seafood installment
Part three… the temperament of meat (or at least fish)!
Fish is fun… all seafood is fun. Shell fish has so many different cooking techniques I can’t possibly get through them all in a reasonable time, so let me discuss some common themes.
Mussels, Clams, Oysters, etc.
Steam them, braise them, but make sure they open AFTER cooking. If they are already open before cooking then they were dead. Dead means that you are eating flesh that has been rotting. That’s just wrong. You always want to clean them first also. Cleaning involves a quick rinse under cool water and tear off the “beard”. That’s the bit of tendrils that comes poking out that the shellfish uses to latch onto rocks. I will usually place the full shells into a large frying pan with about 1-2 cups of water depending on how many you have. After they have all opened, add yourself some white wine, some butter, salt and pepper, a bit of tomato sauce, maybe a bit of chili powder, and some people even like Worcestershire Sauce or Fish Sauce. Let that all cook down, pop off half the shell (you can use an oyster knife but a butter knife works just as well), slide in said knife, then pry. POP, off comes the top of the shell, run the knife around the meat to separate from the shell, serve using the cooked down “juice” as a sauce.
Crab
Most of the crab that you are able to get at the supermarket will already be cooked once. Set covered in fridge to defrost. Once defrosted you can eat right out of the shell, or…cut away small bits of the shell where possible (at the joints for instance)throw in some herbs and a bit of butter, wrap in aluminum foil, and throw on the grill for just a minute or two.
Lobster
If your lobster isn’t alive when you start, I would forget about it… unless you are just going to cook the lobster tails, which is really the best part anyway. Take your lobster tail chop it in half lengthwise, and then marinate it for between 30 minutes and two hours. I take a ¼ cup of vodka (gut rot works just as good as the good stuff), ½ cup oil - usually vegetable, 3 Tbs soy sauce, ¼ cup red wine vinegar, 1 tsp each of cumin, chili powder, black pepper, 2 tsp salt, and if you feel like it, some rubbed sage. Throw on the grill, meat side down. When the meat comes off the grill easily then your lobster tail is done.
Shrimp
On the grill the shrimp will not cook all the way through until you flip it. Before you get that far though, you are going to want to butterfly your shrimp. Take a pair of scissors (I have three pairs for cooking), and insert most of the way to the top, now cut through both shell and meat. After splitting a bit from the top, you should see the “sand vein”. Here’s a secret, that’s not a vein. It’s the digestive track. Underwater it separates from the shrimp and will float away. Marinate it and then steam it like I had suggested for veggies. Or take out a cast iron pan, add some oil, lime juice freshly squeezed, add cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook with the shells on or off, I keep the shells on so I can lick my fingers clean after I peel them, but I always make sure to butterfly and devein them first.
White Fish
This category includes your Tilapia, Cod, Koi, and other (generally) vegetarian fish. With these fish you can buy fresh or farm raised and you won’t notice any big difference in taste or quality, and most importantly you won’t have any negative differences such as high mercury levels. For white fish you actually don’t even need to cook it on heat… just use a high acid marinade and you have ceviche! Now if you decide to go the route of cooking with heat, then you may want to use a light dry rub consisting of garlic, lemon zest, salt, black pepper, maybe a bit of ground mustard. Pop it on the grill and flip when it releases itself from the grill.
Tuna Steaks
The trick here is to have your grill on super hot! Don’t start to cook until the temp is at least 600 degrees. I usually wait until the 700 to 750 mark. Cook on every side for about 3 minutes, TOPS. More than that and you run the risk of over cooking the fish. What you are aiming for is a nice sear on the outside and mice and red in the middle. This is the same for all tuna steaks.
Whole Fish
Gut, scale, and clean. Next cut off the dorsal and other fins, leave on the tail and head. Soak the fish in brine for about 2 hours. When I brine I use garlic, lemon, and fennel. When you remove the fish from the brine, pat dry. Next is how you decide to cook it. Grill or broil? Either way, pat the fish dry, inside and out. In the cavity place your aromatics, lemon slices, garlic, onion, capers, salt, pepper, green onions, whatever you prefer. In the grill, wrap the fish tightly in aluminum foil, it won’t take too very long to cook, but you do want to keep your eye on it. It will one second be undercooked, you blink, and it’s over cooked and all dried out. If you go with the oven, you will want to coat the fish in kosher salt, and have it resting on a salt bed also. This way takes longer, but the change from undercooked to overcooked happens a lot slower.
Sushi
The type of fish here is the important thing. Any fish you are going to use for sushi or sashimi you will want to be Sushi Grade. It’s more difficult to get these cuts of fish from a super market, and fish mongers sell only whole fish. Where do you go? Your local Asian food market, that’s where I shop. Or a health food store. Sushi Grade is for more than just raw fish also. In general it’s leaner, and packed full of nutrients. The unfortunate thing is that there is no real standard other than parasite destruction.
