Fish – How to tell if fish is fresh

I have a simple way to do this for all types of fish.

You simple find a chopstick and insert the chopstick in the middle of the fish toward to the fish head, which means it's usually thickest part of the fish.

If you can easily insert the chopstick through the fish, it is usually fully cooked. If you find it difficult to insert the chopstick or feel your chopstick is stuck when there bone is, it generally means uncooked. Otherwise, you can also feel the temp of the chopstick and it should be warm in the middle the part you insert into the fish.

Inserting the chopstick shouldn't damage your fish as the hole is small.

You probably have already purchased an oven at this point, but this video from America's Test Kitchen seems to explain a lot of things and offers some purchasing suggestions.

The model they recommend is the Breville Smart Oven, however it is made for the US and I could not seem to find a version made for 230V outlets. A reviewer suggested using a "step down transformer," but I don't have any experience with using US appliances in other countries so use your own judgement here.

If you've already purchased an oven, please let us know what you got and how it turned out! I find the idea of using a small toaster oven for heavy duty baking fascinating and would love to hear if you were able to make it work.