Steaming Whole Fish
When I was a little kid, the centerpiece of every important meal was a whole steamed fish.
At least in our family, Chinese home cooking was quite different from what most people eat in Chinese restaurants. Most of the fancy dishes were steamed and simmered. Fish, shellfish, jelly like things called sea cucumbers, chicken necks and feet, steamed buns, lots and lots of vegetables.
For quick meals, there would be fried things, but generally those weren't prepared for guests. Almost nothing was roasted or baked, very little was stirfried, and there was none of the high heat wokery that we might associate with Chinese cooking.
No doubt much of this reflected my family's own preferences. My grandfather loved fish. But I think it also reflects the realities of life in China, where my grandparents and parents grew up. In much of Asia, even today, kitchens are small and heat sources limited. Often there is no oven, certainly no big burner, and no grill or broiler. But there are food shops everywhere, so if you want a roast duck or baked pastries or flash-seared food from a glowing wok, you go out and buy it. There's home cooking, and there's restaurant cooking, and they are by necessity or tradition, quite distinct.
In America, if we served takeout food as part of a dinner party, that would be considered odd. Among Asian families, at least as far as I know from the lens of my childhood, it is perfectly to serve delicacies from outside.
But the abundant takeout came later. In 1960s and 1970s suburban New Jersey, there wasn't a profusion of Chinese corner eateries. So when we had a big feast, with all the aunts and uncles and cousins, and my grandfather at the head of the table, drinking mao tai and smacking his lips between jokes, most of the food was cooked at home. Fortunately my grandmother was an excellent cook, as were some of my father's generation, and one thing they did really well was steam whole fish.
Familiarity breeds contempt, isn't that the saying? Perhaps for that unworthy reason, I was never interested in making the old standby of steamed fish. When I started cooking with actual intent, I wanted to replicate all the stuff that my cousins and I looked forward to eating in the restaurants. Roast duck, fancy soups, dim sum, and of course the Western food that we kids considered to be the really special stuff. If you grew up on a constant diet of Chinese food, a simple hamburger and fries would be pretty danged impressive, believe me, especially when you only got that once every few weeks.
We have a friend coming over for a really late dinner, and she is a pescatarian. SWMBO and I are also on a healthy eating kick. So I decided to try steaming a whole fish - for the first time.
I have a black cod, unfortunately sans head or tail (SWMBO did the shopping, and she likes her fish as close to patty form as possible). It is too big to fit in my rather small steamers, so it is now two wide and stubby fish. Inside rubbed with salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, scallions. Cuts in the flesh, filled with more of the same. A mix of soy sauce, white wine, spices, and agave sweetener, poured into the openings and injected into the flesh with a turkey baster. I'm going to steam these for, well, I don't know long how, we'll just have to see. Then I have some oil with a little spicy sauce that I'll heat to nearly smoking and pour over the skin, followed by some more soy-wine-agave that will be boiling hot and poured over the fish, just before service.
It looks like this now. I'll let you know if it turns out, good or bad.
Comments (17)
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Comments (8)We JUST had steamed fish (redfish DH and I caught Saturday) last night. OK, this is a flounder from a couple of years ago, but technique is the same: Pictured above in a 13x9x2 dish, for scale. And imagine the head and tail are still on. :) (DH removes both since we don't have a larger dish.) Sorry, I don't have amounts as everything is to taste. Assuming the fish has been properly cleaned (gutted, scaled, rinsed) and refrigerated, cut diagonal slashes every ~ 2" (top and bottom sides of fish). Salt the slits and skin. Mince garlic and chop green onion (for the flounder, ~ 4 medium/lg cloves garlic and 4 green onion stalks). Set aside the upper, green portion of the GO. Ginger: I don't use it because, frankly, my mom put ginger on/in everything and I grew tired of the flavor. Plus, we don't use it often enough that a leftover nub in the fridge doesn't always get moldy. So, I skip. If you want ginger, just slice a couple of 1/8" pieces/medallions, then sliver those. A little goes a long way. Sprinkle half the garlic and GO whites onto the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle light soy all over fish, then place fish onto the dish. Scatter remaining garlic and GO bulb onto top of fish, along with the garlic slivers. Let the fish come to room temp just a bit -- makes for more even cooking. Bring water to a rolling boil, place dish into steamer (carefully!), replace lid, and bring back to rolling boil. Cook time will be ~ 20 minutes. You'll know the fish is done when the meat moves easily off the gone when scooted with a fork. Remove from heat. Drizzle sesame oil over the fish. Distribute green onion stalks onto top of fish. In a separate pan, heat 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil until shimmery. Drizzle hot oil over the fish/green onion -- should sizzle. That's how we do it, anyway. Enjoy -- happy memories!...See MoreSeven Fishes Dinner for Christmas Eve
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My mom gave me one of these old-time tiered steamers forever ago:
It's perfect for steaming 2-3 of our smaller catches in a single 10" Pyrex deep dish pan (x 2 layers on a good day). I couldn't imagine using a bamboo steamer as all the delicious 'juices' would be lost through the holes/cracks (right?). Retaining the juices was a huge deal in our household, as Mom used it to baste the fish just before serving. She also drizzled it over our rice to make it more flavorful, if we threatened to leave the table w/ rice leftover in our bowls....the horror! ;)
- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
John LiuOriginal Author