Hola and Hello!

Today, a rather impressive dish that is much easier than anyone thinks it is … one of my (and my mum’s) absolute favourites: salt-baked whole fish.

Crack it open at the table. Peel back the skin and reveal the moist white flesh underneath. The salt-crust acts like a mini-oven, trapping in all the steam and juices of the fish. If you’ve only ever roasted fish before you are in for a real treat. Very juicy and moist. And no, not salty. (especially if you don’t knock the salt crystals in to the fish as you peel back the skin)

Pescado a la sal. You can use this method for many types of fish; trout, turbot, corvina, bream. Here, I’ve used whole sea bass, and you can get an idea of how easy it is to do in this 28 second video.

And I assure you - that’s it. It really is that easy to salt-bake a whole fish.

Use coarse salt. Table salt is too fine and will be absorbed by the fish making it salty. Maldon will bankrupt you. Just use ordinary coarse salt. Out here, in Spain, it costs around 1 euro for a 2kg packet.

The salt, when mixed with egg white and heated creates a crust, encasing the fish, stopping any juices evaporate. It keeps the fish steaming in it’s own juices.

How long to cook the fish for?

Depends on weight. Work on: 20 mins per 1kg of fish at 180°C / 355°F.

You can use a thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the fish has reached a safe 63°C / 146°F. But be aware of carry on. Take the fish out a few degrees earlier as it will continue to cook in the salt crust as you mess around cracking it open.

But don’t sweat it too much. Salt-baked fish in Spain, dates back to the pescaderos who would cook the doradas they’d caught, encased in salt scraped up from the salt flats. I’m sure the fishermen neither had timers or thermometers. Nor recipes for that matter. But you do…scroll down a bit more for the Salt-Baked Whole Sea Bass recipe.

Give it a go over the weekend, and if you have any questions leave as comments and I’ll do my best to answer them,

Nik

PS. Tomorrow keep an eye out for next episode of 100 Days Chef Stage and a recap of the first week working in a professional Spanish kitchen.

Salt-Baked Whole Sea Bass

• 1 whole sea bass (you can use whole turbot, trout, corvina)

• 1 kg coarse sea salt

• 100 g egg white

Step 1: Fish

• Get the fishmonger to gut the fish.

• Note the weight of the fish (this is important to know for cooking times.)

• Rinse the fish under cold running water and pat dry.

• Lightly oil the surface of the fish (this helps the salt slip off later.)

Step 2: Salt

• Mix the egg white with the coarse sea salt until the mixture feels like wet sand.

• Line a tray with baking paper (makes clean-up easier, you’ll thank yourself later).

• Place a little of the salt on the baking tray and place the fish on top of the salt.

• Cover the fish with the rest of the salt mixture. Pack it in tightly.

Step 3: Oven

• Place the dish in a preheated oven at 180°C / 355°F for fifteen to twenty minutes per kilogram of fish.

• You can use a thermometre to check the internal temperature of the fish which should reach 63°C / 146°F.

How to serve it?

• With aioli, braised leeks and dill

• With herb mayonnaise and buttery, minty new potatoes

• With hollandaise and steamed asparagus

You are reading Olympian Kitchen, by Nicola Fairbrother - a newsletter for those who like cooking (and eating!) See more.

A PAELLA NEVER fails to put a smile on people’s faces. Washed down with laughter and perhaps a Sangria, they never last long: each saffrony-yellowy caramelised grain scraped from the pan with gusto.

But what you will really be laughing about is a) how easy it’s all come together and b) that there’s just one pan to wash up. Maybe this is why the Spanish are so cheerful?

I learnt the 17-minute ‘stock first, rice second’ method of cooking paellas when I was working at El Monastrell, a restaurant in Alicante, famous for its gourmet arroces.

Once you’ve got prep done, it’s an easy 17 minutes of watching the bubbles bubble and the rice crackle, and olé, mis amigos - it’s done!

Give me a sec, and I’ll show you how to make a tasty Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Paella (Arroz) using this simple method.

But first something you absolutely must get right: and that’s the rice.

BECOMING A BETTER COOK

By understanding the how’s and why’s we gain more confidence in the kitchen.

