debth of flavour to chicken stock, roast the carcass and scraps again before making the stock (don't forget to to add your veggies to the carcasss and water. HTH

meritaten

the easiest way to 'joint' a chicken is to use sharp garden secateurs!
then you just turn the chicken breast down and cut up the middle on the top bit. turn it over and cut the other way (try to avoid cutting on the ridge - its easier to just cut up each side of it..... now you have two portions. cut off the legs by pulling out from the body and twisting til you feel/hear a 'crack'. now you can go in with secateurs and cut them off. you have four portions. take hold of the legs in both hand and twist again - cut beneath the thigh part. do this with the other side. now pull the wings away and cut close to the breast part. you now have on the bone chicken portions - it takes me about 5 mins maximum now to do this.
much much cheaper to portion a whole chicken than to buy chicken portions.