Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Cooking help-cod&halibut

Doctor friend brought us some cod and Halibut. We will pick it up on Wednesday. Suggestions on cooking it. Wife's memory is so bad she forgot cooking it when we lived in Anchorage.

Breaded and deep fried. I could eat my weight of it!

Sprinkle w/ S&P and garlic. Put a smear of mayo and top with bread crumbs and parm. Bake til almost done.

My wife loves deep fried fish, but I rather have it baked or grilled. Try not to eat any deep fry any more.

Bake it until it smells like cooked fish, then it is ready!!

By the time we realize we shouldn't eat things like deep fried, the damage is done. And pretty much to late in the game to change the outcome one way or another. IMHO.

We cook with lard quite a bit at home. But we don't actually cook all that much if that makes sesne. Like bacon and eggs in lard.... Sicne we do it 1-2 times a month MAX... I just don't sweat the little things.

Halibut makes good fish tacos is all I know. Maybe not as good as extremely rare tuna.. but damn good.

Jeff

Do not ever overcook either of them... 10 minutes max per inch of thickness whether grilled or baked. Cod will be very flakey and moist if not over done. Both are difficult to grill without a basket or plank.

A piece of slate flooring tile makes a very good plank for cooking on in the grill.

I just cooked cod several times last week and just panfried it in butter after a roll in lightly-seasoned flour.

AMA just came out last year and admitted there was absolutely NO science behind their long time claims for low-fat diets. It was purely a marketing device for dairy.

The 8-10 minute thing is from the Canadian school of fish cooking and is near perfect for getting it right...

Thanks Art, I passed this to the wife. My deal on deep frying is my taste is more toward the baked or pan fried.

Brother from another mother. Cooked either way I can eat it everyday.

While I like good beer batter or just good batter, and deep fried, I do love baked flavors or grilled flavors. Use of some dill and things start to get right.

In an oven pan
ingredients olive oil, red peppers and onions sliced, tomato sauce and boil potatoes and then slice them



SLiced potatoes(on the bottom) olive oil, salt and pepper

Sliced onions(onions on top)olive oil,salt and pepper

Put the Cod on top of those
TOmato sauce on top of that

Red Peppers as the final layer



350 degrees . 30 minutes

Yup, my standard flour seasoning is a little dill weed, salt, and pepper. Another "tip" when flouring your fish is to lay it on a bed of dry flour and sift the flour over the fish to coat it evenly. Do not rub it at all as it will cause the dampened flour to roll up in balls that will be hard when cooked. Just handle it gently and try to keep the coating very thin and uniform.

You can, of course, dust with flour and then flop in egg whites and re-apply flour to make a thicker crust. It will not be like a true batter (or even close) but it will produce a crispier bit of goodness there. I usually do that with fish I am a little concerned about for drying out like very thin pieces from sole and such...

Halibut Olympia is a good thing, also...

350F oven is about right.

I use yogurt, sour cream, and mayonaise interchangeably and often mix equal amounts of any combo of the three.

In a glass baking dish lay down a layer of sliced onion rings.

Cover with the Y-SC-M as above and place the fish on top.

Cover with another layer of onion rings and then the Y-SC-M you like.

Cover with shredded cheese of your choice and cover with foil.

Bake for 10 minutes per inch of the total depth in the pan, uncovering the last 15-20 minutes to melt the cheese and brown it a bit.

Set aside for at least ten minutes after taking out of the oven to let the moisture redistribute.

Some like croutons either under or over the cheese...

I had this halibut Olympia in salmon camp in Alaska. They crushed Ritz crackers and spread them on top. It was excellent.

I’ve always read the 10 min per inch @ 500*.

Would be good to not overestimate fish thickness.

Negative on the temperature... includes poaching time (you should know all about that!) and about every other way... though I did see more than one website that included microwaving under the 10 minute rule!

Thanks to all. I will let you know how it turns out.

