Rules About Cooking Time

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top 1000North Atlantic Seafood
North Atlantic Seafood

By Alan Davidson

Published 1980

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It follows from the preceding paragraph that cooking time must depend on the greatest thickness of the fish. Heat travels gradually from the outside to the inside. The further it has to go, the longer it takes.

However, the time taken does not vary in simple proportion to the thickness, but in proportion to the square of the thickness. This principle, of course, applies to other substances, not just to fish; but many people are unaware of it. If it takes 2 minutes to cook a piece of fish 2 cm thick, then a piece 4 cm thick will require 8 minutes, not 4 minutes.