Types of Fish and Seafood

Name	Form	Definition	Preparation	Best Ways to Cook
Fin Fish:	Whole or round, fresh	Whole fish, just as it comes from the water	Remove scales and entrails. Head, fins and tail may be removed. Cut into serving size pieces or cook whole	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Drawn, fresh or frozen	Whole fish, eviscerated	Scale. Head, fins and tail may be removed. Cut into servings or cook whole	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Dressed or pan-dressed, fresh or frozen	Ready to cook	Cut into steaks or fillets, if you wish	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Steaks, fresh or frozen	Cross-section cuts of large fish	None	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Fillets, fresh or frozen	Meaty sides of the fish	None	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Butterfly fillets, fresh or frozen	Two single fillets held together by a small piece of skin.	None	Bake, poach, broil, fry, steam
	Breaded fillets, frozen raw or cooked	Fillet with seasoned crumb coating.	None	Oven finish, deep fry
	Breaded portions, frozen raw or cooked	Uniform, serving portions. Cut from frozen blocks or fillets. Seasoned crumb coating.	None	Oven finish, deep fry
	Fish sticks and bite-size pieces, frozen raw or cooked	Uniformly cut from frozen fillet blocks. Seasoned crumb coating.	None	Oven finish, deep fry
Shrimp:	Green, headless fresh or frozen	Raw, in-shell shrimps	Remove shell and black sand vein in back either before or after cooking.	Boil, bake or broil
	Peeled and deveined, fresh or frozen	Shrimp from which shell and black sand vein have been removed.	None	Boil, bake, broil or saute
	Cooked, peeled and deveined, fresh or frozen	See preceeding box	None	Already cooked
	Deveined, frozen raw or cooked breaded – also extruded	Peeled shrimp from which black sand vein has been removed and has been breaded. Extruded product formed from shrimp pieces and breaded.	None	Deep Fry or oven finish
Oysters/Clams/Mussels:	Shucked, fresh or frozen	Removed from shell.	Wash out sand and bits of shell if frozen, thaw before cooking	Steam, bake, saute
Lobster:	Tail, fresh or frozen	Meat from tail of lobster, Usually sold in shell.	Before cooking, remove thin under shell to reduce curling.	Bake, broil, or simmer
Lobster:	Live	Whole lobster	For details refer to a seafood cookbook.	Boil, broil
Crab:			For details on various types refer to a seafood cookbook.	Depends on market form; refer to cookbook or, if frozen breaded, to package directions.

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