I hate halibut
Fatback
6,746 Posts
This is the worst fish ever. You can't fry it decent. Tough. Bland. And look at these goddamn things. Flounder are ugly enough but monster flounders. WTF do they eat? You look at the steaks in the store and you're like, hey, this is a decent looking fish. I could grill it, broil it or whatever. Then you get home, cook the shit all kind of different ways and it tastes like a sneaker dipped in pussy. Look at these things. I know I said that already. But look.
Comments
It's not my favorite fish of course - black cod from Alaska is where it's REALLY at.
Delicious enough to eat hundreds of them and never get sick of them.
Harvey - you ever been to a jubilee? Those sound hella fascinating, like the old grunion runs you could do in LA before the grunion population got decimated.
Naw, not sure what you mean by a jubilee. Didn't realize the grunion runs took a hit, but I guess that figures.
We'd actually wade-fish for flounder (and trout and redfish), either with live shrimp or with Johnson spoons. Other fools gig for them where they go out at night with lights on their heads and stab flounder in the shallows with pitchforks.
Look for photos of 'em. They're nuts.
When we'd run out of live bait, we'd sometimes have to resort to manually dragging nets through ankle-deep sludge...just to catch a few dozen shrimp to then go wish with.
Halibut should be slightly undercooked, preferably baked in an oven. Marinate that bitch with some ginger, little bit of garlic, little bit of nice olive oil. Salt & pepper to taste if that's your thing. Sweet sweet potato-mash and some nice greens (fried butter-garlic-asparagus would be my choice).
You can make a good ceviche with Halibut.
there's east coast halibut and west coast halibut. this is an important distinction. west coast halibut are generally larger, have a cleaner flavor, and are more sought after by high end restaurants. But atlantic halibut are certainly good too.
i will give you this, halibut "steaks" are a disgrace and are a ludicrous way to portion and prepare this fish. Basically you are paying for extra weight in bones that add very little flavor and downright hinder the proper preparation of this fish.
halibut NEEDS to be cooked gently. poaching in a light stock or oil is ideal. the oil or water should be about 160 degrees. This fish is extremely delicate, and excessive heat will easily break down fragile strands of protein that hold in moisture. This results in dry, rubbery, "dipped in p*ssy" tasting fish.
Halibut should be like a soft gently yielding pillow. As soon as a cake tester or thin metal skewer easily slides through the flesh, it's done. This means the fish should have an internal temperature between about 128-134 degrees. Blasting it in the oven is a bad idea. Grilling is fine, but after you've marked it on the grill, use a lower temp cooking medium to finish it off....225 oven, 160 oil or water, etc. guaranteed better results.
That said, nothing beats grilled Chilean sea bass.
Black cod is a very close second.