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View Full Version : Tidbits for the Halibut sportsman/lady



newhunterette
04-21-2008, 08:36 AM
Halibut is a wonderful fish to cook. It has little oil and no overpowering flavor of its own. It takes sauces wonderfully, and the only thing you have to watch out for is to not dry it out during the cooking. The following can apply to either steaks (bone-in) or fillets (boneless hunks of fish). Halibut get quite large, and you can have a boneless roast 8 to 10 pounds if you like! In all cases, the fish is done when you can flake it with a fork.
For any kind of cooking of non-oily fish, a rule of thumb is ten minutes per inch of thickness in a hot oven (this means 400 degrees or more). Most of my fish pieces are 3/4 to 1 inch thick, so both broiling and barbequing follow this time rule fairly well. When you lower the temperature, things get interesting and sauces have more time to interact with the flesh. From my experience, by lowering the temperature to 325 or so, this increases the cooking time to 1 1/2 hours.

Baking:
Put the fish in a baking dish, cover about 2/3 with milk, a small pat of butter on each piece, and bake for 1 1/2 hour at 350 degrees.

Cook as above, but cover with a can of 'Campbells Mushroom Soup'. This is the first way I ever baked halibut and it isn't bad and it is certainly easy.

As above, but cover 2/3 with chicken broth.

Kids love this breaded, you can even use 'Shake and Bake'. I rinse fillets, dip them in flour, coat them in an egg mixture (I use the yolks and whites), roll in crumbs, and bake. You can also do this but instead of baking, put in a medium hot frying pan with a tablespoon of oil.

I've cooked halibut for 100 people by arranging fillet chunks in large baking dishes, covering about half way with 2% milk, putting a small dab of butter on each piece, baking as above, then sprinkling with paprika before serving to give it a little color.

Broiling:
Small dab of butter and squeeze some lemon on each piece. Broil about 7 to 10 minutes, turning once.

As above, but brown on top some shredded parmesian cheese just before serving.
Barbeque:

coat with olive oil, put on a medium hot grill, turn once, done in about 8 minutes.

dab of butter and squeeze of lemon, turn after 4 minutes and dab and squeeze side two

Frying:
cut fillet into small portions

rinse and drain

dredge in flour

dip into egg mixture (beaten whites and yolks)

shake in a paper bag with cracker crumbs

fry in hot pan with 1/8 inch of vegetable oil

cooks quickly, about 3-4 minutes per side, done when brown and flakes

This is actually a recipe for oysters(dip raw oysters into steaming water ~ 1 minute, then cut into nice sized pieces)

Appetizer:
A straight variation on angels on horseback, wrap 3/4 inch pieces of halibut with bacon, hold tight with a toothpick, cook em in the broiler, turning once.

newhunterette
05-18-2008, 07:07 AM
Crispy Baked Halibut

1 1/4 pounds fresh or frozen halibut steaks or thick fillets
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, snipped or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed
1/2 teaspooon paprika
dash pepper
fresh lemon wedges (for serving - optional)


Preheat oven to 450ºF.
Cut thawed fish into four portions. Pat dry and brush each portion with cooking oil.
In a shallow dish, stir together bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, tarragon, paprika and pepper. Dip fish into crumb mixture to coat both sides. Arrange pieces in a 12"x7 1/2" baking dish. Sprinkle any leftover crumb mixture on top.
Bake fish, uncovered for 8 to 12 minutes in a hot oven, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Do not turn during baking. Serve with fresh lemon wedges for drizzling

variations


Add chopped tomatoes to the breading mixture on top of the fish for extra flavor and great color.
You can substitute boneless chicken breasts for the fish and create a delicious baked chicken recipe. Just cook them for about 15 minutes, until they are no longer pink in the middle.
If you use chicken and you want a bit of a different flavor, try replacing the tarragon with an equal amount of rosemary. Rosemary and chicken were made for each other.
Substitute other thick fish or fish steaks for the halibut if you prefer. Just don't use thin fillets like sole as they may dry out a bit.