Wizard Recipes

Contrary to reigning wisdom, seafood is the easiest kind of animal protein to cook: It’s fast, because the flesh responds to heat almost instantly; in fact, dozens of varieties cook in 5 minutes or less. You expose fish to heat (usually relatively high heat), sprinkle it with salt and  pepper (or other seasonings), give it a turn (or not, if it’s fragile), garnish (lemon wedges will do the trick), and a few minutes later, you’re eating.

And, in the many years I’ve been cooking and writing about fish, my approach has changed and I’ve come to think that-within limits-the exact species of fish isn’t as important as the shape and the cut of the fish. The thickness of a fillet, for example, is of critical importance when cooking-far more important, really, then whether the fillet is of red snapper or cod.

Of course, other factors come into play: Oily fish is completely different from lean fish and demands some acidity and assertive seasoning and saucing; lean, delicate fish are easily overpowered. The sweetness of shellfish is nicely balanced with a little heat. Steely salmon has an affinity for the floral flavors of aromatics and herbs.

Let me say this one more time, with feeling: Cooking fish is not complicated.

Almost every fish can be prepared using any of  these ten essential techniques (and in the few cases where they can’t, I’ll say so). When you build confidence in basic techniques-rather than trying to master an entire fish vocabulary and repertoire of recipes-cooking seafood at home is suddenly far more accessible, spontaneous, and flexible. So if you’re the least bit intimidated  by cooking seafood, please start with our simple recipes.

Of course there are times-plenty of them, I hope- when you’ll want something a little more involved than lightly seasoned, simply cooked fish with a squeeze of lemon. Those sorts of recipes also can be find in our recipe collection and are arranged according to type of fish-beginning with shrimp, the most popular-through mixed seafood dishes and finally burgers and cakes. And none of them is difficult or time-consuming.

The Basics of Preparing Fish

A fillet is a boneless piece of fish cut lengthwise from either side.

A steak is a cross-section piece of fish that includes both sides, whatever bones there are in the crosscut, and (usually) the skin.

Fillets and steaks should be rinsed and patted dry. You can leave the skin on and, if it’s been scaled, the skin is usually good to eat; if not, it can still stay on, but you’ll leave it on the plate.

The surest way to keep the skin from sticking during cooking is to use a nonstick skillet. Otherwise, be sure there’s at least a film of fat in the pan (or that the grill is clean, hot, and oiled) and that both the fat and the pan are hot before adding the fish. Another foolproof way is to dredge the fish in flour first.

To help keep thin, delicate fillets from flaking apart after cooking, again be sure your pan is hot and use the broadest spatula you have to pick them up in one assertive, smooth motion. If you cook a lot of fish, consider investing in a flexible fish spatula.

You can leave the shells on shrimp (and deveining is optional), but squid and octopus must be cleaned before cooking. Clams, mussels, and oysters must be scrubbed clean.

Whole fish should be scaled, then gutted and cleaned; usually a fishmonger will do that for you, but you can do it yourself if you like or must.

You can cook fish to varying degrees of doneness, though the window between the stages is obviously shorter with fish than with meats and is virtually nonexistent with thin fish fillets. With few exceptions-most notably octopus, striped bass, and monkfish-you don’t want to cook fish to complete doneness (these three, and a few others, are best when cooked through).

In other rare cases-like sushi-grade tuna or good salmon-you might even eat it quite rare. But for the most part, you want to pull it from the heat when the flesh just starts to turn opaque and flakes easily without being dry. I give a range of time and visual cues in each recipe.

How Much Fish to Make?

In general, figure about 1 1/2 pounds of any cleaned boneless seafood-fish fillets, scallops, squid, whatever- will serve four people. Whole fish is a little trickier:

Small whole fish should weigh about a pound per person, but as they grow in size there’s more meat per bone, so a 2-pounder will feed two or three people, and a 4-pounder will feed about six. For mollusks and shellfish where the shells are significant-mussels, clams, lobster, crab-count on a pound per person.

You can cook fillets whole and serve them family style or divide among individual plates, or just cut them into portions before cooking.

Safe seafood

The old proverb, “fish and visitors stink after three days” has a lot of truth to it. Fish is the most perishable of all foods and, if you don’t store it properly, the smell reminds you in a few days. The reasons are both physical and chemical, and have to do with the way fish are built.

Knowing this can assure you that you always have safe and fresh seafood on your table. And if the meal doesn’t taste good, you can blame your cooking. Enzymes in different parts of the fish begin softening and breaking down the flesh immediately after it dies. Bacteria and oxidation join the enzymes almost at once to speed the spoiling process.

