Fish: Recipes and Techniques for Freshwater Fish
160
Fish: Recipes and Techniques for Freshwater Fish
160Hardcover
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780760364079 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Harvard Common Press |
| Publication date: | 06/11/2019 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.70(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
FISHING
To research and write this book, I had to do quite a bit of fishing. This went far beyond solo trips. I was lucky enough to connect with some incredible fishermen and learn new fishing techniques along the way. We fished for steelhead and whitefish in Michigan, lake trout on Lake Superior, muskie and walleye in Wisconsin, and made it to the Dakotas for some ice fishing. It was eye-opening to see how different people specialize in one style of fishing — and the work, time, and money they put into it.
To people who do this daily, it seems like simple work, but for an outsider looking in, it's outstanding. The knowledge I took away from these fishermen on fish habitat, habits, and cycles was astounding. For example, I watched an expert fisherman navigate the endless waters of Lake Superior knowing exactly where specific lake-bottom terrains appeared and observed another knowing exactly which night the herring run would occur based on when the snow melts. This is knowledge gained slowly over years of persistence mixed with trial and error, all while typically not being able to see the subject until it breaks the plane of the water. There's an underappreciated wealth of knowledge these individuals carry, and I have an immense respect for them.
I grew up fishing the waters of northern Wisconsin, never taking it too seriously. As a kid and young adult, my friends, family, and I would often catch walleye, gill, crappie, bass, and northern pike and walleye pike near our family cabin. In my twenties I moved to Montana and found an immense amount of pleasure in learning to fly-fish its massive rivers and the beautiful lakes I found nestled high in the mountains. In my late twenties I caught the muskie bug after my close circle of hunting friends introduced me to the sport. Again, I was lucky enough to spend time in boats with folks more knowledgeable than I, chasing monster muskies and occasionally hook into one myself.
The more time we spent in boats not catching muskies (so, about 98 percent of the time), the more I learned that success when fishing isn't measured by fish caught, follows, or inches measured. It's all about getting outside, drinking some beers with friends, and learning about what's happening in the natural world that surrounds us. No matter your skill level, there's an easy way to get out and sink a line into the water, and I can't think of a better way to spend a day.
BIG PICTURE
Beyond the sporting aspect of it, lake and river fishing is generally a sustainable and affordable way to obtain food. Fish management and stocking, for the most part, is well regulated and well done. Dollars spent for fishing licenses provide countless jobs and help protect our right to use these lands. Personally, it's the best money I spend every year. If you enjoy the privilege of being able to use public lands as much as I do, continue to buy those licenses, bring your friends out on adventures, and find other ways to support public lands.
All this said, this book is a cookbook, not a fishing book. I am not a fish biologist nor an expert fisherman. Fishing is an activity in which I've found meaning and pleasure over the course of my life, but I am in no way an expert resource on the subject. My specialty lies in cooking, and I find it very satisfying, on many levels, to expertly prepare food I've killed. As always, be mindful of what you take and how you take it. Always follow all applicable laws and regulations. And, if possible, find out what condition the lake is in and if it has a healthy and robust fish population.
NOTE
It's also good to keep in mind that eating any large predatory fish comes with some health risks, mostly stemming from mercury content and other containments in the waters. They should not be eaten in large quantities or fed to children, pregnant women, or the elderly. If you do decide to catch and keep one, please do due diligence on the fish, the fishing habitat, and any and all health risks associated with it.
EATING
Wild game cookbooks can be challenging to organize because more than one fish or piece of game can work for many recipes. Generally speaking, I think people with a freezer full of fish will look for some flavor combinations that interest them and go with whatever's just been caught (or is in the freezer). For example, you can substitute perch for crappie in the Crappie Escabeche (page 107) without any real effect on the quality of the dish — and you can find examples like that across the entire book. Grouping recipes into substitutable categories of fish reflects that formatting. Fish that I believe can be easily substituted for another find their way into the same groups, so feel free to substitute within those categories with minimal risk to the end results. But even that is not a hard rule, as you can move different species around to various recipes throughout the book once you learn the different characteristics of the fish.
I approached this book in a similar fashion to the way I approached my first book, Venison. I include a mix of more elevated dishes that require a bit of technique, as well as meals that can be easily cooked over a fire (and just as easily enjoyed). I try to strip my recipes of extra steps to keep the majority accessible to cooks of all skill levels.
