Shopping

Fish Fillets:

  • I’m leaving it up to you on purchasing your favorite fish fillets that have skin. Local fish like salmon, steal head, black cod or halibut are good choices. You could also choose turbot, arctic char, or what looks good at the fish counter.

  • If you choose a salmon or trout family fish, it needs to be scaled (or de-scaled). You can ask your fish monger to do that, but generally you would need to purchase the entire fillet for them to do that. Halibut and black cod have very small scales and could forgo descaling. I personally descale the halibut as well.

  • You may also ask your fish monger to remove the pin bones.

  • You’ll need a hot oil… clarified butter or canola oil. But for those of you who came to my crisply skin fish dinners, I used clarified butter.

Aioli ingredients:

  • one egg yolk

  • dijon mustard

  • garlic clove

  • salt

  • fresh lemon juice

  • olive oil

Lemon Caper Sauce ingredients:

  • one shallot

  • capers (about one tablespoons)

  • white wine vinegar

  • white wine (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

  • butter (about 6-7 tablespoons)

prep

Descale your fish (if not already done)

  • Descaling fish is a messy task. It’s best to place fish on parchment paper close to the sink. It’s easier to do this when the fish is dry, so do this before you clean the fish. You may need to hold the tail side of the fish with a paper towel to have a better grip. Take the back side of a think knife (or use a dull knife) and scape from the tail side to the head side. Repeat until you feel like all of he scales are removed. Don’t worry if you miss a few, they won’t kill you :) then rince very well under running water and with your hand make sure you get all of the loose scales off. It’s important to have a good strainer in your sink because they can clog up your sink.

Remove pin bones

  • To remove pin bones in the salmon family, simply use fish tweezers, or something similar in your tool box. Feel along the center of the flesh of the fish and identify which direction the bones are in the fish. With the tweezers pull the bones out in the same direction to create the least disturbance to the flesh. If you choose not to do this, then you simply pull them out after the fish is cooked. If you purchase black cod, use a very sharp knife and cut the center flesh bones out (see photo below). Otherwise you will butcher the flesh of the fish.

Cut your fillets into individual portions.

Salt your fish

  • Do this early in the day with Kosher salt, either first thing in the morning or at least three to five hours before cooking. You want the skin to be dry when you cook it. Salt the flesh side of the fish normally, then turn over and salt the skin side more than you would normally. Place skin side up on a drying rack in your refrigerator.

before class

Take your fish and egg for aioli out of the refrigerator one hour before the class.

Zest one lemon and juice 1/2 of small lemon

Mince one shallot

Cut your butter into tablespoon pieces, but keep cold.