They are both so good I would do at least one batch as simple as possible and just bake with lemon, pepper, salt and garlic and cook till the center just starts to turn opaque. After this then just about any method that doesn't over cook them will be delicious. Both will smoke well too.

Lately I have been cubing my Halibut and wrapping it in bacon. Paleo halibut. Grin. Serve with hot salsa.

I always wash/rinse any fish/seafood in a solution of lemon juice/vinegar and cold water. This will neutralize any of the off odors the product may produce. Cod more so than halibut.

Everyone has their personal likes and dislikes. I don't eat anything that is cooked in a deep fat fryer or breaded. To each his own.

I prefer to saute' fish in butter. Just add a little salt, pepper and maybe some lemon or Season all. That's all it takes.

KC

Put 1/2 cup of your favourite kind of flour (I like rice flour personally) add 1 tsp of each of paprika, salt and pepper into a zip lock bag. Add your fish into the bag and make sure it's coated and fry till just done in olive oil. Very tasty if not overcooked! You can make your own tartar sauce with a 1 to 2 ratio of mayonnaise and green relish in that order.

If you're running short on bacon but have plenty of bacon grease, put a very light coat of bacon grease on the halibut or cod , put chunks on skewers and grill it. Seasonings optional. (I like the taste of fish!)

Ed

Wife said the Doc gave us some yellow eye? also. I'm not familiar with it. Probably good to eat though.

Keep the cod and yelloweye. Give away the halibut. The most important issue,with fish, Imo is how was the fish treated after it hit the boat. Call me a snob but I won't take fish from anyone without knowing how it was treated.

I like it dipped in milk, then dredged in flower and pan fried until crisp on the outside but still moist.

While its cooking I make a curry with smallest cocktail shrimp I can find, using a little fish or chicken stock, paprika, curry powder to taste, garlic to taste, onion powder to taste, coconut milk (just a little), and finish it with a bit of sherry, cooked until it doesn't have an alcohol taste.

I serve the pan fried fish with a spoonful of the curry on top. It's really a pretty easy dish to make.

Yes, very good. flaky white meat fish, I like it pan-fried with a very light coating of flour or cornmeal, salt, pepper.

ROFL, I hear you, sir! We used to kill and bleed our fish right out of the water. I still gave away or traded most of the halibut because we always had plenty.

....seems-like-that's-just-about-the-same-time-the-worms-stop-screaming.

Completely agree.

One of the best sashimi fish we have, too.

My grandfather who was born in 1905 and lived on the coast in Maine, had a rule about fish that he lived by his whole life. It had to be "caught on the incoming tide". Of course that made more sense when he was young and guys still fished off of sailboats and rowboats, but it got the point across that he liked his fish FRESH.

Well I do not care for salmon, I like Halibut, so the Cod and Yellow Eye should be a treat.

Just had panko crusted butt last night, damn good viddles

+1. Makes killer ceviche as well.

Jeff

I love salmon. I can choke down halibut just fine, too.

Butch, would love to cook salmon for you sometime just to see if you could choke it down...

It is easy to ruin salmon...

I just hate to waste it on ceviche...

Ceviche "fixes" just about any fish.

Anyone tried cutting halibut in chunks and dropping it into boiling water? I think it was supposed to resemble lobster in flavor/texture. Seems like maybe I even tried it and wasn't impressed with my results. Too long ago to really remember.

Halibut falls way short when making "poor man's lobster." The boiling water is sugared and the fish is soaked in butter. Cod of virtually any kind is better for that job, but lingcod is really good, especially the big chunks around the pectoral fins.

That’s how we cook sturgeon sometimes, or boiled in 7up.not too bad

If we get to Alaska this summer as planned I will hold you to it. Best way for me was on the grill laying on a piece of tinfoil, butter, chopped green onion, and a little garlic salt. Having lived in Anchorage for a few years I had it fixed several ways.
My Father in Law's fish from the Kenai.

Fish wasn't big, but it put a big smile on the old man's face.
We built a 20X20 A frame on our property there.

What oil do you like best? I've been using peanut.

Butch, Both Ling Cod and "Green Ling" are two other great eating fishes. The Yellow Eye is what folks confuse with Red Snapper as they look a lot alike.

Ed

We don't deep fry at home a lot. Used to be mainly razor clams when we still had a season.
But to fry, we just use what oil we have. Often just veg oil. Peanut is probably the best though.

I have done it many a time , I load the water (6qts) with old bay, when she floats/more buoyant she's done

Well, My wife always does things he own way. The halibut was pan fried in olive oil with some spices dusted on it. She fixed chopped asparagus and mushrooms sauteed.
Tasted good, but a little dry, cooked too much maybe?

Yup, easy to do with halibut... 10 minutes per inch, maximum!

😉

The recipe I was given was to boil it in a 50/50 mix of water and 7-up, spear the chunks with a fork as soon as they float, and dunk them in melted butter. Delicious.

Thanks all, for the info on the "poor man's lobster", got lots of fish in the freezer, so think I will give it a try.

Try this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJXW68X1gI

No thanks.

I've got some halibut cheeks a friend brought home from Alaska this fall.
Should the cheeks be cooked differently?
If so what are some preferred methods
Thanks

We used to do the cheeks as we would scallops. To me that was sautee in butter, don't over do it. In fact the taste reminds many of scallops. We got large scallops in Alaska, about soda can diameter or better. I used to quarter those up.

Scallop Bisque with the cheeks is very good, just put the cheeks in just before serving. Get the bisque HOT (almost boiling) before serving and the cheeks will be just right after a few minutes.

I just made dinner crepes last night with a white shrimp sauce (cocktail shrimp in the sauce) and added snow peas, prawns, crawfish, and scallops at the end. A huge pot of the sauce disappeared...

Camping/fishing on a holiday weekend, when we have plenty of cheeks to go 'round, I like to wrap them in bacon and cook them over the campfire.

A lot of folks place a premium on the cheeks, but I never got all that excited about them. They don't suck, by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren't something I get giddy about. With their firmer texture, I usually save the checks for étouffée or cioppino, if they make it home.

Rockfish.....now THAT's something to get giddy about. By far my favorite eating fish!




My kids are fish-eating fools, and fish is by far their most requested meal.
Broiling it is pretty easy: I use a light drizzle of olive oil on top, then season with Zatarain's creole seasoning and a very light sprinkle of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs. Broil on high until the top of the filet just starts to flake apart. This is my favorite way to eat rockfish. It stays moist and just melts in your mouth!

Zatarain's creole seasoning also works well when grilling, and if I'm deep frying fish, I'll mix a good bit of Zatarain's into the breading. "Slap Ya Mama" is another good brand of creole seasoning. I find most of the others to be too salty for my taste buds. Zatarain's and SYM seem to have more zing than salt. I'm not a fan of Tony's for this reason, too salty.

My wife's favorite, fast/easy halibut recipe is to cube the halibut filet (works really well with larger/thicker filets) and drown it in ranch dressing. Then, roll the chunks in crushed Ritz crackers and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 500-degrees for 10min, hot and fast. Another variation (my favorite) is to drown the chunks in melted garlic butter and roll in crushed potato chips.

My dad got me a couple of the Yoshi copper grilling mats. At first glance, I thought it was an "As Seen on TV" gimmick. But, after using it, it does a great job with fish filets. The fish filets grill normally and do not stick to the grill or flake apart. They are a very worthwhile grilling accessory for fish!

That's no surprise with the recipes you gave, one of the reasons I always check these threads. I'm gonna have to try the rolling in ranch dressing trick.

Thanks for the ideas, Dan, we have some cheeks we were going to do soon and were wondering about what recipe to use. May try the one for rockfish too, so far we haven't hit a way to cook them that's been as good as we'd hoped.

