For health conscious consumers who want a highly nutritious diet, fish is generally quite a popular meal because it has both a very high protein content and is very low in fat. Although oily fish like salmon do contain about the same amount of fat per pound as ice cream, it is a type of fat which is in fact very healthy. The fat in salmon — and in all fish with dark flesh and a high oil content, such as mackerel, tuna, sardines, anchovies and bluefish — contains omega-3 fatty acids, which our bodies need to function properly.
However, although fish does undoubtedly have a lot of health benefits, if there is one dish that a consumer generally doesn’t like to cook it is fish. Why? The main reason is that once heated the high protein content of fish makes it stick to a pan very easily. In addition, fish skin is very flaky, so when a fish is turned over during cooking it can easily tear apart, visibly impairing the appearance of the dish.
Why does the high protein content of fish make it liable to stick on the pan so easily? If proteins are allowed to denature – chemically unravel – slowly, they stick firmly (glue is made of proteins which have denatured). Since proteins stick when they unravel slowly, you have to make sure they cook quickly. This means that the heat must be high enough to start setting the proteins immediately.
However, other foodstuffs such as meat also have a high protein content, why aren’t they just as difficult to cook as fish? Well, the main reason is that meat is denser than fish: it consists primarily of long fibres arranged in longitudinal bundles, held together by connective tissue called collagen. Fish, on the other hand, is very flaky because it consists of short fibres separated by large, thin sheets of collagen. Not only does the flesh of fish separate into its short fibres much faster than meat, but the collagen in fish is also more fragile and will convert into gelatin much more quickly.
Lotus Rock Construction
Lotus Rock’s Fish Pan is made of carbon steel, which heats up much faster than either aluminum or cladded stainless steel. This type of metal is particularly ideal for cooking fish because, if used properly, its quick heat conduction can ensure that the proteins inside the fish are cooked too quickly to have time to denature and stick to the pan.
Moreover, because the gauge of the carbon steel substrate of a Lotus Rock fish pan is very thick, at 2.0mm, the fish doesn’t heat up too quickly and burn. Instead the heat is retained well within the pan and fish is heated evenly without any hot spots. Why is this important? For fish to be cooked well an attractive and delicious browning texture needs to be seared on to it, but that won’t start until around 320° F, so the surface of your pan must be at least that hot before you add the fish. When the fish is added the cooking temperature of the pan will drop, but because of Lotus Rock’s strong, thick construction this reduction in heat will be significantly less compared to other more commonly used cooking utensils. A Lotus Rock fish pan can therefore cook, say, salmon not just quickly – so the protein won’t denature and cause it to stick – but also evenly, and with an excellent heating effect, giving the salmon a delicious, browned appearance and succulent taste.
Lotus Rock Coating
Besides its strong construction, there is a second reason why a fish doesn’t easily stick to a Lotus Rock pan: the lipophilic silicon-oxide crystal coating. When cooking oil is added on a Lotus Rock Fish Pan before use it seeps through the permeable coating and creates an excellent, natural non-stick surface.
So in addition to the great heating effect from the strong, carbon steel construction, the highly innovative silicon-oxide crystal coating ensures a fish can be turned over easily, without it breaking up on the pan and becoming flaky.
The Lotus Rock fish pan has a further advantage. Condiments or sauces are often used to add flavor to the fish while it is cooking, and after the fish is removed from the pan the remaining liquid is sometimes served on top of the fish to keep it moist and give it a juicy and more flavourful taste. However, because fish is cooked quickly and at a very high temperature, these sauces can sometimes scorch the pan and be rather difficult to remove. The Lotus Rock pan’s hydrophobic (water-hating) silicon-oxide crystal coating prevents these liquids, or any other dirty substances, penetrating its surface, making it much easier to clean than normal non-stick coated pans.
Lotus Rock fish pan shape
The last, and most obvious benefit of the Lotus Rock fish pan is its shape. The head and tail of an average-sized fish will often hang off the sides of a ordinary frying pan, so that not all of the fish will be properly cooked or absorb the sauces in the pan. The Lotus Rock fish pan is 37cm wide, making it easier to cook larger fish and increasing the chances of a better tasting dish.