Use Paella Rice. Varieties like Bomba, Bombita, Sendra, Calasperra, Albufera are all excellent choices. Outside of Spain these varieties are often packaged up simply as “Paella rice.” Perfecto! This is what you need.

Why? Because paella rice will make it much easier to achieve the desired result. In a good paella all the individual grains should be separate, not clumped together. They should have bite and be full of flavour.

Paella rice allows this to happen. With just enough amylose (hard starch), the grains don’t easily break up and leech starch into the water, like a risotto rice does, or become sticky, like a sushi rice will.

With paella rice, each grain stays intact when cooked and yet is also capable of absorbing three times its weight in liquid - and so flavour!

HOW DO THE RESTAURANTS COOK PAELLA IN SPAIN?

There are many methods of cooking paella and arroces used in Spain, but at the restaurant I worked in (who I should mention were runners-up at the annual World Paella Championships) the method used was: ‘Stock first, rice second’

At home, I’ve found this method to be a sure-way the rice doesn’t over cook.

For restaurants, its a great way to control lots of simultaneous orders.

This is how a paella is prepared in a kitchen. First the order comes in and the dish is half-prepared. This means getting each paella pan filled with the right quantity and type of stock, sofrito, salmoretta, salt and saffron - and cooking any proteins.

Once half ready - the pan would then be pushed to the back of the burner until required. During a busy service, these paella pans would begin to stack up Jenga style.

Then as the order is fired (ie the head chef tells you to cook so and so paella), we would extract the correct paella pan from the jenga tower and heat it up.

At the first bubbles of a boil, we’d tip the rice in, and set a timer.

It’s a method that allows you to have the paella on the table in 17 minutes.

That’s the time the rice needs to cook.

If you’d like to give the method a whirl. Start off with this simple Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Paella (Arroz) - you can of course add in proteins if you want (just make sure you cook them first!)

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Paella (Arroz)

For 4 people, in a 40cm paella pan.

320g paella rice
1 litre chicken stock
1 packet ground saffron
3 tbs sofrito
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 courgette
handful of cherry tomatoes
good quality olive oil

A homemade stock will give more depth of flavour. As will a homemade sofrito (and I’ll be covering how to make sofrito on Olympian Kitchen soon), but if time is short, or you don’t know how buy a jar like this one from Brindisa.

On your marks! (or, if you’re a kitchen, mise)

Step 1: Get everything ready

1. Pre-heat the oven 190°C/ 375°F.

2. Steep the ground saffron in a little warm water (start this at least 30 minutes before you begin cooking the paella).

3. Take three-quarters of the veg. Chop into chunks or slice into slices, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs, and put in an hot oven for around 45-60min until beautifully caramelised.

4. Dice the rest of the veg.

5. Measure your rice.

6. Measure your stock.

Keep in Mind

• You can hold the roasted veg in a low oven, or if you have got to this stage well before time.

Get Set! (order comes in)

Step 2: Paella pan to the ready

1. Add the sofrito, stock and saffron to the paella pan and bring to just to the boil, then switch off the heat and take off heat.

2. Taste and season for salt. This is your chance to get the seasoning right (you won’t be able to add salt later on) - don’t forget it now!

Keep in Mind

• Ideally you want to get to this stage about 30 minutes before your guests arrive. Then you can chill out, take a shower, have a drink…

Go! (order is fired)

Step 3: Cook the Paella

1. Turn on the heat under the pan.

2. Add the raw diced veg to the stock.

3. Bring to a boil.

4. When the liquid boils add the rice. Sprinkle it, evenly over. One gentle swirl with metal spoon and then don’t touch it again. Don’t stir (you’ll create a risotto if you do)

5. Immediately set the timer: 17 minutes.

6. After about 5 minutes, the rice will begin to surface. When it does add the pre-roasted vegetables, they should stay near the surface and will make the paella look pretty.

7. For the final 2 minutes, turn the heat back up to create the crispy socarrat layer.

8. Rest for 5 minutes (uncovered) and then serve.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

I love watching a paella cook, so I thought I’d add a few notes of what to watch out for and you might love watching yours cook too.

