My friend Meir is an Israeli chef who went to the Cordon Bleu, got his training in Michelin-starred French kitchens and was head chef at a handful of Paris bistros before moving back to Israel to start a family — and open his own restaurant one day soon!

I used to visit him sometimes at the restaurant, eating lunch and then sneaking back to the kitchen to get a look at some of his tricks. I have learned a lot about cooking from Meir, but I always remember what I learned one day while watching him cook a perfect piece of fish…

He had a fillet of skinless white fish like the one I’d just eaten for lunch in a very small sauté pan — the kind of pan you use to fry an egg– just big enough to hold it snugly. He had first melted a pat of unsalted butter with an equal amount of olive oil and gently browned the fish on one side until it had a golden crust. He did this on gentle, steady medium heat to give the fish time to cook slowly without drying out.

And he was watching over that little fillet like a baby — tilting the pan frequently and swiftly so he could baste the fish with the oil/butter mixture as it cooked, which gave the finished fish a silky and almost butter-poached taste. Meir finished the fish in the oven, which in a chef’s kitchen is always roaring. But he pointed out that you don’t need an oven to roast a piece of fish and can just continue pan-roasting it on the stovetop until it’s cooked.

I tend to be more sure of myself in the kitchen when it comes to rapid, last-minute preparations like quickly sautéed and flamed shrimp. I am fond of quickly searing scallops and tuna steaks in a hot pan, but thanks to Meir, that day I learned how to slow down and cook a succulent piece of delicate fish.

To recap:

1. Use the smallest pan you can to cook the fish — this will keep the heat concentrated around the fish and make it easier to baste.

2. Use an equal mixture of butter and olive oil and baste the fish frequently by tilting the pan and spooning over the butter-oil mixture with a soup spoon, then returning it to the heat.

3. Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat — medium heat works best when cooking a delicate piece of skinless white fish, which will develop a golden crust as it cooks.

Posted by kristin in something i learned from | | Subscribe to this feed