A common mistake with cooking seafood is that, since some people are afraid of that "fishy" taste, they season the hell out of it to try to mask it. On top of that, they often feel the need to deep-fry it. I'm as big a fan as anyone when it comes to great seasonings, and ESPECIALLY deep-frying fish (or anything else, for that matter), but I just think more of us should get to know the flavors of our seafood before we decide to falsely flavor it with seasonings.
Here are your ingredients for your next seafood dish: fish fillet of your choice, salt and pepper... AND NOTHING ELSE. Trust me.
Once you've cooked seafood with just salt and pepper, you'll learn the true flavor of the fish and then you'll be able to pair it with other seasonings, side dishes, sauces, wines, etc. For instance, when I first ran across Basa Fillet (also called Swai Fillet), I decided to give it a shot. It's a white fish. I've cooked halibut, snapper, cod, catfish, tilapia... how different could it be?
Here are your ingredients for your next seafood dish: fish fillet of your choice, salt and pepper... AND NOTHING ELSE. Trust me.
Once you've cooked seafood with just salt and pepper, you'll learn the true flavor of the fish and then you'll be able to pair it with other seasonings, side dishes, sauces, wines, etc. For instance, when I first ran across Basa Fillet (also called Swai Fillet), I decided to give it a shot. It's a white fish. I've cooked halibut, snapper, cod, catfish, tilapia... how different could it be?
Before I seasoned it like any of the other white fishes, I wanted to experience the actual flavor of the fish itself to make sure it was to my liking (similarly, since I don't particularly care for the flavor of catfish, I season the hell out of it AND deep fry it when I have to cook it!).
In my first adventure with basa, I covered the baking sheet with olive oil, then seasoned both sides of the basa fillets with kosher salt and fresh-cracked pepper and baked it. When I tasted it, I was amazed, especially for a fish that was around $5 per pound. This fish was light and flaky, and it tasted like it spent much of it's life actually swimming in butter instead of water. I exclaimed that basa is the new poor-man's lobster, and I don't even need drawn butter on the side. I still cook basa fillet with nothing but salt and pepper and that's it. I've tried different seasonings, but everything else seems to distract from the buttery flavor of the fish itself.
So no matter what fish you buy - cook it simply first with just salt and pepper to get to know it, then figure out what might dress it up, if it even needs any dressing up.
In my first adventure with basa, I covered the baking sheet with olive oil, then seasoned both sides of the basa fillets with kosher salt and fresh-cracked pepper and baked it. When I tasted it, I was amazed, especially for a fish that was around $5 per pound. This fish was light and flaky, and it tasted like it spent much of it's life actually swimming in butter instead of water. I exclaimed that basa is the new poor-man's lobster, and I don't even need drawn butter on the side. I still cook basa fillet with nothing but salt and pepper and that's it. I've tried different seasonings, but everything else seems to distract from the buttery flavor of the fish itself.
So no matter what fish you buy - cook it simply first with just salt and pepper to get to know it, then figure out what might dress it up, if it even needs any dressing up.
RSS Feed