After about 5 minutes, the rice swells

A few minutes in, and you’ll see the rice begin to rise to surface, as it absorbs the stock and swells. It’s a good sign. Gelatinazation has begun, the starch beginning to break down and turn into a soft gel.

Watch the stock disappear

Over the next 10 minutes, you’ll see the stock disappear, as it is absorbed or evaporates. If the rice goes dry too quickly, you can add more stock - but if you do make sure it is hot.

About 3 minutes from the end

Almost all the stock has gone now. You will see large volcanic bubbles as the last of the stock disappears, then nothing.

About 2 minutes from the end and the rice begins to sing

Near the end of the cooking time, with the liquid gone, the rice will start to caramelise in the sugars and the oils. You will hear a crackle. The Spanish say the rice sings! Turn the heat up to create the crunchy socarrat layer, but keep your nose open, and be alert for the base burning.

1 minute from the end and you begin to sing

Begin smiling - as laughter and sangria is on its way. Your job here is done.

Paella*

All paellas are rices, but not all rices are paellas.

And now for a quick disclaimer to la paz with my Spanish friends. This is not officially a paella. Anything other than the Valencian Paella (made with a very specific list of ten ingredients) is known in Spain as “un arroz.” In Spain, calling un arroz a paella is rather like calling an English sparkling wine a champagne, and a cracking way to spark a lively debate if you have a group of Valencianos or Alicantinos at your table. Technically, this article should be titled “Rice in 17 minutes”, but let’s be honest who would have read that?

👨‍🍳 THAT’S IT FOR NOW! THANKS FOR THE KIND COMMENTS ABOUT THE CHEF STAGE. I’M PLAN TO GET THIS GOING AGAIN. THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF NEW SUBSCRIBERS TO OK LATELY, SO I’LL BE DOING A QUICK RECAP OF THE PREVIOUS EPISODES - WITH THE FIRST ONE GOING OUT TOMORROW.

NIK X

THIS ARTICLE IS as much about learning to fail as frying a piece of fish. Or rather learning not to fail. By allowing yourself to fail…

… stay with me! I’m going somewhere with this and we will get onto where it is I’m going, if you make it through the next few paragraphs and into the nitty gritty.

First, let’s talk fish skin. Making it crispy, golden and crunchy is a skill well worth having. It’s going to add texture (crunch), flavour (caramelised yum) and nutrition (omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin E) to your dish.

And you know that sea bass you order in the restaurants? Yeah, that one that comes upside down, or the right way up if you’re a fish and sets you back a pretty penny? Well you can have that on your dinner table in ten minutes.

So let’s delve deeper. Understand what is happening. And how with a bit of experimenting you can get good results every time.

Video: How to pan-fry sea bass fillet

UNDERSTANDING THE WHYS

A little science goes a long way. What’s going on when we pan-fry a piece of fish?

What is pan-frying?

Pan-frying is a fast way to cook food. To pan-fry we add a thin layer of oil to a hot pan; the oil transfers the heat evenly and quickly into the food, at high temperature.

This method of cooking works especially well with fish. You can pan-fry whole fish, although don’t try a tuna, or choose fillets.

• Best fish fillets to pan fry: sea-bass, bream, salmon, cod, tuna or hake

• Best whole fish to pan fry: sea-bass, bream, small turbot.

How does the skin become crispy?

To become crispy, first the surface of the skin needs to dehydrate.

Sizzle! Listen for it, as you place the fish into a pan, it’s a good sign you’re on the way to crispy skin. That’s the sound of the water being driven off by the heat.

You need heat. To kickstart the Maillard reaction, you'll need a high temperature of around 140°C / 280°F, this is when proteins and sugars in the fish skin start to do their thing, caramelise and crisp up. Yum.

Why does the skin curl up?

As you put the fish into a hot pan, the fibres will tighten causing the fish will curl and its flesh to stick to the pan. To stop the curl, just be ready with a spatular to press down on the back of the fish. In about 30 seconds the fibres relax and you can too.

What can stop the skin becoming crispy?

Two things really.

