Black Cod with Miso
Restaurants like Nobu and others have popularised this dish as THE dish to have that people have gone crazy for it. Granted it is really good… but does that justify a high price tag, often £17 – £30 depending where you go? Hell no!
Black Cod isn’t the usual cod fish we know, but Sable Fish. In Japan it is known as Gindara. Black Cod with Miso is known as Gindara Saikyo Yaki.
Fillets of Black Cod are left to marinate for a couple of days in a paste made from miso, sugar, sake and mirin. The paste cures the fish giving it a firmer texture with a delicious sweet buttery taste.
This same paste can be used for any white fish – but the end result varies greatly. Black Cod stays soft and juicy, King Fish becomes sweet and meaty whilst Turbot becomes much drier and saltier. I personally love Black Cod and King Fish. It also goes really well with Mackerel and Salmon too. This is good as sable fish can be difficult to get unless you go to specialist shop.
Thankfully the Atari-Ya supermarket in Finchley, NW London sells different fillets of fish, including Black Cod, already marinated in the miso paste… the great thing is you can pick up a decent size piece of Black Cod for £3 – £4. All you need to do is put it under the grill for around 20 – 25 mins, until the top browns, at 180C. Its just as good and probably more satisfying having cooked it yourself.
You can also buy their frozen version from the Golders Green branch. I’m not sure about Acton or Kingston as I’ve not been there as yet but more than likely.
Only problem, with the above is that you need to be in London and near enough to one of these places. With that in mind here is the recipe if you wanted to make it yourself.
Ingredients:
- 1/2cup / 125ml mirin
- 1/2cup / 125ml sake
- 1 cup / 250ml white miso paste
- 200g sugar
- 4 fillets of sable fish (or other white fish such as sea bass), about 200g – 250g each
This serves 4 people, so you can adjust the mesaurements for 1 or 2 people.
What to do:
- Mix the mirin and sake together
- Add the miso paste and stir with a wooden spoon until it dissolves completely.
- Add the sugar, raise the heat to medium-high, and stir continuously to dissolve it. Don’t boil it. Turn off the heat and leave to sit at room temperature. If you want you can smash a garlic clove and let it infuse into the paste while you are heating it, and remove it before it reaches room temp. I find the garlic goes really well with Miso.
- Pour the paste over the fish fillets, covering them everywhere. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 days for best results.
- Preheat the grill to 180C.
- Wipe off any excess miso, but not completely.
- Grill for about 20 – 25 mins until the surface is nice a brown.
If you fancy eating this at a restaurant I recommend having it at Atari Ya Swiss Cottage – which is where the picture above was taken. At £10 its a steal in terms of quality, taste and price.
Enjoy and never pay extortionate prices again!
