JANUARY 26, 2021

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!

So, last Thursday afternoon, I was at the shop when this gentleman came in to pick up his order. As he was about to walk out, he turned around and asked for my name. I told him my name was Robert. He states, "Oh, you're the guy who writes those emails."

"Yes.", I replied.

He says, "Words...lots of words..."

Hahahaha...I just shrugged and he walked out. All weekend I was wondering if he meant that as a compliment or a criticism. Who knows. (Who cares, really, but...)

Aaaaanyway, what a nice thing to play with swordfish again. Plus, so many people are expanding their repertoire with mussels. Oh my. The culinary journey is certainly progressing substantially. 

This week, we will be playing with three items that will certainly expand your skills and we are going to help you get it right. We are, surprisingly, expecting a shot of fresh smelts again. These little beauties come head off and gutted so they are totally cleaned and ready to go. We will be featuring fresh haddock fillets from up north. Haddock is considered to be the top of the list when it comes to the cod family of fish. Lastly, we will be featuring local (meaning Jersey) skate wing. This amazing fish comes with the skin off but still on the cartilage that keeps the whole thing together. We have great recipes on our website, smallworldseafood.com to make these items.

Where we want to help, though, is an area that sews a lot of confusion and rightly so. There is so much variation on how people do these things that it is hard to know what is good and what technique to use. Specifically, I am talking about dredging and batters for frying.

So, dredging is the action of coating an piece of protein in a flour mixture and then either pan searing or deep frying. The question for many is; "How do i do this?" Do you just use flour? Do you use flour, then egg then flour or breadcrumb? Do you season the flour? Do you season the fish? Straight flour or add cornstarch? How quickly do you cook after dredging? At what temps? pan sear or deep fry?

And for fish batters, beer or no beer? Dredge first then coat? Where does the seasoning come in? How do I get a good crisp and light exterior? Is this unhealthy cooking? What type of oil do I use?

See what I mean? Seems like a lot of questions to ask. I know. I know. Lots of words...

Here's where we will help. I will explain how this all works as simply as possible. 

First, a flour dredge works to seal in juices and flavor on thin cuts because upon hitting high heat, and that is the trick, it crisps up protecting the meat. If you place a delicate, thin fish (or meat for that matter) straight into a pan, the moisture will steam its way out too quickly and you end up with a tough, dry fish. You don't have to dredge thicker fish fillets because the outer layer of the fish will protect the interior. So, dredge right before placing into a hot pan with oil. This technique will work great for the smelts, skate wing or haddock (although you have to option to batter as well). If your oil and pan are NOT hot, the flour layer will not crisp up, it will absorb oil, become gummy and cause the fish to purge steam and make the flour coat fall off in places. Seen this before? That's why. Your pan and oil were not hot enough and you fish or meat will be greasy. Gross!

Second, fry batters. A good deep fried fish fillet is a great thing. Many people shy away from this because they can screw it up and it makes for a pretty nasty, greasy mess. Well, there is a right way to do it and lots of wrong ways to do it. The right way to do it is to dredge your fish first in a flour mix to create an outer layer to coat on the fish or seafood so the batter can cling. In fact, calamari is done with just the flour dredge and no liquid batter. Just the dredge into the hot oil but it has got to be hot at 350-375F. For a fish and chips kind of thing, you dredge your fish and dunk it into a beer batter and then into the fryer. Now, a couple of things to get it right.

 The use of beer in your batter helps the batter be aerated and therefore light upon frying. It also lowers the PH of the flour mixture creating a crispier exterior and a more golden color which is what we want. A simple lager is fine here and the alcohol burns right out for anyone who is sensitive to that. You can use sparkling water if you like but then add a 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder to the batter. Next, MAKE SURE YOUR OIL IS HOT!!! This is very important. The oil temperature has to be around 375F and not lower than 350F. That means, fry in small batches. Your fish and batter will bring the temperature of the oil way down quickly if you drop in too much. Fish fries in 2-3 minutes for thinner fillets and calamari in 45 seconds to a minute so don't worry about having to make a lot of batches. It goes really quickly. 

How do you make sure you are frying at the right temperature? USE A THERMOMETER!!! This is so important that we ordered a bunch of frying thermometers for you guys. You clip it on you pot (cast iron or ceramic is best because they hold heat best) and keep track of the temperature. Please, please use the thermometer. By using a thermometer and maintaining a high temperature, you will make the best calamari ever and the best battered fish or shrimp or onion rings ever. If the oil is hot, the thing won't absorb a lot of oil at all and you will have a tastier, crunchier dish.

Next, salt at the end when frying. After you pull out your fish or squid, lay it out on a wire rack, preferably, and salt it right away while you let you oil get back up to temperature for the next batch. A whole world of difference. Trust me. 

Now, what to do with your oil? Let it cool down, strain it and save it for your next fry in a sealed jar or jug. You should be able to use it a couple of times. My preference for frying oil, as many restaurants out there who really care about how to fry well, is peanut oil. You can buy it anywhere now but Asian supermarkets have it at an affordable price. It has a high smoke point and imparts the least flavor to the finished product. It really is the best. If you can't find it, canola will do fine.

Now, I know what you are thinking..."Robert!!! Lots of words!!! Ughhhh!"

I know. But here is where we make your life easier. We've made a dredge. Yup. It's seasoned with herbs and spices and ready for you to use. If you are just using a dry dredge, say, for calamari or haddock or skate or smelts, then you know what to do. If you want to make a beer batter, you can use some of this to dredge your fish and then simply add a 12oz beer to 1 cup of the dredge mix which, clever as we are, is the same mix you need to make a batter with. Start with 8oz of beer to 1 cup of the dredge flour and add little by little until you get to a thin pancake viscosity. And now life is simple. There. I'm done with that part of this.

Clams are the shellfish of the week. Oysters will be Pink Moons from PEI. No scallops this week since we have smelts (dredge, hot pan, salt after, crispy delight). Cheese is back this week and you guys get mushrooms again!! Yay!!

Thanks to everyone who pitched in a couple of bucks for Friends of Eastern State Penitentiary Park up in Fairmount last week. We all raised $300 with our matching funds! Woohooo!! We did the same for Rittenhouse/Fitler/Washington Squares and raised $450 for Koresh Dance Company. We'll do this once a month for different organizations. It ain't huge but every little bit helps. 

As you know, I love the arts and dance. Given that you've suffered through all these words, I thought you would enjoy some artistic expression created during Covid and that wasn't easy, I'm sure. You can't stop the creative spirit. Artists make us smile, they make us think, they make us love, they make us care,. We need to love them back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9IxogvCvxo&list=LL&index=21

Look out for the order form this Thursday at 9am.

Peace

Robert Amar
Small World Seafood
Owner