1. Moisture

2. Not enough heat

You can do a few things to help matters. First, dry the fish skin (with a paper towel) before you start. Make sure the pan is hot enough to drive off the moisture on initial contact. Don't overcrowd the pan with too many fillets, as temperatures will drop.

And then the all important question, the answer we all want to know: How to know when it is done?

It’s easy to over do it. The proteins in the fish are much more delicate than the skin, and begin to coagulate around 50°C / 122°F. Cook for any length of time over this temperature and the fish will be dry, over-cooked.

But of course, you want to give it enough time and heat for that skin to crisp up.

There is a tightrope to walk here.

The tightrope you need to walk is between getting the skin to crisp up and keeping the fish flesh moist.

Which is why pan-frying fish is not quite as easy as it first appears.

And why - (you made it through to the nitty gritty!) - why this piece is as much about learning to fail as frying a piece of fish. It’s going to take a few goes to nail it.

Fail. Fail again. Fail better.

I like this quote. I heard it first from Margaret Atwood. She was talking about writing. But it appears everywhere, in life, in sport. It’s called losing there. You get used to it early.

Lose. Lose again. Lose better.

And I’ve seen it while working in restaurants, perfect dishes don’t just materialise on the first go, there’s a lot of experimenting that goes on behind the scenes. In one restaurant, I spent hours peeling almonds by hand, for a dish the head chef was trialling - it didn’t work, in fact it was inedible, and the almonds (and my time) ended up in the bin.

But it wasn’t wasted time.

Improvement goes hand in hand with mistakes.

Don’t worry if you mess up. If the skin burns, breaks or is soggy. You’re not serving the Queen of England (good job as she’s dead), this isn’t a competition at all, it’s just a week day supper, and there’ll be another one tomorrow. And anyway, even with the failures you can pull the skin off and happily eat the rest.

But, if you want to get better at something, at anything then you do need to do these two things: one identify WHAT went wrong, and two identify WHY it went wrong.

Below, I've put together a check list of typical ‘Fish Fails’ which should help you identify the what’s and why’s if things go awry.

There is also a third step on the staircase to improvement, which is obvious one, but one we all get caught up on, and that third step is: Don’t repeat the same mistake the next time.

So let’s get cooking. Are you ready to fry? Here’s how to get crispy skin in five steps.

Five Steps to Getting a Crispy Skin

1. Heat pan.

2. Add oil and get pan hot.

3. Fish in (skin side down, spatula on top of fish).

4. Cook for About 3-5 mins.

5. Flip Fish (and take immediately off heat).

Before you start

• Prep. Before you start cooking, get your plates out, and add any sides. Ideally, you want to move from the burner, straight to the plate. Leave your fish in a hot pan, while you get everything ready, and it will overcook.

Step 1: Hot Pan

Get your non-stick pan hot before you add the oil.

Step 2: Add the right oil

Use sunflower oil, which has a higher smoke point. Use very little. You are looking to glaze the pan with a thin layer. If you’ve added too much, (careful it’s hot) wipe out the extra with a paper towel.

Get the pan hot, before you move onto step three. Very hot. Just before the wisps of smoke, hot. Shimmery, hot.

Step 3: Fish in skin side down

Place the fish in the pan skin side down, and immediately press a spatula down on top of the fish to stop the curling. If there is no sizzle, remove the fish (the pan isn’t hot enough) wait a minute or so and try again.

Step 4: Allow to cook for a few minutes

How many minutes? This part is down to you to have some fun with and experiment. I can tell you, for the fillets of sea bass I buy at the market it’s about 3 to 5 minutes. But those two minutes make all the difference. It depends on the fish, the thickness of the fillet, the size of the pan, and just how hot you got it. Be aware you might want to adjust the temperature as you cook, turning it down after a minute or so.

Step 5: Flip and off heat

A good tip is to flip the fish just before you think it’s done. You want to still see some translucent flesh. Not a pancake flip here. Using a spatular, gently turn the fish over. And immediately remove the pan from the heat. Avoid leaving the fish in the pan as the flesh side cooks very quickly. Literally, in the time you cross your kitchen and take it over to the plate, it is ready. Serve crispy side up.

Fish Fails

So, here’s a list of things that might not have worked and why. I hope it helps!

