If bones are a huge problem for you, go for larger fish, like Tuna or Salmon. They tend to have a lower ratio of bones.
And if the fish smells too… Fishy, it is likely not good fish, so I would stay away from it.
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Salmon and Shrimp (Tiger shrimp (Gamba in dutch))
Great stuff!
and no you don’t eat the very end of the tail…
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The vast majority that says what you’re saying, is simply because they’ve rarely had well prepared fresh fish. Kudos for wanting to try it out and give it a chance. I’ve lived 40 years within 1km from the coast, so I guess my view is a bit tainted because of this.
Only badly handled fish smells like that. If you buy fresh fish, make sure you can check out it’s eyes before you get a piece. Clear = fresh, cloudy = old.
Don’t buy the nitrogen packed one, these pieces can be rather old 1 month +, and you’ll rarely get a nice piece. Instead buy the one that’s been rapidly frozen onboard the fishing boat or even better, catch them yourself (in my personal opinion, at the coast, not lake) or buy them at a local fisherman, not fish market.
I’d also stay away from the fish farm ones, compared to fish caught in the wild, they taste horrible.
Get yourself a set of nice tongs for removing bones while you prepare them.
Deep sea fish in general don’t have a lot of small bones, some does. Cod is a very nice fish, fairly easy to deal with when cooking it. If it’s boiled or fried too long, it becomes a bit tough, but still tastes nice. Trout is also quite a nice a fish, fairly forgiving in preparation. Redfish is very delicious too, lives in rather deep water, is a pain to filet the first few times. Halibut is very nice, can be a bit tricky to prepare, but when you got that sorted, with white wine sauce, one of my favorites.
Heh, well, if Salmon is expensive, stay away from Tuna 
If I were you, I’d go to a place where they have a decent selection of fresh fish, and simply try from an end. Bring your phone, use wikipedia to see if the fish is fresh or salt water, grab a filet or two from salt water. It’s fine if it has skin on one side, with some it’s to be preferred.
A very simple way to prepare fish nicely, works well with most species (fits on a frying pan and no more than 1cm thick).
When you get home and start preparation, wash in cold running water. Put them on a cloth, gently dry them off using a kitchen towel. Heat the pan, put half butter / half rapeseed oil in the pan. When butter melted, take the fillets one by one, roll them well into the rye flour, one at a time, give a bit of salt and pepper on the top. Put them on the frying pan for 3-5 minutes, skin side down if it has skin.
Done
The thicker the pieces get, the more difficult it is to get them well done, without having to flip them.
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Can you people stop saying that?
The clearest example I have are calamari… People drool over them, I push them on the far side of the restaurant because the smell itself is bad. My nose is telling me this is awful. People seems to love it …
Japanese dude here
Quality fish costs money. Smelly is pretty standard.
Depending on where you live (i.e. inland, or away from fish farm) the fish quality can decline with travel (age) even after a couple hours/a day. Fresh fish is always the best- I will say, a lot of restaurants I’ve been to serve sub-par stuff, the further you get from the coast/source, the less quality you can expect.
I noticed some pretty gamey tasting suggestions here (like trout) that I wouldn’t recommend if you don’t like much fish to begin with.
My suggestion is Salmon. Check for good color, but not too much saturation there. Too light and it’s not flavorful, too dark and it will taste like the other gamey stuff.
Cut into semi-thin (up to one inch) with the skin if you can. Lightly salt and cook on a stir fry pan for about 15- 20 minutes. If it falls apart too easily you’ve overcooked it, so get it to a semi broken up state that is still held together (obviously, make sure it’s not raw). Have it with some rice, or you can use a butter+chives sauce in a saute pan and pour it on there.
Anyway I’m not Gordon Ramsey and someone else that’s a better chef could probably offer something better, but that’s my suggestion. Eat it or leave it.
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Errm, calamari is not a fish.
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A kilo of that beautiful thing is about 5% of my monthly salary…
15€ for the fish alone… No, my friend. My pockets aren’t that deep at all…
Trout is a thing I can afford once a month or so… 5€ for kilo is fine… Sometimes even cheaper…
I can try like billion ways to cook it. I just wanted recommendations for not smelly fish that doesn’t have a lot of bones.