Cleaning and washing the seafood as soon as it is out of the water help to reduce bacterial spoilage, but it doesn’t slow down the enzymes and oxidation. The only thing works is to quickly reduce its temperature to near freezing, or even lower. This is the critical step that impacts the quality of all seafood more than anything else that happens from the time it leaves its native waters until it is in your hands.

The muscles in seafood stiffen very quickly after death. Quality is highest if the fishermen freeze it before this stiffening sets in, otherwise freezing can actually damage the meat. They harvest farm-raised fish and shellfish under ideal conditions, and if they designate them for the frozen seafood market, the freezing process is virtually immediate. This assures you the quality of frozen farm-raised seafood.

Seafood spoils so rapidly that it is unlikely you get sick from eating it. If it is well-past fresh, your nose gives you warning. It still may be safe to eat if well-cooked, but the flavor is likely to be bad. Once it develops a really strong odor, it is no longer safe to eat, but by then you are on your way to the nearest trash can.

How to store your seafood

The seafood industry’s motto is: Keep it Cold, Keep it Clean, Keep it Moving. Once you buy fresh seafood, give it the same treatment. If you are planning to use it the same day, you are keeping it moving. If you are planning it to appear on your table in a day or two, keep it as cold as possible short of freezing.

Have you noticed how seafood markets do it? If packaged, they keep it in their coolers with the temperature set to just above freezing, around 34°F (1°C). (If you want to check this, you can usually find a thermometer in a display case in a hidden corner.)

Most home refrigerators run closer to 40°F (5°C), a little too warm for seafood. Now look at the fresh seafood display. Everything is sitting on a thick bed of ice-the seafood is at the ideal near-freezing storage temperature. And that is easy to duplicate home. Just set the seafood on a bed of ice in a pan and cover it. This is the best way to keep it for the longest-lasting fresh flavor.

The back of the bottom shelf of your refrigerator is the coldest, best spot to store. Drain off melted water and replace ice daily. Fishing vessels keep their catch fresh with the same method for up to 15 days.

The only seafood you should not store on ice are live crabs, lobsters and crayfish. They prefer to be at 40°F (5°C), and they definitely don’t want to be set on a bed of ice. Live soft-shell crabs (since they don’t have their coats on) opt for an even warmer climate, if they have a choice. They should be between 50° and 55°F (10° and 13°C).

If you let seafood warm up above 40°F (5°C), the rate of deterioration increases rapidly. On a warm day the temperature of a nice thin fillet can rise above that magic number between the time it leaves the fish counter and when you tuck it into your refrigerator at home. Either take a small cooler along with ice in it when you go shopping, or buy a small bag or two of some frozen food that you can keep next to the fish on the way home.

To keep the seafood clean (the second part of the motto), handle it is little as possible and only with absolutely clean hands so you are transferring little or no bacteria.

Frozen fish is much less troublesome to handle and store. A solidly frozen piece is not likely to defrost much between the grocery store and home, even on a hot day.

Here your concern is to plan ahead so you can defrost the fish slowly in the refrigerator before cooking it rather than on the kitchen counter, under running water or in the microwave. If you raise the temperature too quickly, you lose too much internal moisture and the result is a drier piece of seafood on your plate, no matter how carefully you cook it.

You can freeze fresh or leftover cooked extra seafood, though you cannot duplicate the speed of commercial freezing so essential for good flavor and moist meat. The trick is too freeze it as quickly as you can to minimize damage to the cells that hold moisture within the meat. The worst way to freeze is to wrap up a large piece of fish and place it in the freezer.

It may take half a day or more before the center part is frozen, that is much too slow. Slow freezing causes large ice crystals to form inside the meat, the crystals pierce the cells, and when you defrost it, the cells leak their liquid.

Here are some suggestions:

¨ If you want to keep a large fish whole, place it unwrapped on a metal baking sheet and

put it in the freezer. It freezes faster without the wrapping. Wrap it after it freezes solid.

¨ A still better way is to cut the fish up into steaks, fillets or chunks and place the pieces

side by side on a metal baking sheet so they freeze rapidly, then wrap.

¨ Set your timer so you’ll remember to check the progress periodically. When wrapping, attempt to eliminate as much air as possible, label it and put it back into the freezer.

Ice glazing is an excellent method that eliminates damaging air pockets (inevitable in any packaging) and keeps the seafood from drying out in storage. To ice glaze, prepare a pan of ice water. Freeze the seafood the way I suggested and as soon as it is solid, dip it into the ice water for a few second until a layer of ice coats each piece. Put the pieces back in the freezer for 15 minutes then repeat ice glazing. Then wrap, label and store it in the freezer. If you defrost this slowly, it will be almost like fresh.

