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Baked Catfish A'La Meuni`Ere

Baked Catfish and Pecans

Baked Citrus Swordfish

Baked Fish Chowder

Baked Fish Fillet

Baked Fish with Almond Stuffing

Baked Fish with Orange-Chili Marinade

Baked Fish with Orange-Chili Marinade

Baked Fish with Potatoes

Baked Fish with Tomato-Orange Confit

Baked Fish with Vegetables

Baked Gefilte Fish

Baked Halibut On a Bed Of Peppers

Baked Onaga (Red Snapper)

Baked Stuffed Fish

Baked Stuffed Fish 2

Baked Stuffed Lake Trout, Salmon, Or Walleyed Pike

Baked Trout with Fennel

Baked Walleye In Sour Cream

Baked Whitefish

Baked Whole Fish

How to clean a fish, remove fish scales and fins and prepare the marinades.

Most Baked fish recipes require the fish to be cooked whole with the skin and head on. This means the fish has to be thoroughly scaled if it is a scale fish and cleaned . Cleaning fish in the order described below will save time and vastly improve the resulting dish, a specialist fish cleaning knife is not necessary, any sharp knife will do.

When preparing fish for baking it is best to remove all fish scales before gutting the fish (or removing the head) otherwise the scales around the gut cavity and head area are almost impossible to remove.

If you want to avoid being spiked when cleaning saltwater fish, trim all the fins off the fish with kitchen utility shears or scissors before scaling the fish. The scales are then easily removed by running a knife or fish scaler from the tail of the fish towards the head and lifting the scales in the process. A little force is required on some heavily scaled fish species.

The sides of the fish up to the gill area are fairly easy to scale but care should be taken to remove all the small fish scales from the underbelly, head area and close to the fins and gills. Check for missed fish scales by running your fingers or fingernails against the grain in tricky areas. This is the most important task as fish scales in the finished dish can detract from baked fish meals.

If you are not keeping the head and wings on the fish, (my advice is to leave them on for all Baked fish recipes as they contain the most succulent portions), they should be removed next by running a knife behind the gill plate, down to the backbone, and completely across the fish on both sides.

Angle the blade forward to undercut the head as plenty of bone free flesh is in this area. The backbone can then be snapped or cut to remove the head without tearing the flesh.

Cleaning Fish - How to gut a fish

Baking Fish

Serving Baked Fish