Chef Ricky Moore on How to Cook Fish at Home

Saltbox Seafood Joint chef Ricky Moore shares 8 tips for cooking seafood at home, along with his season-by-season guide to North Carolina fish.
by Addie Ladner

Tips for Cooking Fish at Home from Ricky Moore

  • Broil it! High temperature for a short amount of time is an easy entry point for cooking seafood at home.
  • Keep it simple.
  • Fresh and local is always best. You’ll have a better-tasting result if you opt for local, freshly caught fish.
  • Be generous with your seasoning. Depending on the density of your fish, don’t hold back with salt, pepper, herbs and citrus.
  • Attempting a whole fish for the first time? Score it. This means to slice the skin three times, an inch or two apart.
  • Make sure fish is brought to room temperature and totally thawed out if frozen before cooking.
  • Farm-raised fish in N.C can be a good thing. There are some wonderful regulated fishing operations off the coast that have created natural safe habitats for species like oysters, trout and more.
  • Foremost, learn what you like. Make note of a dish you’ve tried and enjoyed at a restaurant or while traveling, then recreate it at home.

Seasonal Seafood Guide

“Just as crops have different growing seasons, so fish availability and variety change with the seasons. Fish, or at least one kind of fish, isn’t really caught year-round. So, when you want to go fishing, you have to ask, “What’s running when?” Folks who live and work in coastal communities know the answer about instinctively, but for the rest of us it takes practice. You can also always ask your local seafood expert. And remember, previously frozen fish isn’t a bad thing. The following list of fish runs has been compiled with information from North Carolina Sea Grant, Locals Seafood, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation.” (From the Saltbox Seafood Joint Cookbook)

Spring

  • amberjack
  • bluefish
  • clams
  • grouper
  • lionfish
  • monkfish
  • porgy (joltfish)
  • snapper
  • soft-shell crab
  • tuna

Summer

  • amberjack
  • bluefish
  • butterfish (harvestfish)
  • clams
  • grouper
  • ribbonfish
  • sea mullet (whiting)
  • shrimp
  • snapper
  • sugar toad
  • swordfish
  • tripletail
  • tuna

Fall

  • clams
  • conch
  • crab
  • croaker
  • flounder
  • hogfish (pigfish)
  • mullet
  • mackerel
  • oysters
  • sea mullet (whiting)
  • sea trout
  • sheepshead
  • shrimp
  • spot
  • sugar toad
  • swordfish
  • white perch

Winter

  • catfish
  • clams
  • croaker
  • dogfish
  • flounder
  • monkfish
  • oysters
  • porgy (joltfish)
  • sea trout (speckled trout)
  • rockfish (striped bass)
  • white grunt
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