Salmon - whenever I get rich…
Off topic but how come you make only 300,- a month
?
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Fun fact - that is about the average salary in the country… € 300,- (the local equivalent)…
Ah alright you live east-block?
pretty far away from salt water fish then.
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The sea is about 150km from here (90miles)…
But yes, I can’t have fresh fish in any way shape or form…
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I live on the coast at the moment but my food comes from coles and safeway which is the same when I lived inland here.
We dont all have local farms and fisherman to shop from when cooking a meal in a microwave for one.
Im 900m from the beach and there is no fishing industry at all here.
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I live in the Netherlands, pretty far land inwards, against the German border.
Still fish shops galore all over the country. and fresh fish on every market.
But that’s the culture here.
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That’s the thing…
I’m not entirely sure there are any specifically fish markets in the city. I have hypermarkets where I’m shopping but I don’t think there are fish specific stores around…
Beside other great suggestions like salmon these are mine:
Swordfish is the best bet to get back into eating fish. Has no bones in it to get rid of, is meaty like a steak and doesen’t smell bad at all. If you have access to a grill you could even cook it there. Or you can cook it into the oven covered with breadcrumbs, olive oil, oregan, some lemon peel and a smigen of pepper (you could use either black, red or green. No white pepper, doesen’t taste good).
Codfish is also a good place to start from. Has a really delicate taste, can be a bit smelly but nothing crazy but you gotta be careful with fishbones. Be patient and lookout for those. You could cook it like the swordfish I told you about before or cook it in a pan with olive oil, black and green olives, caper and a bit of salt on top. Keep the pan covered and cook at low heat. That’s going to keep it juicy.
Lot of fish I tend to use citric acid and water when I’m de-thawing it, little bit of lemon juice mixed in water that or malic acid then towel dry it after and cook it. Doesn’t work well on really dense or really delicate meat but you can use it on shrimp, scallops, cod, halibut, carp and other fish with that kind of meat density.
Dense meat you usually use marinades where you change the marinade 1-2 times since the marinade is in part to leech out the fishy tasting/smelling oils. Usually things like tuna, salmon and shark. Still needs towel dried before you cook it though.
But with fresh fish you usually don’t have to do any of that unless it is what you are after.
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Salmon is expensive, but you can sometimes luck out by getting some frozen fillets of Atlantic (not Pacific) salmon instead.
Also, these are the bomb dot com, especially if you’re on the run and need something quick to eat:
It even comes with a little mint for after your meal, so you don’t stink like fish. 
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Darling, I make my own pasta 
I cook my food the proper way… I don’t like processed foods at all…
Any opinion on hering? Seems to be cheap enough, but knowing nothing about it I have to ask…
Also bass… That’s also fairly wide spread…
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Herring is related to Mackerel, so you’d have the whole issue with bones you’re not fuzzed with. However, if you fry them well, the bones become soft and is no issue to eat and swallow. Except for spine and the like of course.
Thumbs up man, nice to hear. Then a bit of experimentation wouldn’t be too hard for you, and it wouldn’t take you a lot of effort to prepare some nice fish.
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Like several have mentioned, Cod is a good fish, it’s fairly neutral, nice texture, nice taste. It’s good when straight fried, in batter, boiled and steamed. The art of making it just how it should be, is practice with reasonably good timing. One related fish, it’s a bit milder in taste, but similar texture is Saithe/Coalfish (think it’s also called Pollock, but not sure). It’s related to Cod and can be prepared in the same manner with a good result.
Plaice is a fine fish too, in some regions it’s a fairly cheap and abundant fish. It’s just clean, dry, 5 mins on pan, and you’re set. With fresh potatoes, parsley and butter it’s tip top. When cooked through, it’s just to run the knife along the spine on either side, and you can easily scrape off the meat without any problems, for bone free enjoyment.
Like with most fish when preparing them, use scissors you’d normally use for chicken, and remove a few mm into the fish around the fins, to remove a small group of bones around them.
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