You cannot successfully freeze all fresh seafood. As a rule, the fattier the meat, the less amenable it is to freezing. Your chances are better with lean species. Nearly all shellfish freeze well, too. Lobster, crab and crayfish meat must be blanched before freezing to preserve their texture and flavor.

The longer you keep seafood in the freezer, the more flavor you lose. Provided it is well wrapped, and your home freezer’s temperature is 0°F (-18°C) (typical for a good home freezer), you can keep frozen seafood up to a year. But if your freezer is just ten degrees warmer, 10°F (- 12°C) don’t keep seafood frozen for more than two months. If you happen to live on the north slope of the Arctic at an average temperature of -40°F (-40°C) you can store seafood indefinitely.

Check your freezer’s temperature with an accurate thermometer and date every package you put into it.

Scallops have firm, ivory-colored meat that can be divine if not overcooked. The flavor is sweet, nutty and delicate. They are readily available in seafood markets, but they must be absolutely fresh to be good. Everything between the two shells is edible, although in North America people opt for the single large adductor muscle only.

Unlike clam shells, the two halves of a scallop shell don’t completely close. They dehydrate quickly after harvesting and die if the fishermen don’t keep them in optimum environment. Because they are so perishable, processors often clean scallops on board the fishing vessel and keep them on ice. They are not as easily available for harvesting as shrimp.

The fishermen must catch enough to make it worthwhile to bring them into port, so those unfortunate ones they caught early may be shivering quite a while on ice before they haul the last ones in.

Storing scallops in fresh water improves the all-important appearance for marketability. Unfortunately for the consumer, this also increases weight and dilutes flavor.

Individually quick-frozen scallops retain their freshness, flavor and moisture well, and you often get a better buy and quality than fresh ones when you cannot validate just how fresh is fresh.

Distributors usually soak scallops destined to sell as fresh in a chemical (sodium tripolyphosphate) to retain moisture and improve appearance. They may look great but be wary-the chemical alters the flavor and you might think of wandering over to the frozen counter instead.

Stores commonly sell two major species of scallops, the small and more delicately flavored bay scallops and the larger, more abundant and nearly as good sea scallops, which are much cheaper. Tiny calico scallops from Florida are very uncommon. They resemble bay scallops but supposedly don’t have as good a flavor.

The scallops at the market are pure meat, you only lose the liquid it releases on cooking. Count on 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140 g) per person.

Shrimp is without doubt our most popular shellfish and among the most popular of all seafood. With its firm meat (when not overcooked) and delicate, distinctive but not overpowering flavor, even diners who never choose seafood from a menu may order shrimp (provided there’s some juicy red meat on the plate next to the shrimp).

A dozen different species of commercially important shrimp grow in various parts of the world. With modern air transportation, we have access to all of them. Flavor has nothing to do with size, but restaurants prefer the large shrimp, because they are easier and faster to shell and look very showy on the plate.

Diners are also willing to pay extra for colossal and jumbo sizes. Sizes vary tremendously. Really tiny shrimp weigh less than one-tenth of an ounce (3 g) each (the weight of a clove of garlic), while the giant species weigh in at about half a pound (225 g), too much for one serving.

A significant amount of imported shrimp is now coming from Asian shrimp farms, where they harvest and immediately flash freeze them, then ship by air all over the world. Shrimp are so perishable that they must freeze them immediately after they leave the water. If the shrimp you brought home from the store turns out not very good, blame it on the handling somewhere between the water and your plate. (Or blame the cook.)

It is the underpaid retail store worker that knows the least about handling and storing to preserve flavor. Your best bet is to buy shrimp frozen, if you can find it packaged in the right quantity, and defrost it yourself. (See suggestions on storing later in this chapter.)

Retailers generally buy shrimp in four-pound boxes, that are only occasionally displayed, but you can request a full frozen box. Asian markets always have them in the freezer case. The fresh-looking shrimp on display at the fish counter are not fresh-the clerk defrosted them just a few hours before you arrived. Usually the only way you can buy fresh, never-frozen shrimp is from fishing boats just pulling in.

Don’t ever buy pre-cooked shrimp. Cooking shrimp is almost as easy as cooking potatoes, and you can do a far better job than the supermarket’s underpaid cook in the back.

Seafood in the kitchen is almost like French pastry-it is quite a challenge to many cooks. While creating French pastries is difficult and it takes enormous experience and knowhow, preparing good seafood is easy. It takes only some basic knowledge and a little experience.

