The Essential Kitchen Gadget for Fish Lovers - Mr. Niland Fish Press
Like most people who care about food and the culinary arts, I’m a bit of a geek for the niche. Carbon steel pans, end-grain wooden cutting boards, Japanese kitchen knives, charcoal grills - these tools are amazing, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my lizard-brained need to achieve cooking perfection. I absolutely adore a clever contraption. A well-thought-out doohickey. A gizmo which has been meticulously curated and engineered with both care and passion. Fellow geeks, allow me to introduce you to the Mr. Niland Fish Weight, the coolest hunk of metal in my kitchen that doesn’t have a razor-sharp cutting edge.
Cooking fish at home is intimidating. They’re delicate creatures that require a gentle touch - I’ve overcooked my fair share, and I’ve also struggled with incredibly frustrating skin-sticking-to-the-pan situations. High-quality cuts can be hard to find, and they’re definitely not cheap, which makes it all the more disappointing when things don’t go as planned. The Mr. Niland Fish Weight is designed with all of this in mind - it’s an incredibly simple and refined tool that makes cooking perfect fish easy, every time!
The concept is pretty simple - it’s a chrome bottomed disk of food-grade stainless steel with a handle. The weight itself is precisely 1.6 kg, enough pressure to push the fish into the pan, but not so much that it will squish its flesh. The handle, by the way, is specially designed not to get super hot in a pan.
Fish skin to those in-the-know is absolutely delicious when crispy and seared, so step number one is to get a pan with some oil or clarified butter nice and hot. Make sure the skin of your fish is nice and dry, and lay it down in the pan and gently place the weight on top, and adjust the heat so the fish doesn’t burn. The weight will help make sure the fish contacts the hot pan, ensuring you get an even sear - however, this is just part of the fish weight's job. As the pan and the fish heat up, so will the weight itself. Fish is pretty delicate and is easy to overcook, so this small amount of heat being transferred back down to the flesh side of the fish is actually enough to cook the fish’s flesh side super gently. Presto! Tendery, juicy, and perfect cooks every time!
Contrary to the name of the product, the Mr. Niland Fish Weight is also fantastic for lots of other food - just about everything you want to get a nice hard sear in your pan will benefit from having a little weighty encouragement. Pork chops have a tendency to curl up when heated, so a bit of weight from the top will make them behave a bit more nicely. The much maligned chicken breast can be made into a juicy thing of beauty with some weight, a thermometer, and a bit of love. It even makes for a dandy and stylish patty press for smashburgers!
We are super excited to have the Mr. Niland Fish Weight here in the shop - don’t forget to check out our awesome selection of steel pans and cookware as well, they’re an essential part of any foodie’s kitchen armoury.
