Fish Index: 2019 Edition

The Index is a vital part of this project.  Since I started this project with the 2006 edition, some of the blogs linked are from that edition and I'm not guaranteeing that there have been no changes at all.  You can ask, though, and I probably know the answer.  Starred items are new in the 2019 edition (or at least they weren't in the 2006 version) and ^ are recipes that have a visible change--some have a more descriptive name, some are combined, fairly minor changes.

Look for the "Index 2019" keyword to get to the newer version, "Round 1" to get the original version of the index.

If you found this page on Google because you were searching for a specific recipe that isn't linked, make sure to search for it. I'm usually several months behind updating the indexes.

My thoughts on the update at the bottom.

Fish dishes:
Number of recipes: 50
Number of recipes in the 2019 edition previously made: 4 or 8% (ouch!)

Ceviche
*Tuna or salmon poke
*Baked or slow-roasted fish

High-heat roasted fish fillets
^Paupiettes (stuffed fish filled) (formerly "Molded filled fish fillets (paupiettes)")
Fish en papillote (fish baked in parchment)
*Oven-fried fish fillets
*Veracruz-style snapper
^Fish boulangere (baked fish with potatoes and pearl onion) (was Cod boulangere)
Fish baked in salt
Poached fish
Poached fish quenelles
Gefilte fish
*Braised fish fillets with lemon and capers
*Chinese steamed fish
*Butter or olive oil-poached fish
*Fish curry
Microwaved fish fillets
Grilled or broiled whole fish
^Grilled or broiled whole trout with bacon (was fish, now trout)
*Grilled whole stuffed trout
*Spice-rubbed grilled or broiled fish
^Grilled fish steaks (formerly gave the option of broiling)
*Fish kebabs with vinaigrette
Teriyaki-grilled fish steaks
^Planked fish (was "plank roasted fish")
*Grilled or broiled fish fillets
^Grilled or broiled fish fillets with herbs (added "or broiled")
^Broiled fish fillets with seasoned bread crumbs (removed the word "seasoned")
*Black cod misozuke
Panfried fish fillets or steaks
^Breaded panfried fish fillets (now "breaded pan-fried fish")
*Sauteed smelts or anchovies
Brook trout meuniere
Panfried skate with black butter

^Sauteed pepper-crusted fish steaks (was "seared")

Blackened fish steaks or fillets
*Pan-fried salmon cakes
*Pan-fried shad roe
Fried fish I--deep fried
*Fried fish II--shallow fried
^Southern-style deep-fried catfish (was the more general "fish")
*Pla raad prik (Thai fried fish with tamarind-garlic sauce)
Fish and chips
Thai fish cakes
^Escabeche (Spanish marinated fried fish) (was "Pickled fish (escabeche)")
*Fried tiny fish (I could probably count one of the previous recipes but it's just enough different)
^Gravlax (cured salmon) (was "Cured salmon (gravlax)")
*Hot smoked salmon
*Smoked salmon hash
Salt herring and potatoes
Kedgeree

Recipes from 2006 edition not in 2019 edition:
Fish baked in a covered dish
Fish baked in foil
Fish steaks poached in white wine
Braised whole fish with red wine sauce
Fillets of sole florentine
Grilled whole red snapper with ginger-soy vinaigrette
Grilled whole trout stuffed with pesto
Broiled fish fillets with lemon
Barbecue-rubbed grilled bluefish
Grilled fish steaks with tomato-olive relish
Grilled tuna with pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi
Broiled shad roe
Fish kebabs
Broiled fish fillets with tomatoes and herbs
Grilled salmon fillets with mayonnaise
Panfried whole fish
Panfried spice-crusted fish fillets
Marinated flounder fillets
Breaded smelts
Marinated deep-fried fish
Whitebait or smelts
Codfish balls or cakes
Creamed finnian haddie
Herring and apples
Sardine toast
Roasted whole fish
Roasted stuffed whole fish
Roasted whole salmon
Baked fish fillets in white wine
Sole duglere
Slow-roasted fish fillets


Thoughts: Good changes and they removed a whole lot of things I didn't want to make!  

Panfried fish fillets or steaks (p. 407)

There are a lot of fairly easy fish recipes that I need to knock out and haven't for some reason.  One of these is Panfried fish fillets or steaks (p. 407).  I make salmon all the time but never made this exact recipe.

I took skin-on salmon, seasoned it with olive oil (and, obviously, other stuff--salt, pepper, garlic), and started it skin side down in the pan.  I cooked it undisturbed until the skin was brown and the flesh became opaque:

I turned it over and cooked it for a couple more minutes and done:

The finished product:

This was a delicious recipe but a really easy one.  There isn't a whole lot to say about it, other than if you like fish, this is an easy, fast way to make it with minimal fuss.  If you don't like fish, this recipe isn't going to change your mind.