I also think of these recipes as a baseline for a final dish. Recipes and ingredients have countless variables, making it difficult to recreate a dish exactly as written under the best of circumstances. I recommend taking ownership of these recipes and playing with them to suit your tastes. Using the techniques and the base recipes will get you off to a great start. However, using your own tastes to alternate spices, vegetables, seasonings — even swapping out the fish for another type — will be a delicious exploration.
With any luck, you'll soon be sharing these recipes with the same family members and friends you were with when you caught that fish. Good luck on the lake and have fun in the kitchen!
FIRES
Cooking over live fire imparts flavors to any meal that you can't manufacture any other way. Live fire is one of my favorite ways to cook and is mentioned frequently in this book, so I want to review the basics of a good fire.
Whether it's a grill, an open pit, or any other grilling unit, here are some tips for open- flame cooking — mostly based on using charcoal and wood.
For a high-temperature grill, I like to use natural lump charcoal mixed with small chunks of hardwood, preferably oak. With this method it's best to get the lump charcoal hot and add the chunks of wood to get them smoking. Once they're black and smoldering, it is a good time to add the protein to the grill.
When operating with straight hardwood only, I like to get a good base of wood coals going from burning logs at a high temperature and then add a log or two on top to get a nice smoky flavor. It's unrealistic to judge a certain surface temperature, but a grill anywhere in the 400°F to 650ºF (200ºC to 343ºC) range is suitable for most applications.
When I write "start a fire," this is what I'm referring to.
Depending on the heat of the grill you may have to rotate and flip your fish less or more often.
For optimum results make sure your grill and grates are clean.
To prevent sticking, coat the grates with a light layer of grapeseed oil and make sure they're hot before adding the fish.
Practice cooking over open fires. It's an imperfect art but has lots of benefits. Finding a rhythm over the fire will develop over time, and your success rates will be nearly perfect.
CHAPTER 2FISH
CLEANING & FILLETING
Fish species vary widely in taste and texture. Fish can have a sweet, lighter flavor, such as walleye, or a heavier, oilier flavor as seen in salmon. Some have a lighter and flakier texture, such as bluegill, compared to the steak-like quality of sturgeon. Preferring one quality another is up to the consumer, but, with few exceptions, all these fish are better eaten when as fresh as possible.
If you're purchasing fish from a fishmonger, look for these signs to ensure you are getting the freshest fish possible.
The eyes should be bright, not clouded.
The flesh should bounce back when poked and it should not be mushy.
The fish should smell fresh. All fish have a "fishy" smell, but it should be a clean fish scent.
Trust your gut. If something seems amiss, it very easily could be. Don't buy that fish.
Before cooking, or even butchering, fish, there are two crucial steps to finalize your catch: proper cleaning and proper storage. These are both simple steps but take some diligence to do correctly. After you pull your catch out of the water, gut it as soon as possible and put the fish on ice. Keep the fish on ice up until the time you clean it and immediately put it back on ice until you cook or freeze it. While in culinary school, a professor used to tell me if you start a recipe with crap, you'll end up with crap. If the fish isn't properly cleaned and stored, you'll find yourself in that pickle.
CLEANING
Fresh fish are susceptible to quick muscle breakdown and turning into something you don't want to eat. Gutting and cleaning fish quickly for preparation or the freezer is crucial to getting the best possible product. Killing, gutting, cleaning, scaling, and cooling the fish rapidly yield the best results. I can be a bit over the top when I clean fish — removing the guts and scales before removing the fillets. The other way I approach it is skipping both of those steps (ignoring the gutting process) and just removing the fillets. When you're not cooking a whole fish or cooking skin-on fish, it's much quicker to skip scaling, but I do appreciate having scales off the skin while removing the meat from the skin. Take the process to your level of needs.
Always use a sharp knife (I like to use either a flexible boning knife or hard Japanese steel) and have a large, clean cutting board available and a sink nearby.
SCALING
Scaling comes first if you're planning to cook the fish immediately or freeze the fish with the scales off. When scaling fish, cleanup is easier if you have a fine drain catch in your sink. I find the process much simpler if the fish is cold, somewhere around refrigerator temperature (34°F, or 1°C).
In my experience, I like to scale fish before freezing so that I know all the frozen fish are consistently prepped. If a label wears out or I can't identify whether the fish is scaled through the packaging, I know what I'm getting before the fish is thawed.
Scaling the fish for fresh cooking is also a great option. The skin of fish is one of the most flavorful parts of the animal; it helps keep in moisture while cooking and eliminates the risk of meat loss during the butchering process.
To scale a fish effectively, you'll need a couple things:
Scaler: A great scaler can easily be found online for less than $20. It will save you a boatload of time and last forever, so it's money well spent.
