Most fish in most US markets aren't worth buying, especially if you pay extra for "wild Alaskan cod" or whatever. Even a good cook will struggle with meat that

Most fish in most US markets aren't worth buying, especially if you pay extra for "wild Alaskan cod" or whatever. Even a good cook will struggle with meat that deteriorated for a couple days in a holding tank, was frozen too slowly, re-thawed to market as "fresh", and frozen again when it didn't sell soon enough. Farmed atlantic salmon, especially if it's pretty light colored, is the thing I've found that's most likely to be decent in various parts of the country without having to experiment with too many brands. The "belly" cut (with a thinner region where the ribs were) is best. Luckily, salmon is one of the easier things for a home cook to get right. The higher fat content makes it more forgiving. Lightly salt it, throw it on a lightly oiled sheet pan, and bake at 200F till it's done (around 1hr depending on your oven, recipes usually recommend higher temperatures, but if it's overcooked it's less pleasant, and the lower temperature gives you more leeway as you're learning what that looks like in person -- watch a quick video while it cooks showing what "done" should be, but it's just as the fish starts flaking apart instead of sticking together, and the flakes shouldn't be very firm or dry yet). Then make something to pair it with. Blacken some asparagus (peel any tough woody bits, especially if it's winter or the asparagus are big) or broccoli for a minute or two in a hot pan, sprinkle with a bit of salt, maybe squeeze in a lemon, and definitely melt a knob of butter over the veggies. Maybe sprinkle in a few pine nuts at that point to toast in the hot pan. If you want to impress everyone, make a sauce to go with it. The simplest that comes to mind is to heat up some soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger together, cooking a minute or two till it's syrupy. If you added lemon and pine nuts to the veggies, a lemon butter sauce might be appropriate instead. The basic idea is to cook the flavors down till there's not much liquid (e.g., sweating garlic in 1 lemon's worth of juice for 1-2 min), take the pan off the heat, and once it's not much more than room temperature you'll add in a few tablespoons of cold butter, one at a time, and whisk those in till they're melted. Butter is naturally a mixture of fat and water, and if you don't get it too hot it'll stay melted but still "mixed" (emulsified) and give you a thick, creamy sauce. Maybe watch a quick video on the idea first, but even if you "fail" you'll still get something that tastes good and is just thinner than you were attempting to make.