• stuck to pan

  • pan was not hot enough, or you didn’t press the spatular down quickly enough.

• falls apart in pan

  • you either tried to move the fish too early, give it time to release naturally - or you messed around with it too much flipping it back and forth.

• soggy skin

  • probably down to too much moisture on the fish skin before you cooked it, or too low temperature in the pan.

• burnt skin

  • too hot

• overcooked dry fish

  • you’ve cooked the fish too long on the skin side down, or you’ve left it too long in the pan after the flip.

So, over to you!

Would absolutely love to hear from you, if you have a go at this, and let me what happens. Just leave a comment below.

Leave a comment

👨‍🍳 THAT’S IT FOR NOW, BACK SOON WITH THE NEXT ONE, WHICH I’M DEBATING - IT MIGHT BE ABOUT COOKING WHOLE FISH IN SALT, OR HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY PANCAKES, ANY PREFERENCES?

👨‍🍳👨‍🍳 AND IN THE MEANTIME, I’M HOPING TO GET OUT ANOTHER EPISODE ON THE 100 DAY CHEF STAGE.

NIK X

THE ONSEN EGG may just be the perfect egg of all time. A creamy-extremely-jammy yolk and a buttery-yet-silky set white. The Japanese mastered the art of slow-cooking eggs thousands of years ago cooking them in hot springs called onsens. But you don’t need to go to Japan to cook the perfect egg…

You don’t need an onsen. You don’t even need a thermometre. Below, is a method you use at home and we will get onto that in just a minute.

But as it happens I’m in Japan, in a village called Nozawa Onsen, with 13 natural hot volcanic springs, so let’s start there, cooking eggs using the century-old traditional Japanese method.

By the time I appear at the steaming onsen, with my eggs, it’s already busy with locals cooking their supper. A Japanese lady tells me 21 minutes is the sweet spot, where the yolks are oishi (delicious). So I lower my eggs into the steaming water and go off for a soak myself.

Turns out humans cook way faster than eggs. I’m done in eight minutes; bright pink and cooked through, and back to pull my mesh of eggs out in plenty of time. Back home I crack one open. The Japanese lady is right; they are very, very oishi.

So let’s get into it. Why bother? And how can you cook Onsen Eggs easily at home?

Video: Cooking Onsen Eggs in Japan.

GETTING HEALTHY BITE BY BITE

We get healthy bite by bite, in a series of small changes, that together lead to a bigger result.

Why bother? It’s an easy one to answer.

• Eggs are little bundles of nutritional goodness. Complete protein packages, and cooked and prepared in minutes. Pretty much the perfect food; containing plenty of different nutrients. A medium egg contains 6g protein, 5g of fat and about 80 calories.

• The texture of these eggs is exceptional. The onsen egg is known as “the perfect egg” to chefs around the world, and the art of preparing this perfect egg has been examined by many Michelin-starred restaurants.

• Easy to batch cook for the week. Cook a dozen, store them in the fridge (shell on) and you have them ready to use during the week. Add them to pasta for a instant carbonara, plop them into Ramen, spread them on avocado toast…

OK, let’s delve deeper into the why…

BECOMING A BETTER COOK

By understanding the how’s and why’s we gain more confidence in the kitchen.

Why is the time and temperature so important?

Because it creates the texture.

An Onsen Egg is an egg cooked at a low temperature of around 63-69°C (145°F-149°F) degrees for between 20-45 minutes.

Yolks and whites solidify at different temperatures, with the protein molecules in each denaturing at slightly different temperatures.

Hence why, sometimes when we boil an egg, the white is still snotty when the yolk is perfect (yeah, we’ve all been there), or even worse, the white is set but the yolk is hard (breaks your heart).

Yolks solidify at 158°F / 70°C ; Whites at 176°F / 80°C .

We can use this information to cook eggs perfectly. By keeping the temperature under 69°C (145°F) degrees the yolk won’t solidify, but over time they will go from runny, to creamy, to jammy or if you’re Japanese from oishi, to very oishi, to exceptionally oishi.

Get 25% off forever

It’s this low-temperature cooking that makes the onsen eggs special.