Running water: Whether a stream or a faucet, water helps keep your workstation clean and ready to butcher.
STEPS FOR SCALING FISH
1. If desired, remove all the fins of the fish with a pair of kitchen shears.
2. Under running water, run your fish scaler against the grain of the fish until all the scales are removed (A).
3. It's common to have some scales left near the fin areas of the fish and on the underbelly. Double-check those areas to make sure all scales are removed.
GUTTING
The first step to gutting a pile of fish is cracking a cold one. After that it's pretty easy. Cut shallowly from the anus to the gills and pull out all the smelly stuff. If you do have a pile of fish, gut them all at once and then move on to butchery to help avoid cross contamination. Once all the guts are out, give the fish an extra rinse to make sure all the particulates are out as well.
STEPS FOR GUTTING FISH
1. Place a sharp knife into the anus of the fish, just barely through the flesh (A).
2. Cutting as close to the skin as possible, cut the fish up toward the beginning of the gills (B).
3. With kitchen shears, snip anything connecting the guts to the fish from inside the throat cavity. Remove anything in the cavity by pulling it out with your hands (C) and rinse the inside of the fish thoroughly (D).
Once the fish is gutted, it's time to either scale it, store it for future cooking, or cook it immediately. If you're not scaling before freezing, skip to page 35 and then come back to scaling (see page 28).
STORING
Proper storage is crucial for fish. It makes all the difference between enjoying your catch and ruining it before it ever hits the kitchen. Fortunately, there are multiple ways you can store fish to keep it tasting its best.
When I store fresh fish in a restaurant, I place the fish on top of a stainless steel perforated pan inserted into a deeper stainless steel pan. I cover the fish tightly with plastic wrap and place a bag of ice on top of the fish in the refrigerator. While it may seem like a bit much, this technique is the best way to store fresh fish and give it the longest shelf life. If you don't want to go through that process of fresh fish storage, I recommend storing fish in a container that gives it the ability to lose moisture but not sit in its own juices. Any sort of perforated pan placed over a container to catch drippings will do.
If you're planning to freeze the fish, best success is with vacuum sealing whole, gutted, scaled fish. Keeping the fish whole means less surface area is exposed, which helps retain moisture in the fish. Freezing fish in blocks of ice is a good technique as well, but I prefer the space and time efficiency of using a vacuum sealer. Freezing in tightly sealed resealable bags is also a good solution, but freezer burn will creep up on you much quicker, so plan to eat it sooner rather than later.
FILLETING
Congratulations, you now have a fish that's ready to butcher! This brings me to my friend Anderson, who volunteered his butchering skills in service of this book. Anderson works with fish of all varieties at a fish company called The Fish Guys located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The sheer volume of fish he sees and works with makes him a great resource for all things that live in the water. When we came up short catching fish for this book, Anderson and The Fish Guys were right there with something to fill in the spot.
There are two types of fish filleting for the fish used in this book. First is for your standard-issue walleye, bluegill, perch, and so on, and second is for northern and muskie. There are minor differences in all the fish, but the basics are the same. With northerns and muskies you have to look out for Y bones, which are fine bones that stand up through the midsection of the fish; the rest can be butchered without this in mind. For the pur- poses of this book I refer to the cleaning of northern and muskie as a "five fillet" fish. The more traditional method, I'll call the "two fillet" method.
I've seen a few overarching techniques for filleting fish, but my favorite comes from Anderson, who can move through a pile of fish damn quickly. Starting with a gutted fish he simply cuts in front of the gills and then straight across the backbone, keeping the rib bones in place on the fillet. He then flips the fillet, removes the ribs, and fillets the fish cleanly.
The following steps assume you are working with gutted fish. If you plan to keep the skin on for cooking, scale the fish before taking fillets off the body.
FILLETING "TW O FILLET" FISH
1. Place your sharp knife just in back of the gills of the fish (A).
2. Cut down toward the spine until your blade hits the spine. Cut through the spine and remove the head and set aside.
3. Place your knife blade parallel to the spine at the opening where the head was (B).
4. Making sure your knife is running underneath the open gut side of the meat, run your knife along the spine of the fish all the way through the base of the tail and remove the fillet (C & D). . 5. Place your knife parallel on the other side of the spine and run your knife down the spine to remove it from the flesh (E & F).
6. With the flesh facing upward, carefully remove the ribs by running your knife under the rib cage (G & H).
If keeping the skin on, skip steps 7 and 8.
