Genius
12 Years Later, Le Bernardin’s Crispy-Skinned Fish Is Still Genius
Kristen Miglore revisits the joys of this timeless technique.
Twelve years ago, I wrote about a gonzo trick for crispy-skinned fish I’d witnessed in the kitchen at Le Bernardin.
One of the fanciest restaurants in New York City (and the world) decidedly wasn’t using stone-ground local grains, but Wondra flour—a 1960s-era convenience product that wondrously dissolves more quickly than all-purpose. I had to tell the world about this technique, and our community quickly fell in love, too. But then, until recently, I forgot the joys of using it myself.
What happened? In the intervening years, another method had taken up full-time residence in my brain: Slow-Roasted Salmon (or Other Fish) from Sally Schneider, which made its Genius debut in 2015. Slow-roasting offers a long runway before overcooking; there is no splattering, no flipping, no doing much more than sliding your fish, any fish, into a low oven. The drumbeat of easy, easy, easy called and I didn’t fight or question it whenever I had fish that needed cooking. (I had a baby, then a pandemic to navigate, then a cookbook to finish.)
| 1 | tablespoon canola oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) |
| 4 | (6-ounce) skin-on fish fillets (like striped bass or salmon) |
| 1 | dash fine sea salt |
| 1 | dash freshly ground white pepper (black is fine too, if you don't mind the speckles) |
| 1 | handful Wondra flour, for dusting |
| 1 | tablespoon canola oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) |
| 4 | (6-ounce) skin-on fish fillets (like striped bass or salmon) |
| 1 | dash fine sea salt |
| 1 | dash freshly ground white pepper (black is fine too, if you don't mind the speckles) |
| 1 | handful Wondra flour, for dusting |
With slow-roasting, the flesh melts like butter and it looks like borderline sushi (“Don't worry if the top of the fish has a slightly transparent, raw look,” Schneider warned us). In other words, it’s a perfect method for people who already love fish. But people who don’t, I recently discovered, are more likely to change their position for a golden sear, a crackly contrast, and a dinner that tastes not far off from fish and chips.
These chip-esque fish re-entered my life abruptly, when my parents handed me a riddle of a dinner to cook (a large misshapen hunk of salmon they wanted seared crisp). Only after struggling to wing it, I remembered the Le Bernardin way: Dust evenly-sized fillets with salt, pepper, and Wondra (I’ve also used rice flour, another superfine, quick-crisper). Sear the skin side, then flip, and move to the oven briefly. The technique isn't difficult; it only takes attention and a few active minutes.
My husband, an avowed fish-resister, and daughter, new to the genre, are hooked—a triumph that forever reaffirms this recipe's Genius status (at least if you ask me, anyway).
From our new podcast network, The Genius Recipe Tapes is lifelong Genius hunter Kristen Miglore’s 10-year-strong column in audio form, featuring all the uncut gems from the weekly column and video series. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss out.
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Written by: Kristen Miglore
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3 Comments
However, use another oil (like peanut or grapseed oil) for cooking over high heat - keep that canola oil away from heat (it's OK to use raw, like in marinades and dressings) - while many chef may not notice (especially in professional and test kitchens that are saturated with a lot of different odors), a lot of people at meal tables notice that canola oil develops nasty off-odors over high heat; in particular, 3 compounds (1-penten-3-one, 1-octen-3-one and (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal).
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