But what is the perfect temperature v time combo?

You might have heard of it: the 65°C degree egg? It’s become kinda famous, and has made its way onto menus in chic restaurants: L’oeuf à soixante-cinq degrés.

Discovered by French molecular gastronomist Hervé and made famous by Chef Pierre Gagnaire who told the world: “An egg cooked at 65°C degrees (149°F) for 25 minutes will be unmatched in flavour and texture.”

The search for the perfect temperature and time combination goes on, with chef’s now lauding: 63°C (145°F) for anywhere been 45 minutes and 90 minutes.

How do they cook an egg in a professional kitchen?

To cook a 65°C egg, you’ll need an immersion circulator, a device that heats and circulates water maintaining precise and even temperatures. If you want to experiment, here is an in-depth guide to cooking eggs in water baths, or my advice would be to start with the tried and tested:

Hervé and Chef Pierre Gagnaire : 65°C (149°F) for 25 minutes, Or try: 63°C (145°F) for 60 minutes.

Of course, perfect is subjective. And the only parameter that really matters is finding your perfect.

If you haven’t got an immersion circulator, or even a thermometre don’t fret - here’s how you can get a similar effect at home.

Cooking Onsen Eggs at Home

For six eggs

1. 1 litre of water into a pot and bring to boil.

2. Take off the heat.

3. Add 200 ml of tap water (room temp) to the boiling water.

4. Gently add the eggs (shell on) and cover.

5. Leave for anywhere between 17 and 30 minutes - depending on how you like your eggs.

Keep in Mind

• This method relies on the water falling through the range of temperatures from approx 80°C to 60°C.

• An important factor to bear in mind is the size of your egg.

• Start with eggs at room temperature rather than refrigerator cold.

Here are the results from a quick test I did for different times from 12 minutes through to 26 minutes cooked with this method. Except the 12 minute (which was raw, and blurrrghhh) all were tasty. My favourite? The 20 minute. Very close second being the 23 minute.

12 minute - raw white, rawish tasting yolk. blurgghh.

15 minute - yolk tastes like a boiled egg, white very loose

17 minute - yolk beginning to get creamier, white silkier and tastier

20 minute - yolk creamy but still runny, white is silky and tasty.

23 minute - yolk jammy, no longer runny, white silky and tasty.

26 minute - no noticeable change from the 23 minute egg.

Prize up for grabs!

I challenge you to find your perfect time, and for a bit of fun, there is even a prize up for grabs for one reader. Not any old prize, I might add. This prize will bring you luck, and we all need some of that! In Japan, the Daruma Doll is a symbol of good luck, believed to ward off evil.

Prize: Win a Japanese Daruma Doll (pictured above, about the size of an egg!)

Challenge: Your challenge is to cook an Onsen egg and write your preferred time in the comments below.

Leave a comment

How to Peel an Onsen Egg

Perhaps one of the most useful tips I can give you is how to peel an onsen egg, so it and all your hard work doesn’t fall apart.

Step 1: Tap and Peel

Tap the large end of the egg on a flat surface to gently crack the shell. Peel away a circle of the shell.

Step 2: Tip

Tip the egg into a clean bowl. You will see the loose white run out first, then out with plop the Onsen egg.

Keep in Mind

• An egg actually has two whites (learn something new every day!), the tight white and the loose white. The loose white sits outside the membrane, is watery and cooks at an even higher temperature and so will be very runny.

Step 3: Separate

Use a large spoon to scoop the egg from the loose white. You can tip it away the loose white (or eat it, if it doesn't bother you.)

Step 4: Eat

Best eaten warm, but the eggs will store in their shells in the fridge for 5-7 days. To rewarm place them in warm water (not over 60 degrees) for a few minutes.

How do you like your eggs?

1. Japanese style: Onto warm sticky rice, seasoned with rice vinegar, mirin and soy, and topped with sliced spring onion.

2. Italian Style: If the egg yolk is runny, use on pasta along with crispy bacon or ham, for an instant carbonara.

3. Aussie Style: Onto avocado toast, and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

Leave a comment

Until next week, enjoy your eggs!

