Whole Fish Recipes pretty please?

[CharityCase]

Hi All,

I had a look through Recipe Gullet and our own forums but I'm stuck.

I'm looking for a good recipe for a whole fish, baked, broiled or anything really tasty...just not grilled as I have no BBQ access. I am tempted to try baking a fish in salt but am unsure whether there's a certain species that's preferred for that.

I will de doing dinner for 4, anyone have any ideas to share?

Thanks in advance.

[sadistick]

Hey there,

A while back, I was at a restaraunt in New York, called Fresh. They specialize in sea food, and I had a whole friend asian grouper - It was out of this world - It was lightly coated in an almost very light tempura batter, fried, with head on, and then it was placed in this light soy/mirin/scallion/ginger light sauce, which was out of this world!

I would suggest something like that...

If you want something easier, get a big fat pan, start off with some shallots, little garlic, oil/butter, chili, put the whole fish in, pan must be SEARING hot, then deglaze with some white wine, at the end add some parsley or any of your favourite herbs, and finish with some butter, and lemon juice.

Enjoy

[little ms foodie]

poaching a whole big piece of salmon is very easy and very pretty. or you could roast a whole salmon, stuffing it with fennel, herbs and lemon.

[CharityCase]

Hey there,

A while back, I was at a restaraunt in New York, called Fresh.  They specialize in sea food, and I had a whole friend asian grouper - It was out of this world - It was lightly coated in an almost very light tempura batter, fried, with head on, and then it was placed in this light soy/mirin/scallion/ginger light sauce, which was out of this world!

I would suggest something like that...

If you want something easier, get a big fat pan, start off with some shallots, little garlic, oil/butter, chili, put the whole fish in, pan must be SEARING hot, then deglaze with some white wine, at the end add some parsley or any of your favourite herbs, and finish with some butter, and lemon juice.

Enjoy

←

Sadistick,

I am limited in Pan Size and an electric stovetop, hence the likelihood of baking. As for deep frying an entire fish, love to if I ever happen upon a trough of hot oil!: )

The sear and deglaze idea might work if I cut it into steaks...although I have never cooked a whole fish other than with a barbecue...a little out of my element here but I'm dead set on fish instead of red meat this time around.

[CharityCase]

Keep it coming guys, this is really helpful.

little miss foodie, We're talking a bulb of fennel right? Herb-wise what would you use? I am always a Dill fan but I know others are dead-set against it. I do like the sound of that recipe though.

Any ideas on roasting times or do you just do it by sight and touch?

[jayt90]

Hi All,

I had a look through Recipe Gullet and our own forums but I'm stuck.

I'm looking for a good recipe for a whole fish, baked, broiled or anything really tasty...just not grilled as I have no BBQ access. I am tempted to try baking a fish in salt but am unsure whether there's a certain species that's preferred for that.

I will de doing dinner for 4, anyone have any ideas to share?

Thanks in advance.

←

The basic rule for broiling, baking, or poaching is ten minutes for every inch of the fish, measured in the thickest part. Use a hot oven, or a hot broiler, or a well seasoned poaching water at simmer. The method was developed at Fisheries Canada, and has worked well in a lot of kitchens for 30 years.

[little ms foodie]

Keep it coming guys, this is really helpful.

little miss foodie, We're talking a bulb of fennel right? Herb-wise what would you use? I am always a Dill fan but I know others are dead-set against it. I do like the sound of that recipe though.

Any ideas on roasting times or do you just do it by sight and touch?

←

this is how I do it: recipe

yep, whole fennel thinly sliced. if using fennel then I just go with parsley. But sometimes I substitue thinly sliced onions and then I'll add tarragon or thyme as well as the lemon slices.

We eat a lot of salmon in Seattle! If you use this fish really try and get wild not farmed. It is a huge difference in taste and texture.

[Busboy]

I was leafing through the Babbo cookbook last night found Mario touting oven-baked whole fish as the way real Italians eat real fish.

The basic drill was gutting and finning the fish and removing the gills -- or having it finned and gutted for you, if you're me -- stuffing it with shaved fennel and spices and, after rubbing with olive oil, baking in noticeably high heat (450?) until just done. Drizzle a little olive oil and serve with lemon wedges. Mario proposes some elaborate fennel accompaniment, you could just confit fennel in olive oil with garlic and a little bay leaf, or even sautee spinach and throw the fish on top.

The key, of course, is brutally fresh fish of a decent size -- something big enough that it won't turn to trout-dust if you cook it a second too long -- and not overcooking. Of course, that's what the key always is with fish.

Good luck

PS: Mario calls for individual sized fish, not, say, a megasalmon. It may have been Barzini(?) (Or was that one of the guys from The Godfather?) but I think striped bass or snapper would do.

Edited January 14, 2005 by Busboy (log)

[CharityCase]

Excellent recipe foodie. I'm going to give that a try.

As for the Wild and farmed thing, the difference is taste, texture and not to mention environmental impact makes me want wild salmon wherever possible. As I'm in Ontario though my particular fish connection only has it from time to time. I'll see what he's got tomorrow and find something that can hold its own.

