Genius

12 Years Later, Le Bernardin’s Crispy-Skinned Fish Is Still Genius

Kristen Miglore revisits the joys of this timeless technique.

April 18, 2023
Photo by MJ Kroeger. Prop Stylist: Gerri Williams. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog.

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.)

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.

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Top Comment:
“Wondra is one of those fabulous products that many old-fashioned American home cooks knew and know to use. 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).”
— Karl
Comment

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).


Tools for Crispy Fish


Have you tried Le Bernardin’s crispy-skinned fish technique? Tell us in the comments!
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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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See what other Food52 readers are saying.

I'm an ex-economist, lifelong-Californian who moved to New York to work in food media in 2007, before returning to the land of Dutch Crunch bread and tri-tip barbecues in 2020. Dodgy career choices aside, I can't help but apply the rational tendencies of my former life to things like: recipe tweaking, digging up obscure facts about pizza, and deciding how many pastries to put in my purse for "later."

3 Comments

Nyborg July 3, 2023
If you want an anti-inflammatory, gluten-free version of this that really works just about as well, use a light avocado oil and dust with arrowroot flour. Peanut and grapeseed oil are inflammatory oils. In fact, one of the problems with eating out a lot is the inflammatory oils, at high heat no less, and the flour or corn starch on everything.
 
phip May 3, 2023
Alas, as much as I love the thrill of crispy fish skin my digestion screams out for Alka Selzer. Digestion is such an important part of a successful recipe. In my experiences, I am 70, it seems that only Italians are truly aware of the fact. I was asked a food critic from the LA Times if she ever thought of actually writing about how she had digested the meal she had just reviewed and she said she that she didn't dare go there but was often so tempted. Much of the time its all in the choice of the oils used.
 
Karl April 18, 2023
Wondra is one of those fabulous products that many old-fashioned American home cooks knew and know to use.

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).