Nicola

Olympian Kitchen is written by Nicola Fairbrother MBE, 8th Dan, Olympic silver medallist.

More about my work and me. I’m Nicola Fairbrother. I’m a double Olympian (Barcelona 1992 Silver and Atlanta 1996 5th) and a trained chef (Leiths Professional Diploma) and have completed a 100 day chef-stage in Spanish Michelin kitchens.

My Recommendation: The Ramen Bowl

For more Japanese cooking, I can highly recommend reading The Ramen Bowl, which deep dives into all things Japanese including how to pick the right Soy Sauce, how to make the delicious tamago sandwich and of course tips on how to make Ramen.

The Ramen Bowl

My First Ramen — Easy Jiro-Style Ramen For Beginners

If you’re not yet a subscriber and like The Ramen Bowl, leave your email to start receiving all the new posts directly in your inbox! 👇…

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2 years ago · 36 likes · 11 comments · The Ramen Bowl

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COOKING FOR FIFTY is a key task of the intermediate term at Leiths culinary school, designed to get us thinking about cooking for larger numbers and cooking under pressure. You are put into teams of five, and have a couple of hours to prepare a lunch for fifty of the culinary students, that also fits a budget. A bit MasterChefy, but with a soft audience who are willing you on.

We’ve decided on cooking fish en papillote. It’s no accident we’ve picked this cooking method. It’s easy to prep. Difficult to mess up. A no fuss method, which I’ll show you how to do in just a minute.

But first up, what is cooking en papillote? And why it’s a healthy choice…

GETTING HEALTHY BITE BY BITE

We get healthy bite by bite, not in one meal, but in a series of small changes, that together lead to a bigger result.

Cooking en papillote is one of the healthiest cooking methods there is:

• Nutrients are retained. Unlike when you boil vegetables, the food when you cook en papillote is not immersed in water, and so the nutrients don’t leach int the water. For example, you’ll lose 50% of broccoli’s vitamin C when you boil it, compared to about 15% when steaming it like this.

• Texture is preserved. Vegetables have a crunch. Fish stays moist.

• Very little fat needed. Cooking en papillote requires very little additional fat meaning the end dish is lighter and cleaner.

BECOMING A BETTER COOK

The secret of being a good cook is to enjoy the process of cooking as much as the food itself. By understanding the how’s and why’s we gain more confidence in the kitchen.

Sounds flash, but cooking en papillote couldn’t be easier. Wrap the food you want to cook in parchment paper (you could use foil or banana or fig leaves instead of paper) and bake the whole parcel in the oven. That’s it! Ten to fifteen short minutes later and you are opening up your perfectly steamed lunch or dinner.

As the vegetables, fish etc cook, they releases moisture. This moisture vaporises into steam. When the steam comes in contact with the food, it cools and condenses back to water, but as it does it releases energy in the form of latent heat cooking the food.

• Best fish en papillote - Most fish, especially if they are thick pieces: hake, cod, sole, haddock, flounder, turbot, salmon are all good choices. You can use thin fillets (sea bass, bream) but be aware they cook quickly.

• Best vegetables en papillote - Asparagus, courgette, french beans, red peppers… practically anything sliced thinly. If you want to use root vegetables, then roast them first.

• Best herbs and spices en papillote - You name it: thyme, dill, oregano, tarragon, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fresh ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon. Go with the flavour profiles you like best.

• Best fruits en papillote - Segments of citrus fruits, slices of peach, halved apricots, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries.

You can create your own recipes easily by layering up your parcel like this:

1. Base layer: choose a vegetable.

2. Middle layer: place the fish.

3. Top layer: add aromatics / herbs / fruit.

4. Also add: a small amount of liquid (ie citrus juice, soy, marinades, reduced stocks)

5. Also add: a small amount of fat (ie butter, oil)

OK, now onto the recipe…

Here’s a version of what we used during the Cooking for Fifty challenge. It is simple enough, but I’d advise if its the first time you’ve used this cooking method, to try it out on your nearest and dearest, before you invite the whole street.

