RCBaughn
TVWBB Super Fan
Well, I went to the Asian Market, and like always, I found something that piqued my interest and something absolutely new to me, which was this fish called "Golden Pomfret." I really had no idea how to treat the fish, but figured you can't go wrong grilled! It was just me at the house eating so I decided to do some experimenting since I had no idea on the bone structure of such a fish.
It was a bit of work to clean the fish. I have never seen fish anywhere else that comes completely uncleaned in a frozen state, but I was perfectly fine with that. Cut a slit in the bottom and pulled out all the nasty bits, removed the fins, tail, and eyes, scraped the scales off and made slits about 1" apart all down the fish so I could get all that good herby rub and butter in there. I rubbed it down with salt, black pepper, minced garlic, lime slices and their juice, and sprinkled it with melted butter and some Thai Basil that I also got at the market. Stuffed the inside with whole basil leaves and a few lime slices.
As a side note, I think Thai Basil makes the regular Basil I buy look BAD!!! It is some amazing stuff, if I can get it over the regular stuff I will from now on. It is about twice as fragrant and flavorful.
By the time I got the fish all ready to go and about to fire up the grill it had blew up a big rain storm outside that I wasn't expecting, so this grill session turned into a baking session.
That's okay though, because we guys can always work around problems. Cranked the oven up to 475 and baked it for 23 minutes. I put the fish on some lime slices so it wouldn't stew on the bottom from the juices and also allow the heat to move around the fish a lot more evenly. Came out smelling amazing and the skin on the bottom wasn't soggy at all.
I veered way off the asian flavors though with the side dishes and sautéed some hen of the woods mushrooms with garlic, white wine and butter. I can get those shrooms for $2.99 for a full head, which is insane considering Whole Foods wants $29.99 a pound and that when they can even get them in their bins at all. Really veered off the Asian here though and made some smoked Gouda cheese grits. As soon as I threw the fish in the oven I knew I wanted to take the meal in a Cajun route and I don't know what else can do that better than some cheese grits to go with seafood of any type. (No pics of the grits though, sorry!)
After it was all done though, this may be one of my new favorite fish. Way more flavorful than tilapia and it was also a bit fattier white fleshed fish so it was extremely juicy. The skin also crisped up nice so there is no waste hardly at all. I guess you can tell that from how much of the thing was left at the end of the meal. Really easy to eat fish too, no small bones and the meat pulled right off the big bones. A ton of meat on the fish too, if you run across a fish that is shaped like this snatch it up because it was good. No idea what would be an equivalent variety, but I plan on keeping one of these guys in the freezer so I can have it anytime I get the hankering! Gotta love Asian Markets for exposing us to new things!
It was a bit of work to clean the fish. I have never seen fish anywhere else that comes completely uncleaned in a frozen state, but I was perfectly fine with that. Cut a slit in the bottom and pulled out all the nasty bits, removed the fins, tail, and eyes, scraped the scales off and made slits about 1" apart all down the fish so I could get all that good herby rub and butter in there. I rubbed it down with salt, black pepper, minced garlic, lime slices and their juice, and sprinkled it with melted butter and some Thai Basil that I also got at the market. Stuffed the inside with whole basil leaves and a few lime slices.
As a side note, I think Thai Basil makes the regular Basil I buy look BAD!!! It is some amazing stuff, if I can get it over the regular stuff I will from now on. It is about twice as fragrant and flavorful.
By the time I got the fish all ready to go and about to fire up the grill it had blew up a big rain storm outside that I wasn't expecting, so this grill session turned into a baking session.
That's okay though, because we guys can always work around problems. Cranked the oven up to 475 and baked it for 23 minutes. I put the fish on some lime slices so it wouldn't stew on the bottom from the juices and also allow the heat to move around the fish a lot more evenly. Came out smelling amazing and the skin on the bottom wasn't soggy at all.
I veered way off the asian flavors though with the side dishes and sautéed some hen of the woods mushrooms with garlic, white wine and butter. I can get those shrooms for $2.99 for a full head, which is insane considering Whole Foods wants $29.99 a pound and that when they can even get them in their bins at all. Really veered off the Asian here though and made some smoked Gouda cheese grits. As soon as I threw the fish in the oven I knew I wanted to take the meal in a Cajun route and I don't know what else can do that better than some cheese grits to go with seafood of any type. (No pics of the grits though, sorry!)
After it was all done though, this may be one of my new favorite fish. Way more flavorful than tilapia and it was also a bit fattier white fleshed fish so it was extremely juicy. The skin also crisped up nice so there is no waste hardly at all. I guess you can tell that from how much of the thing was left at the end of the meal.
Really easy to eat fish too, no small bones and the meat pulled right off the big bones. A ton of meat on the fish too, if you run across a fish that is shaped like this snatch it up because it was good. No idea what would be an equivalent variety, but I plan on keeping one of these guys in the freezer so I can have it anytime I get the hankering! Gotta love Asian Markets for exposing us to new things!
