Question
Amorsola Quintana
I just cooked Halibut with Lemon-Dill Beurre Blanc however the fish fillet got so mushy and the sauce was not with the right consistency.?
Answer
So a couple of things. We have, uh, seafood cookery, fish cookery in this case, and we have a classic butter sauce, okay? A burb lung, uh, in this case flavored with lemon and dill. All right? And, uh, so I'm gonna start out by saying, uh, the same thing that I said a moment ago before I add some details. And that is, uh, we need to understand the, the, the principles, right? The methods and the techniques, uh, that go into handling, uh, the fish as well as creating a burb lung. Okay? Uh, and, you know, note that both of these activities have some technical aspects to them, so they require some practice. Um, you know, the bur blanc, I'll start with the bur blanc. You know, it, it's not an easy sauce. Uh, it's, uh, it can be a bit temperamental. Uh, it is temperature sensitive, uh, a little bit delicate, okay? Um, but, uh, you know, as you work with a Bur blanc, uh, probably the most, uh, common issue, uh, starting out, you know, with student chefs, student student cooks or, or, you know, uh, novices in the, in the professional kitchen, is that the sauce breaks. And in other words, there's separation of, of the fat and, and the, the liquid components, the, the water components. Okay? Uh, so in other words, what you want to do is to create an emulsion and, um, an emulsion, okay? Is a combination of, um, uh, fat in water, uh, that, uh, you want to, to stay together to create this thick and creamy consistency in whatever it is that you're making. And usually it's, uh, uh, in our context, it's a, a butter sauce of some sort. You know, a Holland Days, uh, is a classic one, uh, that we typically practice with in culinary school. And then, uh, we move on to the Bur Blanc, um, in terms of, uh, making these, uh, these, uh, beautiful variations on this butter sauce for many different entrees, okay? But, uh, the first step is to, uh, reduce your, uh, your base acidic, flavorful liquid, which is commonly vinegar. Um, and, and, uh, also a combination of vinegar and, and white wine. And, uh, okay, it could be red as well, if you're making a a, a bur rouge, okay? So a, a white butter sauce versus a red butter sauce, which actually comes out kind of beautiful pink colored. Um, but anyway, uh, so you'll reduce that, uh, uh, you know, considerably not all sec, but, um, probably by, uh, you know, more than a half, um, you know, two thirds, three quarters of the way or so, to concentrate the flavors. And then you want to let that heat drop, um, and it could be by turning off the heat or pulling the pan off of the burner as you add, uh, knobs, uh, which are just chunks of cold butter. And then you, you, you swirl those in, okay? And that's, um, so there's a temperature range, and they're not too hot, not too cold, uh, to create this emulsion. And, um, that's where the practice comes into play. Okay? And, uh, so, you know, I want you to, uh, to, to go back to the kitchen, back to the, to the pan, and, and try this out, okay? You're gonna, uh, uh, find that sweet spot in there where you can maintain the emulsion. Now, once the sauce is put together, all the butter is incorporated, you wanna maintain that sauce over a, uh, a gently warm pan. If it gets too cool, it'll congeal, it'll, it'll set up hard or start to set up hard. Um, and it, it'll have a tendency to break as it's, uh, as it's heated up. Again, on the other hand, if it's, uh, uh, too hot, um, during that holding phase, it'll break, and you'll see this, um, it'll lose, its, uh, its, uh, cream like viscosity and become very thin and runny. Although the flavor tastes good, the, the appearance, uh, gets a little bit, um, um, you know, less than smooth as well. So, uh, give that a practice, you know, again, multiple times, uh, to find that, uh, that ideal range. Okay? And then in terms of the, the fish, uh, you know, recommend some oil in the pan. And let me, let me, I guess, step back, uh, to an earlier step. And that is, when you buy the fish, ideally it would be a, a fresh product that's gonna be, that's gonna set you, you up for the best success, rather than a previously frozen product. You can certainly use a previously frozen product, but, um, just, you know, what happens under the freeze thaw cycle is that water crystals expand, uh, cell membranes rupture, uh, such that when, uh, the product is thaw again, it becomes a little more loose, uh, than it would be in its fresh state. And that contributes, um, you know, in part to, or maybe in large part, uh, to the mussies that you experienced. Okay? So if you can start with a fresh product that's gonna be best, um, the, the, you know, at least starting out here, as you get going, you use some, some oil, some fat in the pan, and, um, uh, um, yeah, cook on, um, you know, moderately high, no more than that heat, and, um, depends on, you know, the, the size of, of the pieces of meat. But, um, uh, you know, the thickness of the cut or the part of the fish you're using, but you, you know, you don't need much heat. You're looking for, uh, across the, the side of, of the fish here, the heat penetration. You look at the, the color change, and as the, uh, uh, the, the heat penetration reaches, you know, a third of the way or so, flip that over and then, uh, let that cook again about a third of the way. By that time, some of that, uh, heat's gonna slowly creep toward the center. Uh, and then you can turn down the heat or turn off the heat and, uh, let carry over cooking, sort of, uh, you know, de gently and delicately, uh, encroach into the center of that, uh, cut. And that's gonna, you know, give you a, a nice, uh, delicately finished fish as well. Okay? Um, so keep those couple of things in mind, fresh fish, and then also find that sweet spot with your butter sauce to maintain the emulsion. Um, all the while keeping in mind that practice, uh, in multiple rounds is gonna be, uh, desirable. But, uh, again, go back to the Rouxbe course, uh, to better understand the, the methods and techniques that go into these preparations.