Here is some additional specific information about each of the 4 species of shellfish that you are likely to find at the fish market:

Abalone is a large single-shelled mollusk with a proportionally large creamy white, firm muscle that has a mild and wonderful flavor. The muscle that cooks commonly cut it into slices as steaks, is tough and rubbery when fresh and needs some tenderizing, either in a tenderizing bath or with a meat mallet.

This mollusk was in high demand in the 1970s and as a result fishermen severely over fished it. It virtually disappeared from markets through the 1980s, but aquaculturing abalone began in the 1990s. You’re still not likely to find it in any but the most exclusive seafood markets. It is a slow-growing mollusk (takes four years to develop 3½ ounces or 100 g of meat), and the appetite for abalone, especially in sushi bars in Japan, is insatiable.

Expect to pay $40 to $50 a pound (half a kilo) (U.S. price in late 1990s), including the shell! Count on 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140 g) of abalone meat per person. About 30 percent of abalone in the shell is edible meat.

Clam is a bivalve mollusk. This means its shell has two halves, and the muscle that holds them together is the one we love so much. You can buy clams live in the shell, shucked (which means they have been removed from the shell) or pasteurized in cans.

Live is the best choice if you don’t mind the extra work of shucking. Steaming in a large pot loosens the grip of the muscle and the shells fall open. The best indication of a live clam is a tightly closed shell.

The major culinary division for clams is soft-shell and hard-shell (this one is also called quahog). The names refer to the thickness of the shells. Soft-shell varieties have shells so thin that you can push your finger right through them. The hard-shell varieties, on the other hand, are so thick you may need a hammer to break them. The best way to prepare soft-shell clams is to steam or fry them. You can eat small hard-shell clams raw.

If they are large, processors chop or mince them and use them in a preparation like chowder. Different kinds are available in different areas, but within the two major categories, you can substituted them for each other.

Occasionally you come across cockle, a species of clam. It may incorrectly be called winkle, a shortened name for periwinkle, which is an edible snail-like mollusk not commonly available. Cockles are far more popular in Europe and Southeast Asia than in Amercia.

Only 20 to 30 percent of the gross weight of clam in the shell is edible meat, more for larger clams, less for smaller ones. The giant geoduck clam (pronounced GOO-y-duck) for instance, is 70 percent edible muscle.

For most clams, 6 to 8 shells per serving is enough but ask the clerk if you are unfamiliar with the specific clam you are buying. Geoduck, however, has so much meat that count on 5½ to 7 ounces (160 to 200 g) of weight, including the shell, per person. Geoducks are huge, some weigh over 5 pounds (2¼ kg).

Conch (pronounced KONK) is a single-valved mollusk. It is locally available along south Florida shores and in the Caribbean, though you may find it in some restaurants in other areas. It is the large muscle of the foot that is edible, and it needs tenderizing, like abalone, or cooking it as ground meat. The flavor is mild, suitable for salads and chowders. Count on 2 or 3 conchs per serving or, if already shelled, 4 to 5 ounces ( 110 to 140 g) of meat.

Crab is one of the three most popular shellfish consumed. There are 20 commercially significant crabs species, eight of which are common in North America. In some species we use the claw meat mainly. In others, it is the body meat, and in a few it is the leg meat that is prized. Fresh crab is an excellent meat, but the canned variety is in an entirely different league.

Raw crab does not freeze well, so when you see frozen crab, it had been cooked or otherwise processed. Frozen crab can be very good.

The versatility of this shellfish contributes to its popularity. Different species have different textures, and some lend themselves more to certain cooking methods than others. In the kitchen, crab is in three main categories:

¨ Lump meat is a solid chunk of meat from the crab’s body. Use it in dishes where appearance is important.

¨ Flake meat is smaller pieces from other parts of the body, not as wholesome in looks as lump meat but still suitable for most crab recipes.

¨ Claw meat comes in still smaller pieces. Use it when appearance is not critical, such as in soups and in some salads.

Blue crab from the eastern U.S. is the most common species. Like all crabs, blue crab sheds its shell when it runs out of room. The new shell grows in just a few days, but while that is taking place, the crab is very vulnerable to predators. During those few naked days the rest of the crab, including the meat, also grows very quickly.

This is the ideal time for human predators to nab them, having extra meat and very little shell to fight on the plate. These are called soft-shell crabs. Experienced crabbers and distributors separate out crabs that are about to shed their shells

(they tell by a reddish coloration) and market them at premium prices as soon as the old shell comes off. About 25 percent of the total weight of a crab is edible meat. In the shell, 1 to 1¼ pound (450 to 570 g) of live crab per person is a generous serving, or 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140 g) of crab meat if you buy it shelled.