Go Fish

Fish may be the healthiest food on the planet, but that's just one of the benefits of eating it. There is no protein that's quicker, more adaptable, and easier to cook than a spanking-fresh hunk of fish. Too many men view this meat as a tricky ingredient that's destined to turn to leather, or mush, despite their best culinary efforts. (Discover the 10 other best foods you're not eating.) But with help from four of the greatest seafood chefs ever to wield a boning knife, we'll prove that you, too, can cook truly amazing fish tonight. Learn a handful of shopping rules and master a few basic techniques, and you can bake, braise, saute, grill, and poach your way through the entire fish case with the confidence of a man raised on the tides. Go ahead—take the plunge.

How to buy great fish

No matter how deep or how limited your culinary prowess, your result depends totally on the quality of the fish you're working with. Follow these tips to secure the perfect catch. And then complete the meal with a great side: Learn how to pick the best produce in your supermarket, and everything will taste extraordinary.

If you live in a city

Look to the East. Japanese markets typically maintain stratospheric fish standards, and shops in Chinatown have huge turnover and usually stock live fish. (Avoid overcrowded tanks filled with demoralized vertebrates, though.) You want a clean, well-kept store with an assortment of whole fish and fillets. And you want a fishmonger you can talk to and trust, not a cooler full of shrink-wrapped fish on plastic trays.

If you live in Plainville, Kan.

If Paul Bartolotta can win a James Beard award cooking fish in the middle of the Nevada desert, then you can prepare consistently great seafood in a landlocked state. Your best bet is to turn to one of the growing number of excellent fish purveyors offering overnight delivery service, putting fat-speckled fillets of Alaskan king salmon and rosy-hued slabs of black cod only a few clicks away. Here are three of our favorite companies:

• Browne Trading Company:  For fish as pristine as the fillets used to create four-star plates at Le Bernardin, this is where to turn. You'll pay for it—chef Eric Ripert himself buys from these guys—but you'd be hard-pressed to find a door-to-door delivery service offering finer fish than this one. brownetrading.com
• Pike Place Fish Market: Avoid the tourists (and the flying fish) that clog this high-traffic Seattle market, and have $10-a-pound halibut and beautiful king salmon delivered to your doorstep by 6 p.m. the day after you order. Ask for Anders, and he'll suggest fish not listed on the Web site and have it cut the way you like (no extra charge). pikeplacefish.com
• Mitsuwa Marketplace: Seafood chefs swear by the Japanese when it comes to expert fish care. Mitsuwa has an excellent assortment of sashimi-grade fish, including fatty tuna and yellowtail. shop.mitsuwa.com

The ultimate fish finder

Tuna: "Tuna is never brown," says Ripert. "It should be bright red. An artificial-looking, pinkish color means they're putting a preserving gas on it." Avoid overfished bluefin tuna; opt for U.S. Atlantic-caught yellowfin instead. Substitutes: mackerel, mahi mahi

Salmon: "A perfect salmon smells like cucumber," says Michael Cimarusti. "The fat has to be white. Yellow fat means it's old," says Ripert. Salmon has many natural colors, from pink (coho) to red (sockeye and fatty king salmon) to off-white. Farmed fish are often fed artificial pigments to give them an orange or pink hue. Substitutes: Arctic char, mackerel, herring

Trout: An extremely fresh fish stays flat, not floppy, when held out horizontally. Whole trout should be covered in a natural, clear, slick film. The fish's eyes should be bright and protruding. Substitutes: sablefish, carp, salmon

Striped bass: Fish from cold waters are more fatty because of those lower temperatures. And they should be a bright, translucent white. If found in warmer waters, they have less fat and the blood is darker. To help avoid exposure to pollutants, opt for farmed striped bass, which is designated as cleaner than wild. Substitutes: snapper, black sea bass, cod

Swordfish: The flesh is typically white or tinged with pink, but not beige. The portions of dark meat in fillets should be red, not brown. Due to high mercury levels, limit consumption of it to once a week. Avoid imported swordfish; its high level of bycatch (unwanted caught fish) harms the environment. Substitutes: mahi mahi, sturgeon

Halibut: "A perfect halibut has the smell of aluminum," Cimarusti says. Alaskan halibut is snow-white; Eastern halibut is off-white to translucent white. Avoid fillets with patches of discoloration and cracks in the flesh, which signifies poor handling. Substitutes: pacific cod, striped bass (farmed), turbot

Click here to find out what's in your sushi roll, too!

