Halibut

Eric Dellamater

Well-known member
Hey guys, a co worker of mine just caught a bunch in AK and has flown it all home but has no idea of how to cook it. I have no real help either since I have never tried to cook any.

so....any tips, recipes, ideas????

thanks.
 
Take a look at honest-food.net. There are lots of recipes as well as really good tutorials for cooking game of all kind. I cook quite a bit of striped bass and am a fan of pan seared (H-F.net will walk you through it) but also give a puttanesca or a cioppino a try its great with flakey white fish, a quick google search will give you some great recipes and its a bit easier then searing.
 
Pan sear in butter.
Grill it.
Fry it.
Bake it.
I am thinking it will be hard to mess it up!
 
Eric,

Tell you friend it is probably not worth his effort. I'll drive over and get that nasty stuff out of his freezer for him. :>) :>)

I don't have the recipes as my wife is our cook but I'm with Carl, it can be prepared in a variety of ways.
 
My family owns a restaurant and i have cooked there going on 15 years now. The way i prefer halibut is to pan sear it, you get a very nice crust on the outside while keeping the meat of the fish moist as possible. I personally like to pan sear it to a golden brown then pan sear an avacado pancake and finish it off with a balsamic glaze reduction. I also add pan seared shrimp and scallops but thats just me, but i truly think pan searing is the best way to cook halibut
 
I grew up eating fried halibut. We would regularly fry up halibut on Friday nights for dinner. But then, that was when it was ok to keep the fry daddy full of oil ready to go at a moments notice. Now, fried fish and fried chicken are a rare occasion. Dare I say a spoiling is in order from time to time.

I really like what Jay just described and since I can't be too far from him in South NJ, I need to know where I can come for dinner, because now I am hungry for pan seared halibut and an avocado pancake.

(seriously, Jay, shoot me a pm of your restaurant. Wouldn't mind giving it a try.)
 
To avoid over cooking, the halibut should be cut into portions no thicker than two fingers, unless you plan to finish the cooking in an oven.

Season each portion lightly (or to taste) with seasoned salt, lemon pepper (sparingly) and garlic powder.

Mix equal parts Kellogs Cornflake Crumbs, Cracker Meal and Panko. Season the breader lighly with a bit of sea salt.

Egg wash (beaten eggs and a little room temperature water) portions and press gently into breader mixture, coating thoroughly, then place them on a rack to set.

Coat the bottom of a skillet with grapeseed oil and add a pat or two of butter (not too much or it will burn quickly). Heat wide open-high medium until the butter has completely incorporated but the mixture hasn't begun to darken or smoke.

Cook fish portions until golden brown on both sides. Do not crowd the pan. Do not turn each piece more than once. Do not allow pan to burn, otherwise you must clean it out and start over between batches.

If it is good and fresh, it won't need much of anything in the way of condiments to go with it. I like to serve any fish prepared this way with sauteed/wilted greens and broccoli cornbread.
 
Wow, you guys are making my mouth water. Thanks for all the tips. I will pass them on.

I will have to check out those web pages as well.
 
Just dont overcook it!
Grill 3-4 minutes a side per 1 1/2 of thickness (hot grill, lots of oil)
Sauté hot oil 3-4 min, flip, oven finish 3-4 minutes (350*)
Fry 2-3 mintues beer battered (pcs about the size of good cigar before batter)

White thru, not opaque, not dry

If it has been frozen (should keep several months if vac sealed) it will go from perfectly cooked to overcooked faster so watch it closer and adjust time temp

Awesome fish and a great platform for all kinds of sauces
 
Oh man... I am hungry now.

I would love to halibut in a cioppino. If anyone ever wants fantastic cioppino, try the Tadich Grill in San Fran. I would go back just for that.

http://www.tadichgrill.com/
 
Just had Halibut tonight.

Put some foil on the grill and turned it on med high.

put salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil on the fish and put it on the foil. turned the heat down to medium after 3 min, cooked it 13min total. Nice and moist.

Added a peach salsa on top of the fish.

3 chopped peaches
3 chopped tomatoes
2 scallions
1 clove garlic
2 diced seranos ( no seeds or guts)
1 cucumber ( skin and seeds removed)
rice wine vinegar
Kosher salt
parsley ( cilantro woulda been good here too)
fresh lime juice.

If I wasn't lazy I would have grilled the peaches first and maybe burned the skin off of the peppers. They had been drying in the sun for a month so they were red, not green and had a great flavor and level of heat.

I also agree that a nice pan sear is the best way to cook halibut, I went for the grill tonight to keep from heating up the kitchen too much.

-D
 
Eric,
Like has been mentioned---no matter how it is fixed, it is great. My hunting partner and I used to drive down to Seward on the Kenai peninsula and buy a small halibut every year. The last one we got back then was a 90 pounder. We brought it home put it on the kitchen table and started to steak it out. Oh, the charge back then from the boat captain, was $15 or$20.00. We also used to buy any king crab we wanted for $5.00 each. Like the old Milwaukee beer ad said, "It doesn't get any better than this."
Have fun and enjoy every morsel, Eric.
Al
 
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