Tag: fish

Marinated fish: dry or with a liquid? – Italian Cuisine

How to prepare marinated fish with two different techniques: dry marinating and liquid marinating. Here are the recommendations of La Scuola de La Cucina Italiana

There marinating is a technique that allows one to cook is to preserve foods, at the same time enriching them with aromas and flavors. Marinating fish is an excellent idea to be exploited in summer so as not to light the stove and to enjoy the raw fish, but it is always very important bring it down previously to prevent any risk and eliminate any parasites.

There are two different methods: the dry marinating and the marinating with a liquid acid. The first fundamental step in both cases remains that of clean the fish well, depriving it of scales, skin and bones and finally filleting it (or buy it already filleted). At this point you can proceed with marinating: let's see when and how to marinate dry or with a liquid.

Marinate the fish with a liquid

The marinating with a liquid is performed with an acid base, such as vinegar, wine or lemon juice, lime or grapefruit which allow the ingredient to cook. This technique can be used with the tuna, the salmon, the branzino or the swordfish, but also with shellfish is blue fish. For every kg of fish, about 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a citrus fruit, aromatic herbs and spices should be used.

The marinating times vary depending on the preparation: they may suffice 30 minutes for shellfish or thin fish slices, ideal for a carpaccio; 1-2 hours for the diced fish of the tartare; about 5 hours for the anchovies or for a whole slice; until to 10-12 hours necessary for a larger fish.
Marinated fish can be tasted raw, but you can also cook: grilled, continuing to brush it with the marinating liquid even during cooking, or baked, ensuring the fish to remain tender and juicy and not to dry.

Marinate the fish dry

For dry marinating are necessary salt, sugar is aromas. Marinating the dry fish ensures an important advantage: marinating with salt deprives the fish of part of the water, increasing its shelf life. storage. Before the refrigerator was released, the fish was stored in this way.

Usually this technique is used for larger sized fish slices, such as tuna or salmon. It is necessary to mix salt and sugar (usually the proportion is 60-70% of salt and the rest of sugar): this will exploit the salt's ability to cook food and balance the flavor with sugar. Then add the aromas to taste, including fennel, bay leaves, basil, mint, thyme, sage or rosemary and pepper. In a container a layer is created with this mating, the fish is placed there and completely covered with the rest of the compound. The fish must then rest in the refrigerator: a couple of hours may suffice for one small fillet, while you can get there up to 10-12 hours for a bigger slice.

Once the marinade is over, salt and excess sugar are eliminated. Also in this case you can consume a raw, cut into thin slices or tartare and seasoned with oil and lemon, or grilled quickly, getting more consistency Crisp.

From anchovies to sea bream, August recipes with fish – Italian Cuisine

A true concentrate of Omega 3 thanks to anchovies, sardines, mackerel and seasonal spatulas. Without forgetting the bream, the most loved by Italians. Here are some ideas to make the most of the catch of this period

Blue fish, blue fish and more blue fish. August it is the perfect month for fishing and cooking in this fish category so good and delicious, a real mine of benefits Omega 3. Let's see then some recipes with the seasonal fish.

Anchovies in the first with the crumb …

Fry aside, le anchovies give the best of themselves in the first: it starts from a classic of Sicilian cuisine, like the spaghetti with breadcrumbs and anchovies, and then continue with le linguine with zucchini, aubergines and anchovies, true triumph of summer flavors. Among the latter we find instead crunchy anchovies with scamorza, or i artichokes stuffed with potatoes and anchovies.

… and in other classics

THE'anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) o anchovy – although the latter term is used more often for oil-based products – it clearly differs from the larger one sardine (Sardina pilchardus) o Sardinian (a term used above all for fresh fish and not under salt): even here, however, for the "great classics" it is necessary to make a course on Sicily, with the pasta with sardines and the Sarde A Beccafico, flanked by sardines in saor Venetian. Alternatives? The sardines in a marinara style pan, le sardines and vegetables with carasau bread, sburned wheat pocket money with sardines and salicornia. Mediterranean taste also for the potato cake with sardine and mozzarella, as well as for the breadcrumbs with dried tomato.

Mackerel in all sauces

But it is also part of the blue fish family mackerel, fresh or in oil: to try, in this case, a very original mackerel and avocado salad, making full use of this newcomer in made in Italy gastronomy thanks to first crops started in Sicily. Fresh mackerel generally requires abundant seasonings, and this is how in August they are perfect recipes like it mackerel in the countryside, with vinegar, mustard and wild fennel. Or the delicious ones mackerel rolls, with a filling of breadcrumbs, pine nuts, garlic, raisins, sage and parsley.