What is your favorite way to cook fish?

Tomato and mozzarella salad (insalata Caprese) (p. 169) and Baked fish fillets in white wine (p. 397)

Both of my parents are huge proponents of Tomato and mozzarella salad (insalata caprese) (p. 169). When my father and I went to Rome in 2003 he ordered caprese at every restaurant we ate at (I ordered tiramisu everywhere, so it was really only the middle of the meal that differed). I consider myself well-versed in caprese salad because it's a simple way to use tomatoes if you have an over-producing garden.

So when I noticed that my mother not only had a ball of mozzarella in the fridge but also a few nice tomatoes and some garden basil I know it would be the perfect dish to make.

I arranged slices of tomato and mozzarella on a plate. I sprinkled it with basil and drizzled olive oil over the top and it was finished:



It was every bit as simple and delicious as I expected it to be. The creaminess of the cheese, the tang of the tomato, and the spicy basil complemented each other perfectly. Caprese salad is summer on a plate.

Mom had defrosted fish so I decided to make Baked fish fillets in white wine (p. 397). I'll confess that I don't particularly like wine so I wasn't very excited about this recipe.

I took my fish fillets, laid them in a greased baking dish, and poured white wine over the top.



That's it.

Really.

That's the whole recipe.

I put the fish into the oven for a half hour, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and it was done:



Bland and boring (although very easy). The fish picked up strange floral notes from the wine, which I didn't like, and needed a lot more flavor. It wasn't bad enough not to eat but it certainly wasn't something I would make again.

Random trivia:

• Insalata Caprese is traditionally made with buffalo mozzarella, which is made from the milk of the water buffalo (Wikipedia)
• Caprese refers to the island of Capri, a place I really, really want to visit.

Breaded panfried fish fillets (p. 407)

While home for my brother-in-law's graduation party, mom mentioned that she had some fish that she would be willing to donate to the TJOC cause. I read some possible recipes and she picked Breaded panfried fish fillets (p. 407).

The recipe was simple (and, thus, the post is short). I poured flour in to a bowl and seasoned it with a little salt and pepper. I coated my fish (tilapia and cod) with the flour and popped them in hot butter:



After a few minutes I flipped them:



And finished:



Extremely simple and very good. The seasoned flour gave a little crispness to the skin but the fish was still tender and flaky. I will keep this recipe in mind for when I want fish cooked really fast.

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Fish steaks poached in white wine (p. 400)

I bought a package of frozen tuna steaks on sale at the grocery store. I had never bought fish steaks in freezer bags--it was much cheaper than buying them in the seafood section, so I'm definitely going to do that again. I decided to make Fish steaks poached in white wine (p. 400) because it sounded easy and tasty.

I combined white wine, water, white wine vinegar, salt, whole peppercorns, coriander seeds, cloves, a bay leaf, a garlic clove, and dried herbs in a skillet and boiled it all over high heat:



I added the tuna steaks:



And cooked until they were done. Or actually overdone--tuna cooks really fast:



Even overdone it was really good. The poaching broth kept the fish totally tender and juicy and it was highly flavored from all the aromatics in the broth. The recipe was incredibly easy, which is always a big plus.

Random facts:

• Tuna are large predator fish that swim in the open ocean and can reach speeds of 40 miles/70 kilometers an hour (On Food and Cooking, p. 201). What?? That's amazing.
• Bluefin and bigeye tuna live in deep, cold water so they accumulate far more fat, making them more prized in many cultures (On Food and Cooking, p. 201).
• Tuna schools often swim next dolphins. It's thought this is to guard against tuna-lovin' sharks (Wikipedia)
• Canned tuna was first produced in 1903 (Wikipedia)

Panfried spice-crusted fish fillets (p. 408) and Spicy tartar sauce (p. 581)

Sometimes I have a grand plan for what recipes I'm going to make in a given month. Other times I randomly select recipes. Panfried spice-crusted fish fillets (p. 408) was from the latter category. I had fish, I needed a recipe that would use the fish, and thought that it sounded good.

