Fish – 3 types of fish, 3 temperature/time per package

cooking-timefishtemperature

I have to have 3 fish items ready at 6:00 PM but they each require different temperature and time and are of different weight.

Can someone please help me … what I need is the oven temperature and at what times (prior to 5pm when we leave for church) I need to put each item in the oven so they are ready, but not dried out, when we get home at 6:10 pm tonight.

My thought is to pre-heat the oven (ex: to 375 F), put items in when YOU suggest, and set the oven to turn off at 5:00 (so it will gradually cool down … and the fish will be warm when we get home at 6:10 pm – but not burnt from being in the oven too long)

Here is the list:

Qty Fish Type       Status CookTemp  CookTime TotalWeight
2   Salmon&Sauce    Thawed    375     16 min    0.9 lb
2   Stuffed Salmon  Frozen    350     20 min    1.2 lb
4   Crusted Talapia Frozen    425    16-20 min  1.1 lb

The cook time above is from the package(s) based on if frozen or thawed.

I need one temperature and then at what time to put in each item or tell me what the cooking time should be for each item at your suggested temperature and I'll subtract from 5:30 tonight.

Thanks so much in advance for your help because I'm totally stumped about this and trying to help out my wife.

Best Answer

I would recommend doing what Stephie says in the comments - start the food right when you come in. With 5 minutes to preheat and ~20 minutes of cook time, your fish will be ready around 6:35-40. It won't be ready right when you walk in the door, but that's okay.

To answer your original question of how to cook these three fish in the same oven, here's how I would handle it:

The frozen tilapia can probably handle temperature variation more easily, so let's drop the 425 temperature. Heat your oven to 375. Since we're lower than the 425 the tilapia calls for, you will want to give it a little extra time. Put the tilapia and stuffed salmon in at the same time. Put the tilapia on the bottom rack (it will be a little warmer) and the stuffed salmon in the middle of the oven.

After about 4 minutes, put in the salmon & sauce, also on the middle rack (if there's space). Leave them all in for another 16 minutes. (You may want to check after about 10 minutes to make sure the tilapia isn't overheating on the bottom. It should be pretty warm at this point, but not steaming hot.)

After 16 minutes, pull them out and check them for doneness (or appropriate heat level if they're already cooked, as I'm guessing at least the two frozen ones are). If they're not quite cooked yet, then put them back in the oven, and you can bump the temperature up to 400 for a couple minutes to give them a last boost.

You said you needed this by 5:30 tonight, so I'm guessing it's a bit late for this, but hopefully it will be useful for future questioners.

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