Tackling fish in the kitchen can be daunting.
Jon Deutschle, executive chef at The Pearl – with locations in the Short North and Dublin’s Bridge Park district – dives deep into the murky waters of preparing seafood.
“There’s a lot of different subtleties between fish,” Deutschle says. “Some need a lighter touch to it – a lot less attention – and some need more heat and temperature.”
His knowledge of fish preparation comes from experience. Deutschle has worked in the culinary industry for about 18 years, so he knows that different cuts have different measures of success with certain methods of cooking.
As far as herbs and spices go, Deutschle says to avoid heavy ingredients such as rosemary and sage.
“Typically, seafood is a lot lighter in flavor and doesn’t need really pungent herbs,” he says. “You want to go with lighter flavors such as cilantro, basil or thyme.”
The recipe accompanying the fish has a lot to do with the spices you choose. Most herbs will go with most varieties of fish as long as the hand isn’t too heavy, so make sure your flavors all blend well together.
Duetschle’s favorite plate to prepare at the moment is The Pearl’s striped bass.
“It’s nice and flaky, moist, and fairly easy to cook,” he says. “We sear it and baste it with butter to finish. It’s creamy and actually tastes like movie theater popcorn.”
Salmon
“(With) salmon, you need to be on the medium rare side. It’s a little easier to hit the mark and has more flexibility.”
Halibut
“Cook halibut right on the mark. If you go too far, then you’ve ruined a really nice cut of fish by overcooking it. Of course, fish needs to be cooked correctly, but you have to be careful. It has to be just done.”
Tuna
“Go on the rarer side. Tuna doesn’t have as high a fat content as other fish, so it’s great rare. It’s also good raw. However, if you want to cook it, the trick is to get a pan really, really hot. You can sear it on four sides very quickly until it has just a little color. Once you have that desired color, you more or less are done.”
Cod
“This is one of those fish where you want to go a little farther. There’s a lot of methods you can use that will go over well with cod. You can broil it, sauté it or fry it – which is probably how most people have seen it. Fried cod usually comes as fish and chips.”
Tilapia
“Tilapia is pretty flexible. You want to make sure you cook it all the way. You can do this easily through baking or pan-searing.”
Mallory Arnold is an editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