I mixed flour, water, curry powder (you can use Garam Masala, chili powder, or whatever spice mixture you want, which would drastically change the end result), and salt and pepper:



I cut my fish in half, patted the pieces dry, and sprinkled them with lemon juice:



I dipped the fish in the batter, shook off the excess, and popped them in a pan full of heated canola oil (watch out for splatter!):



After a few minutes on each side, they were done:



It was really good! The curry flavor shone through brightly and it had just the right amount of breading--not so much that you can't taste anything but breading but not so little that there is no point to bothering with the extra steps. This is a perfect recipe for a creative chef because there are so many variations of spice flavoring that you could use. The fish was INCREDIBLY moist. In fact, I like my fish a little dry (I know, I'm strange) and the fish was a little too moist for me, although Josh loved it.

I can't eat fish without a sauce. I love sauces, I love condiments, I thought that Spicy tartar sauce (p. 581) would be a great choice for the fish.

I mixed mayonnaise, parsley, lime juice, pickle relish, Dijon mustard, garlic, hot pepper sauce, and a little salt and pepper:



It was sooooo good. Just amazingly good. It was considerably better than the basic tartar sauce (which was also good). The hot sauce gave it just enough kick (I used garlic Tabasco), the pickle relish gave a crisp sourness, and I love anything with Dijon mustard or garlic. If you like tartar sauce, make this one, you won't be disappointed. Plus, it's incredibly easy and you probably have everything to make it in your fridge.

RCD2: Breaded smelts (p. 408),Seasoned flour or crumbs for breading II (p. 962), and Whitebait or smelts (p. 411)

Rachel Cooking Day Post 2

Sometimes something just hits me funny. It can be a joke, a word, a picture, just about anything. I can giggle about these things--often things nobody else finds funny--for hours. Rachel thinks most of the same things are funny, too, which is probably why we are such great friends.

Smelts are one of the things we both find funny. The word alone--"smelt"--just makes me smile. On top of that, they are iridescent and rather pretty. I know almost nothing about smelts except that my friend Brenda, who comes from Wisconsin, used to tell me about huge smelt fish fries. For some mysterious reason that always stuck in my head.

When we stumbled upon this package of them:



We knew we had to get it. The store had two packages, we happily bought one of them, and giggled about them for hours. When we went to the store the next day, the other package had been sold! So it's a good thing we picked them up. After some pondering, I'm pretty sure I ate smelt in Japan. They are fried whole in Asian, with their head and tail still attached, and they are often full of eggs (according to Wikipedia). I totally ate a fish like that. In fact I was told to "eat the fish and not look inside" which is a slightly disturbing statement.

I figured that you were just supposed to eat them whole, like sardines or anchovies (another thing that both Wikipedia and The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink agree is true), but that absolutely disgusted Rachel. Something about the idea of eating bones really grossed her out. She took it upon herself to debone them. In the picture you can see a pile of boneless smelts, bone-in smelts, and a pile of smelt bones (let that be a warning to future smelts in case they want to attack!):



She opened them up and just pulled the spine and related bones out:



It was pretty impressive. They made nice tiny little fillets. The cats were mesmerized.



There are two smelt recipes in TJOC and it seemed like a good idea to knock out both while we had the smelt on hand. The first recipe was for Breaded smelts (p. 408).

I sprinkled twelve smelts with lemon juice and let them sit for fifteen minutes. I then dipped them in heavy cream:



We whipped up a batch of Seasoned flour or crumbs for breading II (p. 962). We mixed fine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and a little thyme and tarragon.



I dredged the fish in the seasoned cornmeal:



I melted a half stick butter in the skillet and popped the smelts in:



They immediately started disintegrating. As I flipped them, the soggy crust started melting off. Maybe the skilled was too large, maybe we should have used less butter, I have no idea what the problem was. By the time I pulled them out they were pretty sad looking:




But they were delicious! Honestly, Rachel and I had very low expectations for the smelts. Very, very low expectations. I thought they would at least be really fishy, like other little fishes such as the aforementioned anchovies or sardines, but they were very mild. The cream and lemon juice gave the fish a nice flavor. I think it would help if we had just used seasoned flour instead of cornmeal--the cornmeal was too substantial for the fish. We ate them all (we honestly expected not to like them and to end up throwing them out).

The second smelt recipe was Whitebait or smelts (p. 411). There is just something off-putting to me about eating fish that are called "bait".

We heated oil until it was about 375 degrees Fahrenheit (although the oil might have been a little too hot, it's hard to control the oil heat). We dredged the smelts in the seasoned cornmeal and then popped them in the oil:



TJOC says 2 or 3 minutes until they are cooked. Well, at two minutes they looked like this:



Overdone. We ate them but they tasted like nothing. Honestly, there could have been anything in there. Crickets, heart, who knows, it would all taste the same when fried to a crisp like that. I can't give much of an opinion because they just tasted like "fried". I think they would have been good if cooked correctly.

