I’m excited to tell you about a “back to basics” blog series that our recipe team has put together, one that strips down cooking seafood to the bare essential steps.
The series walks you through how to bake, broil and pan-fry a fillet of salmon or white fish, sharing pointers on the key prep steps and guiding you on cook times that are specific to each species — some of the basic building blocks of cooking seafood. The hope is that with a little nudge in the right direction, you’ll have a little extra confidence in the kitchen whether you’re following a recipe or freestyling your own. You might even stumble across a few “aha!” moments as you give your cooking skills a little polish.
To those of you who are newer to having wild-caught fish in your kitchen, I think it’s the perfect introduction to the nuances of each species, as it can help you conquer any anxieties you have over cooking fish — because, ultimately, cooking high-quality seafood is very simple. With a little culinary knowledge under your belt, you just have to give yourself the grace to make a few mistakes (or as we like to call them, “fish fails”), and be open to giving things another try. Practice makes delicious: it’s the mantra I like to keep in mind when cooking something new.
But the series isn’t just for newbies. I think it’s a helpful resource for anyone who wants to check in with their cooking skills, especially if you have a hunch that you’re just not quite getting the flakiness or crisp you want with your fish. Are you patting the fish dry? Do you have an instant-read thermometer handy to dial in the doneness? How do you even know if a fillet is done? It’s easy to gloss over some of these details when you’re eager to make a meal — especially when you’re following along with a recipe — but you’d be amazed at the difference some of these details can make in your cooking.
If you haven’t had a chance to explore any of these “basics” posts yet, I invite you to start out with our blog post Mastering Broiled Pacific Halibut to get a taste of what we’ve lined up for you. And don’t forget to scroll all the way through the post to find the links for a couple of new broiled halibut recipes that I’m so excited to try out: Pacific Halibut Banh Mi Sandwich, and Pacific Halibut with an Italian Salsa Verde (which is not the kind of salsa verde I grew up eating, but a briny one that hails from the Mediterranean).
I hope the blog series introduces you to something new to help you take your fish skills to the next level!
Live Wild,
Monica
Pictured above: A sheet pan with perfectly broiled Pacific Halibut and snappy green beans, getting dressed with a briny parsley-caper salsa verde.
