Niland's philosophy extends to using every part of the fish — including the collar (the fatty section between head and body), the belly, and the liver — documenting techniques for rendering and utilising fish fat in ways that European cooking has largely ignored. Fish fat, particularly from salmon, kingfish, and tuna, has a distinctive rich character that deserves the same deliberate treatment as animal fat.
The rendering of fish skin and collar fat through controlled heat application — slow rendering to extract maximum fat before crisping, producing a crackled skin with entirely different texture and flavour than quickly seared fish skin.
- Start in a cold pan with no additional fat — the fish skin fat will render into the pan as heat increases. Adding fat to the pan produces frying rather than rendering [VERIFY] - Weight the fish down during rendering — fish skin contracts aggressively when heated, curling the fillet off the pan surface. A fish weight or heavy spatula held against the skin maintains contact [VERIFY] - The rendering takes longer than typical fish searing — 3–5 minutes skin-down over medium heat before the skin turns golden. Patience is the technique [VERIFY time] - The collar: separated from the head, the collar is the fattiest, most flavourful part of the fish. Grilled over high heat until charred on the exterior and yielding within — the Japanese hamachi kama preparation. No additional fat needed; the collar renders its own [VERIFY] - Fish liver (from large fish — tuna, kingfish) can be seared briefly like foie gras — it has a similar fat content and responds similarly to heat
JOSH NILAND: THE WHOLE FISH COOKBOOK + HAROLD McGEE: ON FOOD AND COOKING