How To Cook With Fish Heads

For most Americans, the fish’s head, collar, and fins are considered waste parts which should be removed and thrown away. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this adds to the food waste problem that America is currently suffering from — the FDA estimates that Americans waste 30% to 40% of the food supply. Creating less food waste is one solution, which means cooking fish heads and other parts that are usually cut away from the filet. By cooking with the heads, your household can cut down on food waste while also saving money on the grocery bill. Meanwhile, recipes that include fish heads span the rest of the globe, so you’ll also get to explore a whole world of flavor you’ve been missing.

The fish head is a vital source of meat and flavor everywhere else in the world. Asian, Latin, African, Northern European, Russian, and indigenous cultures worldwide tend not to waste any part of the fish. In fact, the head is often treated as a delicacy. The head has been described as a concentration of sweet flavor in the fish. Fish heads contains fat and collagen that carries the flavor of the fish. They also make it hard to burn while grilling and roasting fish heads. No matter how the heads are cooked, the best way to eat them is like a chicken leg. Just use your hands and mouth to pull the meat off the cheeks, throat, and other parts of the head.

There are so many recipes for soups, stocks, whole fish bakes, curries, and more found all over the world. You can make a culinary journey around the globe without leaving your kitchen just by exploring ways to cook with whole fish (or just fish heads). It’s easy. Just choose which part of the world you want to “travel to” by way of your cooking. 

For example, you can visit the Caribbean by frying the fish with rice and beans, pico de gallo, and a batch of fried plantains. You can also make Rondón (also called rundown) stew or seafood stew with recipe variations from Nicaragua, Jamaica, Trinidad, and other cultures. Rondón combines the whole fish cut into parts with other seafood (shrimp, lobster, crab, etc.) which is then simmered in a stew of coconut milk, peppers, green bananas, yuca, and aromatics. 

You can hop over to Asia with a Vietnamese fish head soup with lemongrass, aromatics, bean sprouts, tomatoes, okra, and cabbage. Try a Singaporean fish head curry with tamarind water, coconut milk, spices, okra, eggplant, and other veggies. There are fish head recipes from South America, Northern Europe, and almost any other area of the world. Pick a place, and there’s a recipe for fish head. So, could you not throw it out? Instead, use the whole fish to begin your culinary exploration of world cuisine.