Random minutiae related to this post:

• Wikipedia insinuates that you can catch smelts by standing in a stream and swinging a net between your legs
• Smelts swim upstream like salmon and live part of their life in freshwater and part of their life in salt water (Wikipedia)
• Smelt eggs are bright orange and often used as sushi garnish (Wikipedia)
• Smelts are a traditional fish in the Northern Italian "Feast of Seven Fishes" (Wikipedia)

Fish baked in a covered dish (p. 399)

When I figured out how far I was in each chapter, I was thrilled to see that I was over 10% in almost every chapter and as high as 35% in some chapters. Unfortunately, there were some really low chapters and "fish" was definitely one of those. I bought some sea bass on sale and thought that Fish baked in a covered dish (p. 399) would be a great use of it.

I combined butter, black pepper, and a bit of nutmeg. I like when recipes start with all this butter!



I then spread the butter on the fish, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. The butter did NOT want to spread! I popped the lid on my Le Crueset and put it in the oven.



While the fish was cooking, I melted some butter in a small saucepan and added capers, parsley (dried), chives (freeze-dried), lemon juice, and some salt and pepper:



When the fish was done I poured the butter mixture over the top:



This was SOOOOOO good. Really easy and absolutely delicious. The fish was flaky and perfectly cooked and the briny capers cut through the super buttery taste perfectly. I think fish and capers go together so well! I like recipes where you essentially throw everything in a pot and call it a day so this recipe was right up my alley.

Fish baked in foil (p. 399) with Bercy butter (p. 559)

I usually cruise the clearance fish section at the grocery store and I stumbled upon some nice looking tilapia. I know I'm amazingly behind on the fish chapter, so it seemed like a perfect time to buy!

I decided to make Fish baked in foil (p. 399), which seemed fast and easy (making it perfect for a weekend lunch).

The first step was to make the flavored butter--I made Bercy butter (p. 559). It was simple. I simmered some chopped shallot and white wine. I was hungry, so instead of cooling it down, I just mixed it right into the softened butter. Of course, that essentially melted the butter. I figured that didn't matter because the butter was going to melt in the oven anyway...



I smeared the butter all over the fish:



Wrapped it into a cute little envelope and I popped it into the oven:



And voila!! Done!



It was delicious! Perfectly cooked and really, really moist, likely due to the thousand pounds of butter. This is not a fish for the weight watchers out there! But I'm trying to eat more fish, so it was perfect (of course, that only means that I am hoping to eat fish once every three to four months instead of only on Christmas eve or when we decide to eat salmon).

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High-heat roasted fish fillets (p. 398) and White wine sauce for fish (p. 552)

I am on a ROLL tonight! I have written four blog entries already--make sure to read them! Josh and I went to the grocery store early Monday morning to get ingredients for my day of obsessive cooking. We always search the sale sections and found some nice tilapia on sale. I thought it would be perfect for lunch.

I made High-heat roasted fish fillets (p. 398).

The recipe was very simple. Looking at the picture and comparing it to the recipe, I apparently didn't read thoroughly before starting because I spread butter on the fish but didn't melt it. I seasoned it with salt and pepper.




I popped the fish in the oven and started it cooking. It seemed to be taking an abnormally long time to cook. TJOC said that the fish should only take about ten minutes and it was taking much longer. I mentioned the issue to Josh and he said "even though you are broiling it?". I told him no, I was roasting, and I looked at the oven again. I WAS broiling rather than roasting (door open rather than closed) because I had gotten confused. ::sigh:: I shut the door and roasted the fish for a couple more minutes. It turned out well.



I will admit, I had an ulterior motive for making fish. I wanted to make the White wine sauce for fish (p. 552) because it was an option on the randomized list.

The sauce was extremely easy. I made a white sauce in one pot and a white wine/chicken stock/bay leaf/cloves/peppercorn/shallot mixture in another pot.



I actually made that combination twice. I was supposed to reduce it by half but it evaporated really quickly and I reduced it to near nothing the first time.

I added the reduced wine mixture to the white sauce:




And over the fish it went:



(I can't wait until I get new plates after the wedding--these are going straight to the thrift store)

It was extremely good! The fish had a nice texture and was nice and buttery while the sauce had a terrific texture and a nice wine flavor. The recipe was extremely easy and could be easily dressed up for a more impressive presentation.

Broiled Fish Filets (p.404), hard-boiled eggs (p. 194), and tarter sauce (p. 581)

First off, nonreaders, don't get excited, this totally isn't going to be an everyday thing. But I was so pumped about yesterdays success that I wanted to try again today...but first:
1. I know I should include pictures but I forgot to take them again, so maybe later...
2. I am even less original than I thought--I found another blog with a similar theme. Oh well--at least I (easily) only found one!

