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Seafood Literacy

Seafood Literacy

Course Overview

Understanding how to source, prepare, cook, and serve seafood is a skill set called seafood literacy – having the confidence and competence to take full advantage of all the unique qualities that fish, shellfish, and sea greens have to offer – is a fundamental skill required for success in modern kitchens. Working to attain a high level of seafood literacy makes you more valuable as a cook and gives you the opportunity to be a leader in your kitchen.

Chef Barton Seaver partnered with Rouxbe to develop Seafood Literacy as a guide that swims you through a process of understanding seafood in all its forms. We focus that learning on how most seafood can generally be separated into categories based on its culinary personality. Breaking down seafood into culinary categories enables a cook to apply a set of general strategies about each category to dozens of specific products within that category. Culinary techniques specific to seafood cooking, such as steaming, grilling, broiling, and raw applications are explored and discussed.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course you'll be able to:

  • Understand how chefs drive sustainability of seafood
  • Discuss seafood production and sustainable practices
  • Identify and describe a diverse range of seafood types
  • Safely handle and fabricate various forms of seafood
  • Apply appropriate techniques from product to plate

Course Syllabus

Orientation & Course Overview

Unit 1: Orientation & Course Overview

Welcome to Seafood Literacy, an online course for cooks and chefs who want to learn more about preparing fish and seafood.

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Lesson 1

Course Orientation

Why Sustainable Seafood Matters

Unit 2: Why Sustainable Seafood Matters

Learn more about sustainable seafood from sourcing to serving. We explore current fishing and farming practices, chefs’ opportunities to use sustainable seafood in sustainable ways, and the nutritional benefits of seafood as part of the modern menu.

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Lesson 1

Introduction & Learning Objectives

Lesson 2

Learning Activities

Lesson 3

Unit Review & Assessment

Seafood Basics:  Understanding Seafood Culinary Categories

Unit 3: Seafood Basics: Understanding Seafood Culinary Categories

Learn the basic characteristics of a variety of types of fish and seafood products. Several categories of finfish, shellfish, canned seafood, and seagreens are discussed.

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Lesson 1

Introduction & Learning Objectives

Lesson 2

Learning Activities

Lesson 3

Unit Review & Assessment

Seafood Handling & Fabrication Skills

Unit 4: Seafood Handling & Fabrication Skills

Explore and practice various approaches to handling and fabricating seafood. Quality analysis, tools, and techniques applied to finfish and shellfish are covered.

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Lesson 1

Introduction and Learning Objectives

Lesson 2

Learning Activities

Lesson 3

Unit Review & Assessment

Seafood Cooking Techniques

Unit 5: Seafood Cooking Techniques

Learn how seafood is unique among animal proteins in its structure and culinary characteristics. Apply various cooking methods and techniques to fish and seafood. Thawing, seasoning, and raw, moist heat, and dry heat methods are introduced.

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Lesson 1

Introduction and Learning Objectives

Lesson 2

Learning Activities

Lesson 3

Unit Review & Assessment

Course Assessment & Resource Library

Unit 6: Course Assessment & Resource Library

Complete a comprehensive course assessment covering all five modules and visit a resource library.

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Lesson 1

Course Review and Final Assessment

Lesson 2

Resource Library

Practice Recipes

A few of the practice recipes you'll learn in this course.

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