12.4 Cooking fish and shellfish: dry heat

Dry heat cooks without adding any liquid. For fish and shellfish, the dry-heat methods are broiling and grilling, baking (the word cooks use for roasting fish), sautéing, pan-frying and deep-frying.

For how each method works, see chapter 8: Dry heat: sauté, grill, roast, fry.

One rule holds for all of them: cooked fish must reach 70°C (158°F) inside.

Broiling and grilling

Done well, broiled or grilled fish has a lightly charred, slightly smoky outside from the strong radiant heat, and a moist, juicy inside. Shellfish should come out moist and tender, only lightly colored.

Which fish. Nearly every fish and shellfish can be broiled or grilled.

• Oily fish suit the grill best: salmon, trout, swordfish and the like. So do firm lean fish such as bass and snapper.
• Delicate lean flat fish, such as flounder and sole fillets, are better broiled, on a broiling (sizzler) platter heated first. Tender fish like these go under the broiler presentation side up.
• Among shellfish: oysters and clams on the half shell with flavored butter or crumbs; squid stuffed and pinned with a toothpick; split lobsters, king crab, snow crab and large crab legs brushed with butter; shrimp and scallops in flavored butter or on skewers.

Getting it ready. Brush every fish lightly with oil or butter first. The fat stops sticking and helps lean fish stay moist. Salt and pepper is enough for most fish. A marinade of white wine and lemon juice suits most fish, but keep it short, because the flavor of fish is delicate. Leave out herbs, which burn in the fierce heat. Do not bury shellfish under strong flavors.

Method. Work in this order:

• Heat the broiler or grill, brush the grate clean, and wipe it with a lightly oiled towel.
  ▶ Watch
• Cut fish into steaks or tranches (slices cut from a fillet) of even thickness.
• Where the skin is on, slash it diagonally about ¼ inch (6 millimeters) deep at even spaces, so the fish does not curl and cooks evenly.
• On a grill, lay the fish presentation side down.
  ▶ Watch
• Do not overcook it, and serve it as hot as you can.

Lemon wedges are the classic partner. A rich butter sauce such as beurre blanc suits lean fish, and a vegetable coulis is the lighter choice.

Baking

Fatty fish bake best. Lean fish can be baked, but they dry out unless basted often. Fillets and steaks are the best forms: they cook quickly and evenly and are easy to portion.

Fish bakes so quickly that its surface has no time to brown. To get a browned outside, sear it first in a sauté pan with a little oil, then finish it in the oven.

Lay the portions presentation side up on a pan greased with oil or butter, season them, and brush them well with melted butter. Bake at about 400°F (200°C), basting now and then, and more often for lean fish. Take the fish out when it is a little underdone. Lemon, butter, salt and pepper are the usual seasonings, and baked fish leans on its sauce for flavor.

Shellfish are often stuffed before baking:

• Oysters Rockefeller are raw oysters on the half shell topped with spinach, watercress and an anise liqueur.
• Shrimp are butterflied and stuffed.
  ▶ Watch
• Lobsters are split and stuffed.
• Clams are chopped, mixed with crumbs and seasoning, and baked back in their shells.

Sautéing

Sautéing browns the surface lightly and adds flavor, and the fond left in the pan makes a quick sauce with garlic, onion, wine or lemon. see chapter 8: Cooking

Which fish. Fatty or lean, both work. Whole dressed flat fish and small round fish such as trout can be sautéed whole. Larger fish such as salmon are cut as steaks, or filleted and then cut into tranches. Keep the pieces even and fairly thin so they cook through evenly. Scallops and crustaceans sauté well; clams, mussels and oysters seldom are.

Heat. Delicate lean fillets such as sole and flounder are usually dredged in flour, plain or seasoned. Heat the pan and fat before the fish goes in, with enough fat to cover the bottom about ⅛ inch (3 millimeters) deep. Do not crowd the pan: too much fish cools it, and the fish simmers in its own juice instead of browning. Small, thin pieces cook in moments, so use high heat to brown them before they overcook. Large, thick pieces, or shellfish in the shell, need slightly lower heat so the outside does not get too dark. Put fish in presentation side down and turn it once.

Serve sautéed fish with a sauce made in the same pan. It can be as simple as beurre noisette (butter cooked until brown).

Pan-frying

Pan-frying uses more fat than sautéing, and the fish always wears a coat of flour, batter or breading. The coating seals the surface and keeps the flesh out of the fat. A good result is moist inside, crisp outside, with an unbroken coating.

Which fish. Fatty and lean fish both pan-fry well. Trout and other small fish are ideal, and so are portions of lean fish such as halibut. Keep pieces even and thin.

Heat. Add enough clarified butter or oil to come a third to halfway up the fish, and heat it to 325°F to 350°F (163°C to 177°C) before the fish goes in. Coated fillets cook very fast, so the fat must brown the coating before the inside overcooks. A whole fish takes longer, so use a little less heat to keep its outside from getting too dark. Turn once, drain on paper, and serve promptly.

Most of the flavor goes into the coating: cheese in a batter, nuts in a breading. Serve pan-fried fish with lemon, or a mayonnaise sauce such as tartar or remoulade made separately. Avoid rich wine sauces.

Deep-frying

Fish for the deep-fryer is usually breaded or battered, or made into croquettes or fritters. Done well, it is moist and tender inside, crisp and golden outside, and never greasy or tough. see chapter 8: A good deep-fried product

Which fish.

• Small whole fish, and thin, even fillets of a lean fish like catfish or halibut.
• Fatty fish such as salmon, made into croquettes.
• Peeled shrimp, and shucked clams and oysters, breaded, battered or in fritters.
• Sliced squid or octopus, breaded or battered, served with a dip as an hors d'oeuvre.

Heat. Fry at about 350°F (177°C), hot enough to cook the inside before the coating burns. Put seasoning into the breading or batter, but add salt only after frying. Judge doneness by color, timing or tasting. Drain the fish over the fryer, then on a rack or paper in a hotel pan.

Fried fish held for later service goes under a heat lamp. Food held hot must stay at 60°C (140°F) or hotter.