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4e.html
That’s it for seafood.
Fish is fun… all seafood is fun. Shell fish has so many different cooking techniques I can’t possibly get through them all in a reasonable time, so let me discuss some common themes.
Mussels, Clams, Oysters, etc.
Steam them, braise them, but make sure they open AFTER cooking. If they are already open before cooking then they were dead. Dead means that you are eating flesh that has been rotting. That’s just wrong. You always want to clean them first also. Cleaning involves a quick rinse under cool water and tear off the “beard”. That’s the bit of tendrils that comes poking out that the shellfish uses to latch onto rocks. I will usually place the full shells into a large frying pan with about 1-2 cups of water depending on how many you have. After they have all opened, add yourself some white wine, some butter, salt and pepper, a bit of tomato sauce, maybe a bit of chili powder, and some people even like Worcestershire Sauce or Fish Sauce. Let that all cook down, pop off half the shell (you can use an oyster knife but a butter knife works just as well), slide in said knife, then pry. POP, off comes the top of the shell, run the knife around the meat to separate from the shell, serve using the cooked down “juice” as a sauce.
Crab
Most of the crab that you are able to get at the supermarket will already be cooked once. Set covered in fridge to defrost. Once defrosted you can eat right out of the shell, or…cut away small bits of the shell where possible (at the joints for instance)throw in some herbs and a bit of butter, wrap in aluminum foil, and throw on the grill for just a minute or two.
Lobster
If your lobster isn’t alive when you start, I would forget about it… unless you are just going to cook the lobster tails, which is really the best part anyway. Take your lobster tail chop it in half lengthwise, and then marinate it for between 30 minutes and two hours. I take a ¼ cup of vodka (gut rot works just as good as the good stuff), ½ cup oil - usually vegetable, 3 Tbs soy sauce, ¼ cup red wine vinegar, 1 tsp each of cumin, chili powder, black pepper, 2 tsp salt, and if you feel like it, some rubbed sage. Throw on the grill, meat side down. When the meat comes off the grill easily then your lobster tail is done.
Shrimp
On the grill the shrimp will not cook all the way through until you flip it. Before you get that far though, you are going to want to butterfly your shrimp. Take a pair of scissors (I have three pairs for cooking), and insert most of the way to the top, now cut through both shell and meat. After splitting a bit from the top, you should see the “sand vein”. Here’s a secret, that’s not a vein. It’s the digestive track. Underwater it separates from the shrimp and will float away. Marinate it and then steam it like I had suggested for veggies. Or take out a cast iron pan, add some oil, lime juice freshly squeezed, add cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook with the shells on or off, I keep the shells on so I can lick my fingers clean after I peel them, but I always make sure to butterfly and devein them first.
White Fish
This category includes your Tilapia, Cod, Koi, and other (generally) vegetarian fish. With these fish you can buy fresh or farm raised and you won’t notice any big difference in taste or quality, and most importantly you won’t have any negative differences such as high mercury levels. For white fish you actually don’t even need to cook it on heat… just use a high acid marinade and you have ceviche! Now if you decide to go the route of cooking with heat, then you may want to use a light dry rub consisting of garlic, lemon zest, salt, black pepper, maybe a bit of ground mustard. Pop it on the grill and flip when it releases itself from the grill.
Tuna Steaks
The trick here is to have your grill on super hot! Don’t start to cook until the temp is at least 600 degrees. I usually wait until the 700 to 750 mark. Cook on every side for about 3 minutes, TOPS. More than that and you run the risk of over cooking the fish. What you are aiming for is a nice sear on the outside and mice and red in the middle. This is the same for all tuna steaks.
Whole Fish
Gut, scale, and clean. Next cut off the dorsal and other fins, leave on the tail and head. Soak the fish in brine for about 2 hours. When I brine I use garlic, lemon, and fennel. When you remove the fish from the brine, pat dry. Next is how you decide to cook it. Grill or broil? Either way, pat the fish dry, inside and out. In the cavity place your aromatics, lemon slices, garlic, onion, capers, salt, pepper, green onions, whatever you prefer. In the grill, wrap the fish tightly in aluminum foil, it won’t take too very long to cook, but you do want to keep your eye on it. It will one second be undercooked, you blink, and it’s over cooked and all dried out. If you go with the oven, you will want to coat the fish in kosher salt, and have it resting on a salt bed also. This way takes longer, but the change from undercooked to overcooked happens a lot slower.
Sushi
The type of fish here is the important thing. Any fish you are going to use for sushi or sashimi you will want to be Sushi Grade. It’s more difficult to get these cuts of fish from a super market, and fish mongers sell only whole fish. Where do you go? Your local Asian food market, that’s where I shop. Or a health food store. Sushi Grade is for more than just raw fish also. In general it’s leaner, and packed full of nutrients. The unfortunate thing is that there is no real standard other than parasite destruction.
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4e.html
That’s it for seafood.