7. Run your knife between the flesh and the skin at the tail end of the fish for about 1 inch (2.5 cm). Make a small incision with your knife into the skin of the fish by the tip of the tail, large enough to poke your finger into.
8. With your finger anchoring the skin of the fish, run your knife, angled toward the skin, down the rest of the fillet.
9. Remove pin bones toward the front of the fish by cutting around the line where you can feel them or remove them with bone tweezers.
You should now have a boneless, skinless fillet ready to cook and eat! Use any trim for Basic Fish Stock (page 151). If you want to leave the skin on, remove scales before butch- ery and skip steps 7 and 8.
FILLETING NOR THERNS AND MUSKIES ("FIVE FILLET" FISH)
1. Place your gutted and scaled fish on a cutting board, stomach side down.
2. Place a knife behind the head at the back of the gill plate and cut it down to right above the spine. Run the knife just across the top of the spine all the way down to the tail and remove the back fillet. Set aside.
3. Place the fish on its side.
4. About three-fourths of the way down the fish toward the tail, run your knife down to the spine.
5. Turn your knife to align with the spine and remove the tail fillet. Repeat on the other side.
6. Place the fish back on its stomach.
7. Look down into the meat and locate the Y bones.
8. Cut along the outside of the bones down toward the cutting board and remove the fillet around the ribs. Repeat on the other side.
9. If desired, remove the meat from the skin using the aforementioned filleting technique.
10. Use all scraps for Basic Fish Stock (page 151).
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Fish"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Quarto Publishing Groufp USA Inc..
Excerpted by permission of The Quarto Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction 11
Part 1 Fishing 13
Big Picture 19
Eating 20
Fires 23
Part 2 Fish: Cleaning & Filleting 25
Cleaning 27
Filleting 36
Part 3 Recipes 45
Salmon & Trout
Wood-Fired Salmon 48
Fennel Salad with Wood-Fired Salmon and Seasoned Yogurt 49
Salt, Sugar, and Dill-Cured Salmon 51
Cured Salmon with Crème Fraîche and Dill on Toast 52
Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon 55
Wild Rice-Stuffed Steelhead Trout with Asparagus Salad and Beurre Blanc 56
Lake Trout in Foil with Fennel, Mushrooms, and Sugar-Cured Jalapenos 61
Smoked Trout-Stuffed Pudgy Pie Hash Browns 62
Steelhead Trout Quiche with Fiddleheads, Morels, and Arugula 66
Newspaper Trout 71
Fire-Roasted Trout on Avocado Toast 74
Walleye & Northern Pike
Salt Dome Walleye Lettuce Wraps 80
Mushroom-Crusted Walleye with Sauteed Spring Vegetables 84
Walleye and Wild Rice Sausage 85
Walleye in Nage Broth with Fall Vegetables 86
Pan-Roasted Walleye with Warm Aioli 88
Breaded Walleye with Charred Jalapeno Tartar Sauce 90
Walleye BLTs 92
Northern Pike Dumplings in Watercress and Pea Soup 93
Northern Pike Cooked in Butter with Stewed Tomatoes, Arugula, and Torn Bread 96
Baked Northern Pike with Butter Beans and Bacon 98
Cilantro and Jalapeno-Cured Pike 99
Crappie, Bluegill & Perch
Perch Brandade 103
Perch and Potato Chowder 104
Crappie Escabeche 107
Pan-Fried Crappie with Wild Rice and Grain Salad 108
Crappie Terrines with Marinated Cucumbers 109
Bluegill with Ginger, Thai Chile, and Garlic Oil 111
Chopped Bluegill and Corn Chowder 112
Bluegill en Papillote 115
Catfish, Sturgeon, Muskie & Whitefish
Catfish Tacos with Crema and tomatillo Salsa 119
Blackened Catfish with Corn Succotash 121
Catfish Cakes 123
Catfish Tikin Xic (Mexican-Style Catfish) 124
Steamed Catfish with Northern Thai Coconut Curry 128
Sturgeon and Roast Beets with Yogurt, Grapefruit, and Arugula Salad 131
Grilled Sturgeon with Anchovy Butter and Rapini 132
Muskie 135
Wood-Fired Muskie Nuggets 135
Pickled Muskie 137
Muskie and Mussels Stew 139
Smoked Whitefish and Thai Chile Salad 140
Smoked Whitefish and Wild Rice Pancakes 141
Smoked Whitefish and Soft Eggs on Rye 142
Crawdads
Grilled Crawdads 146
Steamed Crawdads 149
Crawdad Bisque 150
Basic Fish Stock 151
Acknowledgments 155
About the Author 155
Index 156