Butter Fish

I went to Farmer's Market on Sunday with Fresh Crab on the menu. I spotted Dungeness Crab for $8/lb. a couple of weekends ago and have been working up the courage to try them at home since then. Mostly because Neil seems scared of the idea of me cooking crab. But I had decided to give it a go, for better or worse. But, when I got to the fish stand - no crab this week. Bummer. So I perused the other offerings and spotted "Butter Fish". Being totally intrigued by a fish named after butter, I asked the fishmonger what it was like. He said it was like a Ling Cod but meatier and richer. I liked the sounds of that, and plus it was locally caught in the Monterey Bay and one of the cheapest fishes on the menu. Cool. Having never heard of butterfish before, I did a little bit of research on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website (it's got a great guide to eating seafood, you should check it out) and I found that it is also commonly know as Sablefish, or Black Cod. Here is the blurb from the website:

"Sablefish, also known as black cod, is found in the cold waters of the North Pacific. Favored by chefs for its silky-smooth texture and heart-healthy fats, it can be baked, grilled, pan-roasted or eaten raw. It's a great alternative to freshwater eel, which is on the Seafood Watch "Avoid" list."

I found this info at the Environmental Defense Fund's website:

More About Sablefish (CA, OR, WA)

Although sometimes called a black cod, the sablefish is not a cod species. The wide-ranging, long-lived sablefish is popular in Japan, where most of the catch is marketed. This fish produces oil rich in vitamins A and D. It can live as long as 62 years and grow to a record of 4 feet (122 cm).

Commercial Sources
Sablefish are found in the North Pacific Ocean. In the eastern Pacific, they occur from the Bering Sea to central Baja California in Mexico. In the western Pacific, they are distributed from the coasts of Kamchatka in Russia to southern Japan.

The main source of sablefish is the United States followed by Canada.

Capture Methods
Sablefish come from marine fisheries, not fish farms. They are primarily caught with longlines and handlines. Additional types of fishing gear include trawls, pots and traps.

Buying & Eating Guide
Flavor and Texture
Sablefish has mild, soft-textured white flesh with a high fat content.

Buying Tips
Sablefish is sold whole, in fillets or steaks, and fresh or smoked. It is sometimes marketed as smoked black cod.

Apparently, Black Cod/Sablefish caught in Alaska or Russia is preferred, because the fisheries in WA/OR/CA aren't very well managed. But it is still a fairly good eco-choice, and a good alternative to Chilean Sea Bass, which is, I guess, severely over-fished.

Anyways, I ate the fish before doing any of this research, so I guess even if it had been on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's AVOID list, I wouldn't have known it until after fish was already in my belly. But I'm really glad that it's okay to eat because, boy, was it delicious. They weren't fooling when they named it "ButterFish". The thing practically melted in my mouth. I fried the filets in butter and lemon juice and sprinkled them with salt and pepper and to be honest, the butter was almost over-kill. The fish is so ridiculously rich anyways, that it's almost redundant to put butter on it. If I were to cook it again, and I most certainly will, I would fry it in a little olive oil and then drown it in lemon juice and just touch it with a tiny bit of butter at the end to soften the lemon juice. But I think it really needs the strong acidity of lemon to balance out the richness. I usually don't like white fish very much, but this one was different - it didn't taste fishy at all, it was more meaty and silky. And I would imagine it would be a really great blank canvas for all sorts of flavors, because of the lack of fishiness. I served it with sliced red potatoes sauteed in butter, with garlic and thyme and broccoli raab, sauteed in butter with lemon juice, salt & pepper. Yep, I really bought into the whole "butter" theme. Mmmm. Butter.

So, anyway, if you come across this fish sometime in your local market, give it a shot.

We had a lovely day here in S.F. on Sunday. Sunny and bright and clear. Neil and I walked down to Duboce Park with coffee and pastries and just sat on a bench for an hour or so, drinking in the sunshine and watching all the parents out playing with their babies. We spotted a baby Tiger (or who's a good golf person these days?), baby Steve Prefontaine, baby Pele and baby Peyton. Got to get them started early, I guess. There was also a french bulldog who was trying to steal basketballs and skateboards. He was pretty funny.
Today, we are back to the rain, but that's okay - Spring is in the AIR!!