Butter Poached Halibut
Cooking things in oil has a terrible reputation for good reason. Modern deep fat cooking usually features breading and/or batter that serves to protect the flesh, and create a delicious crunchy crust. But the crust acts as a sponge, and in the end the diner ingests a lot of low-quality oil that’s been held for hours at a high temperature. It’s not the oil itself that’s the problem; it’s the breading. In fact, done skillfully, oil might just be the greatest cooking medium of all. It retards dehydration; it’s fast, and uniform. It also delivers and extracts flavors.
I use high quality oil, slow cooking, and NO crust to cook fish, and I cook it GENTLY. Halibut is a beautiful firm-fleshed white fish that dries out and toughens quickly when in direct heat. Over-saucing is a common fix, but let’s avoid that.
Beurre Monte’ is a magical solution that is too little-known to home cooks It’s a versatile workhorse in restaurant kitchens, and it’s simple: it’s melted, emulsified butter. It’s used to slow cook lobsters, rest roasted meats, and poach fish. Restaurants use it the same way they use sous vide machines: for slow, even, controlled cooking. Beurre Monte replaces the plastic bag of sous vide with a warm, sometimes seasoned butter bath.
Start with a tiny amount of water over medium high heat, and start melting and moving large pieces of butter. The cold butter regulates the temperature to prevent breaking. It’s an emulsion of water and butter that is 99 percent butter—the water just gets it started melting properly. Depending on the size of the restaurant, it might consist of 5-10 pounds of butter, kept on-hand in a warm area of the stovetop at about 120 degrees.
Let’s translate all of these ideas to home cooking using less butter but getting the benefits of all of the above.
Marinate the fish however you like.
In a medium sized heavy sauce pan boil 1/4 cup water and then put in a pound of butter and start pushing them around over medium heat until melted. Infuse with salt, herbs and seasonings. It should be about an inch deep.
Pat the marinade off the fish and season lightly with salt and pepper. Drop it in the pan on low heat, move it around enough to coat it in butter and, cook on one side for 3 minutes. Flip and cover lightly with parchment paper Cartouche. (A tighter seal of a lid or foil would cause a temperature spike and unwanted condensation.)
Continue to cook over a low flame or throw pan into a low oven for 4-5 minutes, or until it’s done.
Off of the heat, baste the fish with the surrounding Buerre Monte until it starts to adhere and glaze.
Transfer to a paper towel or rack before plating. Strain a little of your butter mixture and add a fresh squeeze of lemon and fresh herbs to make a sauce.