Edited January 14, 2005 by CharityCase (log)

[wattacetti]

Ontario is not exactly the prime location to easily find wild salmon (then again, neither is Montreal) and it's too bad that you don't have more time as gravlax would have been an option. However, does it have to be a whole fish? I would think that filet pieces (not steaks) would be easier to handle.

You could cook pieces of salmon filet à l'unilatèrale: brush the skin side with a little oil and dust it with something (e.g. cayenne or coffee or nanami togarishi) and then sear away skin-side down.

There's also sole meunière if you want to do a classic whole fish recipe (if you want to mimic Tampopo, tell people it's being served with consommé and Heineken, no salad).

[jackal10]

1. Buy a digital themometer, it will pay dividend, and make your cooking accurate.

Cook fish to 45C/115F. Anymore and it will start to dry.

Two methods:

a) en Papillotte. Take a whole fish (for example salmon or sea bass), gut, stuff with fresh herbs and maybe some green onion, season, wrap in oiled foil, add some white wine and put in a hot oven for half an hour (or check temperature) , remove and let rest. Serve with boiled potatoes and hollandaise, or for salmon let cool, then skin and decorate, serve with cucumber salad...

b) Steam. Buy a chinese bamboo steamer and lid, and balance over a pot of boiling water or over a wok with boiling water. Line with lettuce leaves or herbs, add fish (you may need to curve it round) put on lid, steam for half an hour. Serve with asian sauces...

Edited January 14, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[rcarter]

I am tempted to try baking a fish in salt but am unsure whether there's a certain species that's preferred for that.

←

I had a friend who makes a great red snapper in a salt crust. I think she got the recipe from Jamie Oliver's first book.

[chef koo]

what kind of fish are you gonna cook? also no matter what fish it is i'd suggest romoving the bones. it's so much easier to eat and serve. if you want to keep the shape of the body with the head just start boning from the belly up

[jackal10]

Also en croute (as in Salmon en croute( is spectacular and easy

[bleudauvergne]

If I had my choice of fish to serve whole it would be a fresh line-fished seabass. The flavor of that fish is excellent and it is a handsome fish to serve whole. No need to bone, just have the fishmonger scale and gut it, and serve it whole. The fillets come off easily during serving. Inside the cavity, for a nice large fish, evenly distribute 125 grams (a stick) of butter that you have salted and in which you have incorporated various herbs to your liking, parsley, chives, sorrel etc. On the ouside, gently rub the skin with oil, (olive oil is fine) crushed garlic, and sprinkle with sea salt. Top it off with grapefruit slices along the outside of the seasoned fish and wrap it in parchment. In a hot oven, bake the fish for 5 minutes, plus 5 minutes per cm thickness of the fish at its fattest. Serve it on a platter surrounded by new potatoes.

Here is a link to another whole fish thread where people had lots of ideas.

Good luck with your dinner!

[CharityCase]

Hi All,

Thanks for the many ideas. As luck would have it my local fish guy was out of whole salmon (The chefs were in there at 7:30 on Saturday morning and cleaned him out). But I took home a beautiful four pound filet and adapted foodie's recipe...resting the fish on a base of fennel bulbs, lemons, garlic, white wine and parsley, and covering with some of the same and olive oil.

I adpated the cooking time a bit to account for no bones, although based on the weight of the filet it was only about a 5 minute difference. The fish was perfect, moist and tender. Wouldn't really describe that recipe as roasted per se, with the amount of wet ingredients and white wine it really came out baked. Delicious all the same...the anise flavour was very subtle, and although I hesitated to serve it "naked" (no sauce) my guests raved about it.

[Daniel]

Hey there,

A while back, I was at a restaraunt in New York, called Fresh.  They specialize in sea food, and I had a whole friend asian grouper - It was out of this world - It was lightly coated in an almost very light tempura batter, fried, with head on, and then it was placed in this light soy/mirin/scallion/ginger light sauce, which was out of this world!

I would suggest something like that...

If you want something easier, get a big fat pan, start off with some shallots, little garlic, oil/butter, chili, put the whole fish in, pan must be SEARING hot, then deglaze with some white wine, at the end add some parsley or any of your favourite herbs, and finish with some butter, and lemon juice.

Enjoy

←

Sadistick,

I am limited in Pan Size and an electric stovetop, hence the likelihood of baking. As for deep frying an entire fish, love to if I ever happen upon a trough of hot oil!: )

The sear and deglaze idea might work if I cut it into steaks...although I have never cooked a whole fish other than with a barbecue...a little out of my element here but I'm dead set on fish instead of red meat this time around.

←

I have limited space too.. I like to take a 3 pound snapper but it in a wok and put it submerged on one side in the oil.. Then with a spoon, i spoon the boiling oil on to the exposed side of the fish.. Once the one side is done, you turn the fish. Comes out awesome. Then you can make a simple choo chee sauce, or a garlic sauce, or use tamarin right out of a bottle. Very simple and no trough needed.