Red Lobster Review - Pretty Good for a Chain

Sure, it is a chain. I think of Red Lobster somewhat like Texas Roadhouse - a themed chain restaurant that does what it does pretty well.  You would do better I am sure in a local place, but you get a consistent, good tasting meal at all the locations.  And for seafood in the midwest, very hard to do better.  Just don't order off the low priced options and expect to get the best meal.  

They have a limited selection of fresh seafood which can be very good. Not inexpensive. Great for a celebration dinner, as ours was.  We arrived early on a Friday (5 ish) - 10 minute wait - if you hold out till 6 or so, it is a 45 minute wait, so plan accordingly.  You can get a drink while waiting, but they don't have a bar area per se.

Dinner choices were the Pacific King Crab legs (off the fresh seafood menu), Maple Glazed Salmon and Shrimp, and the Steak Oscar, with Lobster and Shrimp.

All three dinners were prepared well, and were delicious.  I would say that they were just a bit overcooked - the steak ordered rare was served medium rare, the salmon was just a bit overcooked - you can tell when there is a little white "gunk" coming out of the fish - called albumen, it is a sure sign that it is overcooked.  But, it was still very tasty, and certainly not wrecked - just a little overdone.  Both the steak and the salmon were thin pieces, which are hard to cook correctly, although I suspect they overcook because most people don't really want rare steak or fish - even though they  should.

Conclusion - good place for a nice seafood dinner.  Especially if your in Wisconsin and most restaurants really don't have much of a selection after deep fried cod.  Link to Yelp Review Here

Perfect Pan Fried Salmon

I hate fish.  I hate fishing.  I hate cleaning fish.  I hate cooking fish.  I hate eating fish*.

There, I said it.  Pretty sure it is the only time my cooking ever disappointed Meme was on the topic of fish.  Also pretty much got to the point that Meme and the rest of the family was happy when I was out of town because they could then have fish.

Yet I still prepared fish, occasionally  because it is what my family wants, and that is food made of love - food made for others because of the love you have for them.  But I did it grudgingly - is that really food made of love?

Yet I still tried, at least occasionally.

So at Festival Food they had a big Atlantic Salmon sale.  Lots of fresh salmon (it actually did not smell like fish, so it might actually be reasonable fresh, or recently thawed at least).  So even though I hate salmon particularly, I bought it and made it.  I hate salmon so much I made myself something else to eat.

But I discovered something.  I liked this salmon.  I mean I really liked it.  It was great.  So what was the difference?

First off, I learned to what degree or temp to cook it to.  Basically, salmon should be cooked rare - yes, that's right, cook it rare - about 110 degrees in the center, 150 degrees at the edge.  Start with a medium high pan, turn it down to medium after you put the fish in.  Which leads to ...

Second, how to cook it - skin side down till it is about 110 in the center, then flip over and cook just to brown it slightly.  In fact you can turn the heat off when you flip the fish.  Basically you are cooking it through on one side, then just setting the fish on the other side. Use an instant temp thermometer.

Third, seasoning.  Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Sure you can do it a whole bunch of ways, but if you have good fish, that is all you need.  You don't even need lemon

Oh - and this way the skin gets crisp.  And tastes good

For all the gory details, go to The Food Lab.  However, this is the short version.

So the basic details are most salmon you get is horribly overcooked - and thus disgusting.  So a lot of places will highly season it - butter or soy sauce or other glop to cover the fact you screwed up the fish by cooking it well done.

Don't screw it up.

*I did not like eating fish outside of deep fried battered covered.  With tarter sauce on top and coleslaw and fries on the side.   Of course one could argue that is barely fish, but whatever.

Another Fish Taco Recipe

From Anolon - the recipe for the fish is typical, but the salsa recipe looks really good.  Definitely worth trying, especially during peach season

Cioppino -Bouillabaisse - Gumbo - Big Words - Ooh La L

Food is really pretty much the same all over the world.  Sure, different spices.  Perhaps olive oil in one area, butter in another.  But in the end, many of the dishes are the same, basically.  Except the names.

And the names are great.  I mean, who would not want to eat Cioppino?  Bouillabaisse? Gumbo? Sign me up.

How about Fish Stew. 

Doesn't really have that name, that certain j ne c'est quoi.

But in the end, they are all just fish stew, gussied up perhaps, made with crab one place, mussels the next.  This added, that.  Still all just fish stew.n

Of course here in Wisconsin, unless you are the fish slayer, fish comes frozen.  Not very exciting.  Probably why we are the capital of fish frys - beer batter coating, deep fried, big pile of french fries and coleslaw and some tangy tarter sauce on the side - you would never know it is frozen.  Especially after knocking back 3 or 4 brandy manhattans (sweet, of course).

Yet I like fish stew.  It is easy to make.  Fairly flexible.  Tastes great.  So, here goes.

Ingredients

4 potatoes, pealed and diced

1 bag frozen green beens

1 onion, diced fine

1 celery stalk, ditto

Got a green pepper?  Sure, dice that up also

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs tomato paste

2 tbs Italian Seasoning (Penzeys)

1 cup dry red (or heck, why not, a dry white) wine

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 cups stock (vegie, chicken, seafod)

1 tbs fish sauce

red pepper flakes

Fish, Shrimp, Clams, Mussels, Scallops, whatever.  Say 1.5 lbs, thawed.  More if you have mussels or clams in the shell going in.  Generally not an oily fish (so no salmon, for example)

Recipe

Cook potates, drain and rinse in cold water.  Cook till almost done.

Cook green beans (sure, nuke them)

Saute onion, celery, green pepper

After about 10 minutes, add garlic and italian seasoning

After 2 more minutes, tomato paste, cook till it starts to turn brown.  Don't forget to keep stirring

When the tomato paste turns brown, add wine

Cook wine down some - say 5 minutes

Add Stock.  Add fish sauce.  Add some red pepper flakes if you like a little heat

Cook for 30 minutes, medim low heat.  Don't skip this - it is what brings the flavor together

Turn heat to medium

Add green beans

in 2 minutes, add potatoes

in 2 more minutes, add fisheys

Cook no more than 5 minutes, serve.  Do not overcook the fish

This is a dish made for fresh, crusty, hot bread.