• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Cooking in a house on a hill

  • Pick a meal
    • One Bowl Meals
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch / Dinner
      • Appetizers
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
    • Snacks
  • Pick your protein
    • Chicken
    • Meat
    • Seafood
    • Eggs
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Vegetables
  • Pick your carb
    • Rice & grains
    • Noodles
    • Bread
  • Notes
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
    • Sidebar
  • All recipes
    • By Meal
      • One Bowl Meals
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / Dinner
        • Appetizers
        • Salads
        • Soups
        • Main Courses
        • Side Dishes
        • Sweets
      • Snacks
    • By Main Protein
      • Chicken
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By Carb
      • Rice & grains
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Notes
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
    • Sidebar
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Kitchen / How-tos / How to score a whole fish

How to score a whole fish

With recipes for cooking whole fish, it is common to see instructions to “score” the fish. What exactly does “score” mean and what is its purpose?

Scoring a fish by making diagonal slashes

Scoring the fish means slashing across the thickest part of the flesh. With small fish, one slash is usually enough. But for larger fish, you’ll need to make more.

The most common way is to make diagonal slash or slashes. There is no rule though that says you can’t do it differently.

A whole pompano scored with vertical and horizontal slashes

Another technique is make a vertical slash from the head down to the tail then make two to or more horizontal slashes that intersect with the vertical slash.

Some cooks make slashes so deep that they reach the bone. I don’t. For me, the ideal depth is midway between the skin and the bone — just enough to open up the flesh to catch the seasoning and for the heat to get through the flesh more efficiently.

In which direction the slashes go doesn’t really matter so long as you address the three purposes for scoring the fish.

1 – Score whole fish for even seasoning

Unlike fish steaks and fillets which you can cut into even thickness, a whole fish, even the flattish ones, will be thicker down the middle and thinner at the sides.

Scoring the fish enables you to allow the seasoning to reach deep into the thickest parts of the flesh.

2 – Score whole fish for even cooking

The uneven thickness of the flesh of a whole fish means the thinner portions will cook faster than the thick middle. Scoring the fish allows it to cook evenly.

3 – Score whole fish to create steam vents

Try frying or steaming a whole fish without scoring it first AND SEE if it doesn’t burst. Why would it do that?

Water. Fish flesh contains water. When water gets hot, where does it go? Up, right? It becomes steam. When water from the fish flesh pushes upward, the flesh will burst open.

Scoring the fish creates steam vents to allow the water to escape without forcing the flesh to allow it to do so.

So, there. If you think that scoring the fish is just additional work, it isn’t.

Last updated on July 24, 2022 ♥ How-tos, Kitchen

More to enjoy!

Fresh whole squids on chopping board

How to clean fresh whole squid (calamari)

Tajine going in the oven

Tajine pot: buying guide, seasoning and care

Frozen demi-glace

When making gravy, demi-glace is your best friend

Edamame (fresh soy beans in pods)

How to cook edamame (fresh soy beans in pods)

Reusing jars and bottles for food use

Recycling glass jars and bottles for food use

Illustration of custard thick enough to coat the back of a spoon

Making custard: best practices

Sidebar

A cook’s diary

Easy tasty risotto for home cooks

My Mac’s dictionary defines risotto as “an Italian dish of rice cooked in stock with other ingredients such as meat and vegetables.” For an Asian, that sounds like throwing everything in a rice cooker until everything is done. But it’s not quite that simple.

Food bowls: Asian versus non-Asian

Food bowls are traditionally Asian. Bibimbap, donburi, gaifan, bun cha — all of which are about harmony of ingredients. Western food bowls are entirely something else.

How to cook congee (rice porridge) minus the myths

What rice variety is best for cooking congee? Which is better for cooking congee: water or broth? What is the ideal proportion of rice to liquid? Should congee be cooked over low or high heat?

umamidays.com
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Privacy
  • Contact

Umami Days is powered by Apple, Canon, coffee & one bowl meals · Copyright © 2022 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved