fish a la Bernardin by Matt Lieber was delish but why less crispy?

Merrill is a co-founder of food52.

added 9 months ago

Hi, Matt! Hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for checking out the app, and for asking a great question. I'm going to forward this along to Kristen Miglore, our Senior Editor, who wrote about the recipe -- I'm sure she'll have some thoughts on why the skin may not have crisped up properly, but I'm guessing it was a combination of the things you describe above. You need the pan and the oil to be blistering hot when the fish skin hits them in order to create that crisp crust. Did you use Wondra? That's also a key element.

• 0 People think this is an excellent answer
• Reply
• Flag this answer for inappropriate content

Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52

added 9 months ago

Hi Matt -- thanks for trying out the fish! I'm glad you liked it even though it didn't achieve maximum crispness.

Merrill's right on all counts (and she's made this recipe a few times, so she should know!) -- the oil should be very hot but not smoking. Did you sear on the stovetop initially, or did you heat the oil and pan in the 400 degree oven?

I just realized the stovetop searing may not have been clear in the recipe until step 3 -- I've edited step 1 on the Food52 version of the recipe to make this more clear: http://food52.com/recipes...

If that's the case, I'm very sorry for the confusion! Thanks so much for your comments.

• 0 People think this is an excellent answer
• Reply
• Flag this answer for inappropriate content