5 Ingredients or Fewer

Baked Cod with Miso

by:
March  1, 2012
2
5 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 2 to 4
Author Notes

An easy cod recipe that's a cinch to prepare. —Amanda Li

Test Kitchen Notes

WHO: Amanda Li worked with the Food52 development team when we were still brand-new.
WHAT: A deceptively simple weeknight cod recipe.
HOW: Marinate cod in a mirin-miso mixture, then bake at 350° F for ten minutes then serve it over brown rice to soak up all the sauce.
WHY WE LOVE IT: The short ingredient list and almost-as-brief method betray the depth of flavor in this recipe that makes the most of cod season (which is January through March!). —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup miso
  • 1 cup mirin
  • 1 pound cod fillet
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Mix miso and mirin in saucepan and heat over low flame to dissolve miso.
  3. Let marinade cool, then place in an oven-proof dish large enough to fit the fish, then place the fillets in marinade, fully covered if possible, and let it sit for 30 minutes.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes.

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23 Reviews

thanyen January 13, 2022
I probably should have read the reviews before making this one....
Joanna N. September 12, 2019
this was the worst recipe I have ever tried ! definitely ruined dinner. I agree with other reviewer‘s : way too much sauce making that all you taste, Cooking. time and temperature is not right & I usually love Morin and miso but this was awful. Sauce was overbearing and too much/salty etc. Could not eat it not to mention my miso is expensive and I used almost half the package. Waste of ingredients. I much rather enjoy my cod when baked with olive oil, lemon and parsley. Do yourself a favor and skip this recipe -I feel it should be taken down off of this site altogether
Miachef August 10, 2016
Awful! This is the worst recipe I have tried on Food52. Too much marinade, flavorless, & the oven temp was too low to cook the fish in 10 mins.
Joanna N. September 12, 2019
Exactly!
Allan B. April 12, 2016
I'm new to food52 but I have to say I'm very disappointed that people do not get their simple questions about a recipe answered by anyone! Worse than the blind leading the blind!
Lucy D. December 1, 2015
Tasted good but did not look lovely like the photo. When I saw how blah it looked, I stuck it under the broiler which didn't help. And as other commenters wanted to know, do you cook with marinade?
kgw June 20, 2015
Nice and simple way to prepare cod. I added the Miglore Caesar Salad, and, for dessert, the leftover Ricotta Lemon Bars. Washed it all down with a Paso Robles White, a la Rhone style: 80% Grenache Blanc, 20% Rousanne. . .Life is good.
sollared March 16, 2015
This was total garbage. I'm a college student, so I generally finish even the meh-est of the dishes I make, but I could not get past 5 bites of this. I love mirin and I love miso, but those two alone do not make a meal. I cook lots of Asian food and have been to Asia for extended periods and my gut told me not to use this recipe, but I was in a hurry and was too lazy to find another. I tried to salvage my fish by throwing it back in the pan for a minute with some soy sauce, ginger, and pepper, but the absurd amounts of mirin and miso had already brought it beyond salvation. I was able to eat a few more bites, decided to try some sriracha on it as a last resort, found that even worse, and just gave up.

If you reeeaaaallllyyy want to make this, I would suggest using (at most, probably less) a third of the miso and mirin (your wallet will thank you too), add in some chopped up ginger, maybe garlic, white pepper might help, definitely some soy sauce.
Double H. November 1, 2014
hmm...not sure what I did wrong, but this not not come out good for me. It was pretty flavorless and did not have that nice color in the picture.
anne May 19, 2014
Wow. I had no mirin, so I used sake and simple syrup. White miso, not red. Used sea bass, not cod. The result? Best fish I've ever eaten, even counting restaurants. Granted, it is difficult to screw up sea bass, the stuff is just so damn good! But with the charred sweetness of "mirin" and salty bite of miso ... I will make this one again and again. Thanks Jenny and Amanda.
Two T. May 12, 2014
I would love to try this..if I'm low on the marinade ingredients could I get by with halving that since it seems you don't reduce it or use it all? Thoughts? Thanks!
Shannon April 23, 2014
This was delicious! I used Halibut because it is in season and turned up the heat to 450º cooking it just to the point that the middle of the piec of fish was not quite done. Next time I'd add just a bit of oil to the sauce.
Horto April 22, 2014
i thought if you heat miso to a high heat it takes all the goodness out
Amanda L. April 22, 2014
@Eddie: red miso is a red color and is a little saltier and stronger flavored than yellow or white miso. here's a good article about it: http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/article/know-your-miso
Eddie April 22, 2014
Red Miso?
Amanda L. April 21, 2014
@melissa: I like red miso for the color, but any kind will do. @amanda: yes salmon would be great with this! @sue: i would scrape off the marinade as best you can, because the sugar in the mirin will caramelize and burn. You could glaze it halfway with some extra marinade for extra color on top.
Sue April 21, 2014
That should say before cooking.
Sue April 21, 2014
Do you cook it in the marinade, it sort of looks like that in the picture, or take it out of the marinade after cooking?
Amanda April 21, 2014
Could you use this recipe with a salmon steak instead?
teresa April 21, 2014
that's a lot of miso and mirin, seems you could brush on and save all that...
melissa April 15, 2014
Any particular miso?