When to buy great fish

There are no universally good or bad days to buy fish. So strike preemptively by finding out when your favorite fish is being delivered, and plan your night around it. After all, you should never cook a Friday fish on a Sunday.

What do I look for?

Just because you walked into a shop with your mind set on poaching salmon doesn't mean you should buy the salmon. The catch of the day might be incredible local swordfish or tuna. The point is, base your choice on freshness, not on a predetermined recipe.

Next, examine the fish closely. The eyes should be clear, not cloudy. Though fish shouldn't be really bloody, any blood should be bright red. And so should the gills. Now take a whiff. "Fish shouldn't smell like fish," says Ripert, who rejects up to 20 percent of the fish delivered to Le Bernardin each day. "It should smell like the ocean, but not at low tide." Scales should be difficult to pull off, flesh should bounce back to the touch (as opposed to leaving a lasting, rotten impression), and the belly shouldn't be soft and bloated.

And in many cases, choose wild instead of farmed fish. Not only can farmed fish be higher in pollutants, but "it just doesn't taste as good as wild fish," says Ripert. (If you find that surprising, click here to discover 30 health food frauds.)

Whole fish or fillets?

Roasting or grilling fish whole yields a rich succulence that's hard to achieve with fillets. "Have the fishmonger scale the fish and remove the entrails very carefully," says Bartolotta. If you prefer fillets, buy the fish whole and have it broken down; about a pound of whole fish per serving will do the trick. Why? Because it's easier to gauge freshness with a whole fish. Final words of wisdom from Ripert: "If you cook the fish and your kitchen stinks, don't ever go back to that market."

Skin or no skin?

You're either a skin guy or you're not. We're skin guys. That's because skin helps insulate the flesh, keeping it moist during high-heat cooking, like grilling and broiling. Plus, the skin can house some dense deposits of omega-3s. If it's crispy skin you seek, go with striped bass (farmed), red snapper, or salmon, and use a nonstick pan to help keep the fillet intact. Skin or not, be sure to pat your fish dry before cooking it; removing the moisture ensures even caramelization.

Our expert panel

• Eric Ripert runs the impeccable Le Bernardin, which has won just about every culinary accolade imaginable and is critically acclaimed as one of the world's finest seafood restaurants. His kitchen's mantra: "The fish is the star of the plate."
• Paul Bartolotta has achieved the seemingly impossible at his restaurant, Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, in the Wynn Las Vegas: He serves world-renowned seafood in the middle of the desert. Sure, he consults with an in-house marine biologist, but you've got plenty to learn from him.
• Michael Cimarusti has been fishing since he was a kid growing up in New Jersey. He now helms Providence, widely considered to be the best restaurant in Los Angeles, and continues to reel in fresh Pacific fish.
• Michael White likes to go big, whether it's opening the multimillion-dollar extravaganza Marea on Central Park South or pairing handmade fusilli with red-wine braised octopus and bone marrow.

The Ultimate Fish Decoder:

Based on 3 oz servings

Wild Alaskan salmon

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 923
• Protein (g): 18
• Mercury level: Low
• Environmental friendliness**: Best

Farmed rainbow trout

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 789
• Protein (g): 18
• Mercury level: Low
• Environmental friendliness**: Best

Pacific halibut

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 308
• Protein (g): 18
• Mercury level: Medium
• Environmental friendliness**: Best

Farmed catfish

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 233
• Protein (g): 13
• Mercury level: Low
• Environmental friendliness**: Best

Tilapia

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 102
• Protein (g): 17
• Mercury level: Low
• Environmental friendliness**: Best***

Farmed salmon

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 1,671
• Protein (g): 17
• Mercury level: Low
• Environmental friendliness**: Worst

Yellowfin tuna

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 185
• Protein (g): 20
• Mercury level: Medium
• Environmental friendliness**: Good-Best***

Mahi mahi

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 92
• Protein (g): 16
• Mercury level: MEDIUM
• Environmental friendliness**: Good-Best***

Swordfish

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 543
• Protein (g): 17
• Mercury level: HIGH
• Environmental friendliness**: Good-Best***

Grouper

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 210
• Protein (g): 16
• Mercury level: MEDIUM
• Environmental friendliness**: Varies

Atlantic cod

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 156
• Protein (g): 15
• Mercury level: LOW
• Environmental friendliness**: Varies

Chilean sea bass

• Omega-3s (mg EPA and DHA): 506
• Protein (g:) 16
• Mercury level: MEDIUM
• Environmental friendliness**: Worst

*Listed from best to worst based on a combination of the four criteria.

**Based on Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch. For more info, go to seafoodwatch.org.

***U.S.-caught fish