If you are dealing with last year's rockfish you won't at this point. Rockfish is far better than halibut but after 6 months in the freezer it is garbage. Halibut is bulletproof and the only reason it has the reputation.

I wouldn't call it garbage, but I know what you're talking about. It gets a strong fishy taste to it after being in the freezer too long, and "too long" is pretty short, compared to salmon and halibut. Ling cod seems to deteriorate pretty quickly, too.

Our problem is that we are spoiled with fresh fish (and shrimp) all summer, and then we are disappointed when we have to slum the freezer the rest of the year.



Maggie, rockfish (especially the bigger ones) get really chewy when you overcook them. Cook them just long enough so that the top of filet just starts to flake apart under the broiler. That's it, no more!

What we're eating now was caught late in Sept., think we have 1 piece each left of ling and rockfish., lots of salmon and halibut left. We have been eating the ling and halibut per everyone's suggestion to use them first. Will try the rockfish tomorrow with your recipe Dan, thanks again. The halibut and salmon don't seem to be any problem, they always come out good, mostly baking or grilling them.

This is making me salvate and missing the PNW. Loved catching Rockfish and eating them on the beach with oysters, this in Puget Sound. Not to mention the bounty of crabs and other shellfish.

I ate Salmon almost daily for five months at a stretch when I was guiding in Alaska and I still like it.

Halibut is nearly bulletproof in the freezer... save it for last... lingcod and rockfish are delicate and need to be eaten first. Brine lingcod and smoke it for a couple hours before canning and it will keep and be spectacular. Plain canning does not work well because it is too wet.

I’m a barbarian. Garlic salt, pepper, self caught, processed. Nuke it. I like to taste the fish, more than the seasonings, sauces, marinades.

Fancy calls for butter, maybe some onion, mesquite seasoning, and/or baking. Can’t recall the last time I ever fried fish, tho it was battered halibut nuggets.

I almost never order fish in a restaurant. They ruin it, tho Don Ho’s? mahi-mahi (if I got that right) got a three nights running. After several other places around Hawaii I gave up on that fish too. Never going back to Oahu anyway.

Ok - maybe not the cooks fault - but the freshness of fish. Having worked both set net and drift boat, I ain’t never buying salmon!
U

I am having Halibut for supper tonight. I am going to season it with Paul Prudhomes Seafood Magic. dip it in beaten egg, roll in panko crumbs and saute it in a little coconut oil 3 minutes per side

I do that a lot. It’s good.

With fresh fish, simple is best.

Taco's aren't a bad use for halibut and rockfish.

I start grilling halibut skin side up for 3 - 4 minutes, flip and when the skin starts to stick to grill the filet will easily lift off and will be cooked to perfection. (another 4 -5 minutes depending on thickness)

I have a friend in Hoonah. Runs a charted business. Last time I was there, his wife slathered mayonnaise on the top of it, then dropped a bunch of bread crumbs on top and baked it. Was might tasty.

Properly processed halibut and cod from Alaska has very little fishy odor compared to warmer water fresh water fish. All fish continues to cook when removed from the heat source so keep that in mind. I like halibut, but prefer ling cod, other cod, yellow eye and other rock fish over halibut any day. I find halibut best with a beer, Panko or Tempura batter. Co and rock fish is also good that way, but eats very well when baked with salt, pepper, fresh dill, fresh lemon juice and butter.

Good fish should not be fishy tasting and when I used to have our own salt water boats I always bleed the fish and filleted as quickly a possible and never let the fillets touch fish slime. The few charters I have been on never took the extra care I did and one time after watching a deck hand cleaning fish I told the skipper I wanted to clean my own fish at home.

I took a package of rock fish out for tomorrows dinner and it will get baked and ate with my wife's wonderful tarter sauce! Alaska is blessed with an abundance of wonderful sea food. The moose and caribou are good too!