White Fish

About

The mild flavor of white fish results from an internal balancing act: seawater is roughly 3 to 3.5 percent salt by weight, but fish need to keep dissolved minerals in their cells closer to 1 percent, so they offset this with amino acids and amines that carry their own flavor. Glycine lends sweetness, while the glutamic acid found in shellfish, tuna, and anchovies gives a savory, mouthfilling quality; many white fish, however, rely on the largely flavorless compound trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), which is why they are typically described as mild, sweet, and delicate rather than strongly flavored. Tasted simply fried or steamed, subtle differences emerge: cod has a slightly sour, salty, cooked-potato quality; monkfish is sweet and buttery with a mild shellfish note; and good sea bass is meaty and nutty with a faint metallic edge. This entry covers cod, skate, sole, flounder, plaice, monkfish, and turbot.

Pairs well with white fish

• CiLemonLemon's sourness balances the sweetness of white fish flesh, can mute stronger fish flavors, and cuts through the richness of fried fish,…
• EaPotatoAuthentic British fish and chips comes from a dedicated "chip shop," whose double-frying equipment is what gives the chips (thick potato…
• BrBaconCooking white fish in rendered bacon fat, as in the campfire-cooked bass in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, adds a savory, smoky richness.
• ChHard CheeseA contentious pairing, especially in Italian cooking, though not a new one, a Sicilian recipe combining fish and cheese dates back to…
• BrAnchovyAnchovy sauce with boiled or fried white fish, especially flatfish and breadcrumbed cod, is a long-established English pairing, documented…
• BrOliveThere's no strict rule pairing green olives with delicate white fish and black olives with richer, oilier fish.
• EaCeleryAn unusual pairing: celeriac, celery's milder root form, works better than the stringy stalks alongside flaky white fish.
• BeThymeThe 19th-century French chef Marie-Antoine Carême argued that fish needs little beyond salt water to taste excellent, criticizing heavy…
• GrDillDill is prominent in the cooking of Laos and parts of Thailand, notably in the Hanoi dish Cha Ca La Vong, where turmeric-marinated white…
• CrMangoBriny red snapper pairs well with mango salsa, and mango generally suits firm white fish cooked in an aromatic coconut curry.
• SuAsparagusItalians traditionally served asparagus on its own after adopting it in the seventeenth century, while in France and England it was more…
• FrGrapeSole Véronique is the classic example: white fish, traditionally Dover sole, gently cooked in stock, cream, vermouth and lemon juice with…
• SpParsnipSalt fish was traditionally served with parsnips, a pairing noted as far back as 1822 by horticulturalist Henry Phillips and dating to…
• GrSaffronSome Italian cooks are said to avoid this pairing, believing saffron overwhelms fish, a view food writer Elizabeth David disputed, a…