The spatula, the young lady of the seas

Little known from Calabria up but to be discovered is the spatula, slender and tasty blue fish. Among the recipes, in this case, to try i spatula and pea rolls he Spatula skewers with cherry tomatoes.

Noble bream

In addition to blue fish, however, August is also the right time for the most loved by Italians, the noble and highly prized sea bream. Here the classic recipe is lGilthead with salt, perhaps with celery leaves, next to thebaked sea bream with potatoes (the surprise? the addition of pecorino). But there is also the carpaccio of sea bream with basil and lemon, thesea bream with baked leeks, sea bream and mixed vegetables in fricassee it's still boiled sea bream with parsley mayonnaise.

Not enough for you yet? So release your imagination in the kitchen with other raw materials: in fact, among the seasonal fishes of August, they are also included red snapper, hake, swordfish, sole and red mullet.

Grilled fish, cooking strategies – Italian Cuisine

Barbecue with a taste of vacation, sea breeze, non-stop relaxation in the comagnia, under fiery skies of sun and stars. We have recently illustrated the rules to follow for an epic barbecue. We talked in particular about the kebabs, the delicious cheeses and the delicious grilled vegetables on the grill. Here are some more tips for when we choose fish as the main food to eat with charcoal.

The cooking on the grill is based on a cooking principle at high temperatures, in which the "heat stroke" forms the crust that keeps the pulp soft and not dry. It really depends on the type of fish we choose, but most of the fish is more delicate than meat, so the coals must tend to be less ardent than what the latter normally requires. Said this, we must not be afraid of heat: the barbecue cooking foresees however a strong heat for all its duration. It is a cooking that is primordial but by no means simple, which requires experience and intuition to be performed to perfection.

Let's start with fish skin, which is essential to protect the meat. If we grill a whole fish, we clean it from the entrails (remembering that, from eggs to liver, the fifth quarter of the sea is gourmet in the kitchen) and we obviously keep the skin. We also leave the scales – unless we have the experience to be able to grill perfectly the scaled skin and then enjoy it together with the pulp. If there is no skin instead (because we are using a slice or a scallop etc), we have to invent it! The meat of the fish should be made in this case marinate (for marinades there is to indulge with bases & aromas, oils & herbs) or at least brushed with oil (the best choice for those who love pure fish). After that we can create an armor by flour or breading: breadcrumbs + spices and aromatic herbs, such as pepper (maybe pink, in grains), lemon or lime peel, coriander, parsley, rosemary, garlic, paprika, cumin etc. A very valid alternative, for those who eat meat, is to wrap the piece of fish in one slice of bacon or lard.

A surprising trick to try? The mayonnaise. For someone's ears it will be music, for others an inaudible suggestion. But here it is: spreading your fish fillets with a thin layer of mayonnaise, thanks to this emulsion they will not stick to the grill and the taste will be much less altered than one would think. On the contrary: if you love mayonnaise, put it on à coté of the poisson once grilled! And if, as we suggest, you want to make it at home with genuine eggs and oil chosen by you, here's the secret to make it perfect!

In order not to attack the fish, it is still essential to place it on the grill only once it is hot. It should be kept in mind the distance of the grill from the embers. A good average can be around 10 cm, but the rule is actually contrary to what would be done initially. In other words, the smaller and not thicker the pieces, the closer they should be to the grid. Larger and fuller fish require a longer cooking time. Therefore they must be kept more distant from the heat source, so that they do not burn outside. The pieces of fish should be brushed with oil or their marinade even during cooking.

Temperature and cooking effects vary depending on the raw material used for combustion. A charcoal & wood combination gives rise to higher temperatures and gives that delicious smoked flavor. If only charcoal is used, the aromatic touch can be given by adding wood chips such as cedar, apple, American walnut, fir or alder.

Cooking times? It certainly depends on the size of the fish. Less is often, the cooking will be short. At 55 ° the meat of the fish remains rosy, while as the temperature increases (up to about 80 ° of cooking on the grill) it gradually becomes whiter. Cutting the skin of the fish with oblique cuts speeds up cooking. If the fish are small, it is not necessary turn them, otherwise do it, but once.

One last tip: if you are a beginner, choose fish with firm and fatty pulp, like sardines (they must be very fresh, strictly for the day, but they cost almost nothing and are an incomparable delight for barbecues), mackerel or tuna (for reasons of ecological justice, white or alalunga is better). Try the eel, for a change. They are a real barbecue treat, and you can't go wrong!

Carola Traverso Saibante
August 2017
updated to July 2019

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