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are probably the most sustainable seafood on the planet. You’ll find them in large net bags at supermarkets and they make a great quick lunch or supper, but for scallops and oysters you’ll normally have to go to a fishmonger or buy online. Molluscs should always be cooked live, so as soon as you get them home, store them wrapped in a damp tea towel in the bottom of your fridge and eat within a day. Clean mussels only when you are about to eat them. Discard any with cracked shells or any open ones that fail to close when you give them a sharp tap. Now rinse them under running water, pulling away their stringy ‘beards’ and using a knife to cut away any barnacles.
    PREPARING
    Fish and seafood sometimes need to be prepared before cooking. It’s easiest, of course, to ask your fishmonger to do this job for you, but if you have a sharp, flexible knife, it’s not that hard once you get the hang of it. Here are some of the techniques you may find most useful.
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    HOW TO FILLET, SKIN AND PIN-BONE A FISH
    1 . Cut the fish’s head off at a diagonal just behind the gills. Keeping the fish flat, with its tail towards you, and starting at head end, cut through skin along the length of the backbone, using long sweeping strokes. Arching the fish’s back slightly with your free hand will make the skin tauter and therefore easier to cut.
    2 . Once you have reached beyond the ribcage, insert the knife fully and cut along the backbone to the tail, releasing the tail end completely.
    3 . Now go back to the head end and, using your free hand to pull the fillet away from the backbone, use short strokes of the knife to tease the flesh away from the ribcage. Work your way down the fish until the fillet is released.
    4 . Turn the fish over, with the tail away from you, and repeat the process, keeping the knife flat so that it stays as close as possible to the fish’s backbone.
    5 . To remove the skin, place the fillet skin side down on your work surface. Grip the tail firmly with your free hand and cut down through the flesh, as low down the fish as you can, until you reach the skin. Now, pulling the fish taut and keeping the knife angled slightly downwards, cut the flesh away from the skin using a long sawing motion.
    6 . To remove fine pin bones, use either tweezers or a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler. Catch the bones between the two blades and flick up, twisting as you do so, to pull out the bones. Pin bones in some larger fish, such as cod, can be difficult to remove without tearing the flesh. These are best removed once the fish is cooked.

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    HOW TO SHUCK AN OYSTER
    Just before serving, scrub any dirt from the shell under running water. Holding the oyster level in a clean tea towel, insert a shucking knife through the hinge (tapered end) of the oyster and twist until the shell pops open. Run your knife around the inside of the top shell to release the oyster. Remove the top shell, being careful not to spill any of its precious juice.
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    HOW TO BUTTERFLY A MACKEREL FILLET
    By removing the backbone from small fish but leaving the two fillets intact, you make them easier to stuff and much less fiddly to eat. Remove the head, but leave the tail. Cut along the length of the belly and place the fish, belly down, on a work surface. Now push down on its backbone to flatten the fish out. Using your fingers and a sharp knife, you should be able to work the backbone free. Don’t worry about any small bones as they will be soft enough to eat.
    COOKING
    Unlike meat, which doesn’t generally require minute-precise cooking times, fish does require more accuracy. Overcooked fish will dry out and turn mushy. You want to bring your fish to the stage where the flesh has just turned white or opaque instead of translucent, and it divides easily into individual flakes. The thinner the fish, obviously, the quicker it will cook. Check by inserting a sharp knife. If it meets no resistance, it’s done.
    FRYING
    This is probably the most common