The best eating fish in New Zealand

How we chose: each pick is based on its flesh type and the cooking notes on its species page, drawn from Seafood New Zealand and Fisheries New Zealand. It’s a guide to what suits each fish, not a taste test.

Best for pan-frying and baking

Mild white fish with fine flakes. Keep it simple: butter, lemon, a hot pan.

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  Snapper

  Tender, sweet white-to-pink flesh. Cook it whole, on the bone or as fillets, or eat it raw.

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  Blue cod

  White, delicate, flaky flesh with a mild flavour. Pan-fry in butter or bake whole.

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  Tarakihi

  Firm, moist white flesh with a delicate flavour that suits almost any method.

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  John Dory

  Thin fillets that bone out easily. Crispy-skin pan-frying is the classic way to cook it.

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  Red gurnard

  Firm, sweet pink-white fillets that hold their shape. Remove the row of pin bones first.

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  Sand flounder

  Delicate, fine-textured white flesh. Cook it whole on the bone with butter or lemon.

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  Trumpeter

  Firm, moist white flesh that stays intact on a hot pan or grill.

Best raw: sashimi, sushi and ika mata

Firm, clean-tasting fish that has been bled and iced straight after capture.

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  Kingfish

  Firm, rich flesh widely eaten as sashimi. Bleed it and ice it straight away.

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  Trevally

  Fine-textured, mild flesh used for sashimi, ceviche and kokoda. Remove the dark red strip.

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  Yellowfin tuna

  Dense, lean flesh. Eat it raw or sear it quickly and leave the centre rare.

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  Pacific bluefin tuna

  The darkest, fattiest tuna, eaten almost entirely as sushi and sashimi.

Best for smoking

Oily fish that dry out when fried but come into their own in a smoker.

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  Kahawai

  Darker, oily flesh that smokes very well. Bleed it and eat it within a few days.

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  Grey mullet

  Oily pinkish-grey flesh, especially good smoked. The roe is a delicacy.

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  Barracouta

  Soft white flesh with a rich flavour that smokes very well.

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  Gemfish

  Richer than most white fish, and excellent smoked.

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  Brown trout

  Smoking is the traditional way. Wild trout can't be sold, so you have to catch your own.

Best for steaks, barbecue and chowder

Big, firm, thick-flaked fish that hold together on the grill and in soups.

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  Hāpuku

  Firm white flesh with few bones and large flakes. Good as steaks and for smoking.

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  Bluenose

  Firm, succulent, thick flakes that hold together in soups and chowders.

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  Ling

  Thick, boneless, firm white fillets that suit almost any method.

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  Stargazer

  Firm, pearly white flesh sometimes compared to crayfish when cooked.

Best for fish and chips

Fish that batter well and stay moist in the fryer.

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  Rig

  Sold as lemonfish: firm, boneless and best battered and deep fried.

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  Tarakihi

  For many years one of the most popular table fish sold in New Zealand.

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  Hoki

  Mild white flesh, common in fish fingers and fish burgers. Better in fish pies than crumbed in a pan.

Handling tips that make the biggest difference

• Bleed and ice. Kill the fish quickly, cut the throat or gills to bleed it, and put it straight into an ice slurry. This matters most for kahawai, kingfish and trevally.
• Watch the spines. Golden snapper have sharp gill-cover spines, and leatherjacket need their tough skin removed.
• Mind the bones. Gurnard fillets have a row of small pin bones to remove before cooking.

Before you keep a fish, check the size and daily limits for your area.