Fish - Fast Food at Its Best

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

Fish is defined in the culinary world as nature's fast food. As we well know in the United States, the most popular method of cooking fish is deep-frying. This is at the bottom of the totem pole as a healthy way to eat fish.

The good news is that most American chefs have become more creative with fish. For example, only 10 years ago fish was limited to 25% of our menu selections. Today, in some restaurants and in our supermarkets, we are seeing nearly 40% growth in each market share. Why? Because as we seek a healthier lifestyle, and as we exercise more, the proteins we eat are far more important than before.

On the Web site, aroundcinci.com/food, there is a great introduction to more-healthful cooking in "12 Steps to Good Cooking." The use of the sauté method is a fine example of how to cook fish properly. Also, the use of a bamboo steamer, using shrimp as the main protein and incorporating the steaming liquid into the sauce, creates a wonderful dining experience.

In my younger years as a fish cook in a fine-dining restaurant, I began to cook the fish dishes when the orders were called to be set up for service. Of course, if we had a poached fish dish, the fish would be poached at the time the order was placed, but only finished when the order was called, along with the finishing of the accompanying sauces.

Deep-frying of most fish dishes takes no longer than four minutes, and grilled fish takes about the same amount of time. The only cooking method to take longer would be a dish such as coulibiacs saumon de small (salmon cooked in a brioche dough using the small-pieces method instead of the whole-salmon method), which can be found in Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire.

Another great advancement in today's culinary world is that we are not overcooking our fish, which was the way it was done in the old days. Fish should be cooked slightly underdone, and served so that when a guest cuts into it, the carry-over temperature will finish the cooking.

As we all know, there is a shortage of sea bass, but why do we have a limited supply? I place the blame on two important factors: the overfishing of this fine fish, and the abuse of international fishing laws. Supply and demand is always a factor of man's greed, and there are too many uses of this fish on our national menus. Simply put, creativity can be sometimes a hindrance to great new dishes.

Finally, as I always practice, and advise you to do the same, try new recipes with the more underutilized fish, such as drum, pike, carp, fish from the mullet family and hake, which are just some of the 80% of fish varieties that we do not use regularly.

In the next few months, I will do a video stream on fish. So, as a patient fisherman, just wait, and the catch will be great. In the meantime, here is a recipe that I have used and recommend.

Pan-Seared Sea Bass and Tomato/Zucchini Coulis

• 3 lbs. tomatoes, skinned, seeded, diced
• ½ lb. zucchini, diced
• 2 T. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 4 (6-oz.) portions sea bass
• 1 fresh lemon
• 1 t. cumin
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 oz. olive oil

1. Place tomatoes in 3-qt. heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer until juice evaporates and fiber breaks down, about 20 minutes.
2. Add zucchini; cook 1 minute, seasoning to taste.
3. Remove from heat; stir in cheese.
4. Reserve (yields about 2 pints coulis).
5. Season sea bass with cumin, salt and pepper.
6. Add oil to a hot skillet; sear fish on both sides and cook until tender.
7. Pour some of the coulis onto a heated plate. Lay a portion of the fish on the plate. Serve with shrimp/saffron/crawfish risotto (recipe follows).

Southern-Style Shrimp/Saffron/Crawfish Risotto

• 2 oz. diced onions
• 1 T. butter
• 10 oz. Arborio rice
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 3 pints chicken broth
• ½ lb. cooked, peeled crawfish tails
• ½ lb. cooked shrimp
• 1/8 lb. grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 oz. heavy cream
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1 t. Tabasco hot-pepper sauce

1. Cook onions in butter in large skillet over medium-high heat until soft. Add rice and saffron; stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add wine; stir until absorbed.
2. Stir in 2 pints broth; cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until broth is absorbed. Continue stirring; add the remaining broth, allowing it to be absorbed until rice is tender and mixture has a creamy consistency approximately 25 to 30 minutes).
3. Stir in crawfish tails, shrimp, Parmesan cheese, cream, lemon juice and hot-pepper sauce. Cook until thoroughly heated, about 2 minutes.