So tonight I decided to make Broiled Fish Filets (p.404)

The fish, the fish. I can't say I recommend it. Not only did I manage to spill the olive oil IN the oven so that it almost started on fire, the breadcrumbs started to burn almost immediately. Now, if you like half burned bread crumbs, you will LOVE this dish. I made it with cod, which I can't say is my favorite fish, but it happened to be in our refrigerator--maybe it would suck less with a different fish. I will admit that the dimming effect of the smoke that filled our house was romantic, but the smell was not.

I chose to hard-boil the eggs (p. 194) using TJOC recipe. This may have worked well, except my eggs were getting old, which causes a bigger air pocket and my eggs refused to sit on the bottom of the pot. Then I decided that I needed Dijon mustard and capers for the tarter sauce and went to the store while the eggs were still in their cooking phase (hey, at least they weren't on heat anymore!) and--well--lets just say the egg overcooked. But it was still usable in the tarter sauce.

On the bright side, homemade tarter sauce (p. 581)--awesome! I totally recommend making this. It takes next to no time and has a brighter, fresher flavor than the jarred stuff. The capers give it a salty, briny taste that the store bought stuff doesn't really have. I didn't include the olives or red pepper but it wasn't really needed. Impressive though--and incredibly easy. I will make this recipe again. And it was nice to get a success after two failures.


Let me briefly touch on a subject that you will hear again and again...I live at about 5,000 feet above sea level. Why does this matter? Because high altitude, which effects typically start at around 3,000 feet, screws up EVERYTHING and there are not cut and dry rules. It's dependant on your exact level and the recipe. It can screw up everything from cakes and baked goods, to anything boiled (because water boils at a lower temperature so food needs to be boiled longer), to anything deep fried. It drives me nuts! And I'm sure will come up when I decide to bake anything...

Fish index 2006

The great indexing project! Because I can't think of any other better way to do this...I'm listing all of the recipes in a given chapter and linking them to the post where I cook it.

If you are visiting my blog from a search site like Google, make sure to search for the recipe even if it isn't linked because I'm usually a few months behind in my linking. And make sure to look around.

This is from the 2006 edition.  I also have the 2019 Index posted.

Fish:
Number of recipes: 62
Number of recipes made:
March 2009: 1 or 1.6% (the problem is living in an entirely land-locked state)
May 2009: 2 or 3.2%
Oct 09: the same :(
Mid-Jan 10: 3 or 4.8%
May 2010: 4 or 6.5%

Mid-Jan 11: No change (uh oh!)
Mid-May 11: 9 or 14.5%
As of 2019: 11 or 17.7%

Roasted whole fish
Roasted stuffed whole fish
Roasted whole salmon
Baked fish fillets in white wine
Sole duglere
High-heat roasted fish fillets
Slow-roasted fish fillets
Molded filled fish fillets (paupiettes)
Fish en papillote
Cod boulangere
Fish baked in salt
Fish baked in a covered dish
Fish baked in foil
Poached fish
Fish steaks poached in white wine
Braised whole fish with red wine sauce
Poached quenelles
Gefilte fish
Fillets of sole florentine
Microwaved fish fillets
Grilled or broiled whole fish
Grilled or broiled whole fish with bacon
Grilled whole red snapper with ginger-soy vinaigrette
Grilled whole trout stuffed with pesto
Broiled fish fillets with lemon
Broiled fish fillets with herbs
Broiled fish fillets with seasoned bread crumbs
Grilled or broiled fish steaks
Barbecue-rubbed grilled bluefish
Grilled fish steaks with tomato-olive relish
Grilled tuna with pickled ginger, soy sauce, and wasabi
Broiled shad roe
Fish kebabs
Teriyaki-grilled fish steaks
Broiled fish fillets with tomatoes and herbs
Grilled salmon fillets with mayonnaise
Plank-roasted fish
Panfried whole fish
Panfried fish fillets or steaks
Breaded panfried fish fillets
Panfried spice-crusted fish fillets
Marinated flounder fillets
Breaded smelts
Brook trout meuniere
Panfried skate with black butter
Seared pepper-crusted fish steaks
Blackened fish steaks or fillets
Deep-fried fish
Southern-style deep-fried fillets
Fish and chips
Marinated deep-fried fish
Thai fish cakes
Whitebait or smelts
Cured salmon (gravlax)
Seviche
Pickled fish (escabeche)
Codfish balls or cakes
Creamed finnian haddie
Salt herring and potatoes
Herring and apples
Sardine toast
Kedgeree