The secret of cooking fish without smelling like one Dear Burnt-out Cook, I love eating fish but I hate cooking it. Please advise. -- Fish-phobic Dear Fish-phobic, Essentially this is a question of smell. You don't want to smell of fish and, believe me, I understand. In Burgundy, where I worked for six months, we used to get two deliveries a week from Paris. One of the deliveries was on the day that the restaurant was closed and since I had no family to visit, I offered to help the owner break the fish down from the way that it arrived to the way that it was stored. It was winter and in the predawn darkness I'd walk through the iced-over streets of the village to the restaurant where the fish crates would already be stacked by the back door. We spent the morning gutting, filleting, scaling and cleaning and getting it all nicely put away in the fish box. Our big treat afterwards was to carve out the massive turbot cheeks. These morsels were about the size of small plums and we cooked them up with butter and a little lemon and we'd eat them while polishing off a bottle of Chablis on a counter in the huge, empty kitchen. It even made the way that we smelled worthwhile. Unless you're planning on poaching a whole salmon or a turbot, neither you nor your house need smell of fish. The advantage of fish today being sold pre-filleted is that it's ready to cook. The disadvantage is that fish on the bone has more taste and keeps its natural moisture. But unless you live near a Chinese fish market, you're not likely to find it intact. Once you've gotten your filleted fish home, open the package on a counter that can be wiped down. Keep it on the wrapping paper. Heat your pan or broiler. Salt and pepper both sides of the fish and cook quickly. No scales on your counter. No fish bones in your garbage. No smell. Once you've gotten over your initial fear, you're going to enjoy cooking fish. In restaurants, most cooks prefer to work the fish station than to work the meat station. You can be a lot more creative cooking fish and it's the perfect food for last-minute inspiration. Dear Burnt-out Cook, Do you have any recipes for including fruits in main courses? -- Ripe 'n' ready Dear Ripe, Actually, I don't. Other than appreciating duck's incredible affinity for oranges, peaches, pears or cherries, I'm not a big fan of the practice. I don't like the way fructose overpowers other flavors and I don't like the way it makes wine taste like wine-cooler. My one suggestion would be to always make sure there's a tart component to any recipe that involves fruit. Sauces for duck use a caramelization of sugar and vinegar as a base. For fish you could use liquefied tomatoes or cooked bell peppers or a classic court-bouillon (a cooked broth of white wine, vinegar, water and vegetables). Think of this as a background, and use fruit as flecks of color. Dear Burnt-out Cook, I inherited some copper pots. Could you tell me something about cooking with them? -- Weekend chef Dear Weekend, First of all make sure that they are actually cooking pots and not the copper-plated presentation dishes that are sold in kitchenware stores. You'll be able to tell by the weight. The cooking ones are heavy -- very heavy. The most popular model of copper cooking pot is what the French call a "sautoir." This is a round pan that has flat sides that are four to five inches high. It can be used for anything from braising endives to making a chicken fricassee. In restaurants you rarely see copper frying pans -- except for the ones that are used in the dining room for table-side service. Apart from the cost and the weight, copper does not take well to being left heated but unused for long periods of time. Restaurant frying pans always have to be hot and ready to go when an order comes in. Heated like this, copper lightens its color and develops multicolored streaks that look like the rings of the planet Mars. What's most important before you start using your pots is to make sure that the inside is still fully tinned. If it isn't, don't use the pot. Copper and food should never come in contact -- the copper's function is to evenly distribute the heat. A good kitchenware store should be able to give you the name of a re-tinning service. They'll probably also suggest you buy some copper cleaning product. Dishwashers in France use a paste of flour, water and lemon rinds to clean the copper without scouring it. You're going to enjoy using these pots. March 12, 1997 Seeking culinary guidance? E-mail your queries to TasteTalk. Please sign your full name, and let us know if you want your e-mail address to appear.

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