Fresh fish need minimal treatment to become a delicacy. Their tender, delicate flesh dries up quickly when overcooked and their flavor easily gets lost with too much seasoning or too many culinary additions. When you obtain fresh fish, the basic rule is to give them the respect that they deserve and not to try to do too much. The freshest fish (not all of them, only the suitable kinds - see box below), the ones that come to the table no more than 24 hours after they were swimming in the sea, are most wonderful eaten without being heated at all.

At the start of the heating process, in every form of cooking, the delicate taste of fish gets stronger and volatile molecules emanate and spread a strong smell. Later on in the cooking a reaction occurs that dulls the flavors of the fish and toughens its flesh, and when the flesh approaches the temperature of 60 degrees Celsius this process also causes a loss of moisture and the fish dries out.

Unheated, the flesh of fresh fish retains a soft, delicate and special texture and refreshing, fresh sweet flavors. In a minority of cases, fish that has not been cooked is eaten completely raw (sushi, sashimi). In other cases the fish is "cooked" by a brief exposure to an acidic liquid (seviche, kinilau, fish carpaccio) or by curing in salt and/or sugar (herring, anchovies, sardines, gravad lax). Marinating in citrus juices, vinegar or salt makes the flesh of the fish opaque and firm, and hardens it slightly but preserves its natural texture and flavor while also keeping its juiciness.