Mediterranean Fish Parcel:
Hake, Fennel, Orange

For 4 people

2 large fennel bulbs
2 tsp fennel seeds

for the fennel marinade:
1 lemon
1 tbs cider vinegar

for the orange sauce:
2 oranges
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs freshly grated ginger
1 tbs honey

4 pieces of hake (or other white fish)

4 pieces of parchment paper

Fennel - 2 ways
To add flavour, we are going to use the fennel in two ways: roasting one and marinading the other. It’s a bit more faff, but worth it.

Step 1: Roast Fennel

1. Pre-heat the oven 180°C/ 350°F.

2. Take one fennel. Chop off the green fronds (keep them to add to the finished dish later), then slice the fennel thinly.

3. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with fennel seeds. Cover with foil and roast until lightly caramelised, turning over half way through. This will take about 30-40 minutes.

Step 2: Raw Fennel in Marinade

1. Take the second fennel and slice into thin ribbons.

2. Add to a bowl along with the juice from one lemon, and the cider vinegar. Allow to soften for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Reduce Orange Sauce

1. Add the juice from two oranges, the soy sauce, a chunk of grated ginger and a spoon of honey to a pan and heat.

2. Reduce slowly, over a medium-low heat, until you have a thickened syrupy sauce.

   (find out more about reductions here)

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Step 4: Make the Fish Parcel

See video above

1. Pre-heat the oven 180°C/ 350°F

2. Fold a sheet of parchment paper in half, cut half a heart shape. Open and lay flat.

3. Brush the paper with a little of the reduced orange sauce. Then on one side of the fold, build up the layers. Start by adding the roasted fennel slices as a base. Then add the hake. Brush the hake with more of the reduced orange sauce. Top with the raw marinaded fennel. Add a drizzle of olive oil, orange and lemon zest, and some salt.

4. Fold the parchment paper over the fish, and crimp the edges.

5. Place in the hot oven, for around 15 minutes.

6. Serve at the table, rip open the parcel and dig in!

Keep in Mind

• Take care to get a good seal on the parchment paper. It’s important that no liquid or steam can escape.

• The parcel should swell as it cooks, and the moisture vaporises to steam.

Step 5: Serve at the table

Place the whole parcel on top of a plate and let your eaters rip open the paper.

If you have any fennel or orange left over serve it as a side salad, along with some fresh baguettes to soak up the juices.

Other combinations you could try cooking en papillote:

1. Spiced Peaches with cinnamon, star anise, fresh ginger, honey and lemon zest.

2. Lemon Butter Salmon with lemon slices, lemon zest, fresh dill, asparagus and butter.

3. Mediterranean Cod with sliced red pepper, cherry tomatoes, black olives and extra virgin olive oil.

Find out more about Olympian Kitchen

Olympian Kitchen is written by Nicola Fairbrother MBE, 8th Dan, Olympic silver medallist.

More about my work and me. I’m Nicola Fairbrother. I’m a double Olympian (Barcelona 1992 Silver and Atlanta 1996 5th), light-weight World Champion (1993), triple European Champion, voted by Sunday Times as Sportswoman of the Year and awarded a MBE by HM The Queen. I publish a range of children’s judo books (Koka Kids) and run another substack delivering judo coaching resources. I’m a trained chef (Leiths Professional Diploma) and have completed a 100 day chef-stage in Spanish Michelin kitchens.

A FEW SUMMERS back I watched Rosalia make her tortilla de patata. Soft, squidgy and slightly salty (the tortilla not Rosalia), it is undeniably my favourite tapa at her restaurant in Albufera. Perhaps it's the where and when; served on the terrace, the Meditteranean waves swirling gently around the rocks below, the tortilla appears sliced into generous chunks, during the habitual 20-minute wait as the paella is cooked, when you are happy and hungry. Or perhaps it’s Rosalia’s touch. But when I decided to learn how to cook the perfect tortilla de patata, I didn’t have far to look far to find my teacher.

Rosalia showed me how to confit the potatoes so they take on the taste of the delicious olive oil, how far to caramelise the onion to add depth and sweetness, how to cook the eggs so they don’t go rubbery and dry, and finally an almost fail-safe way of flipping the darn thing.

Which I’ll show you now. But first good news…

GETTING HEALTHY BITE BY BITE

We get healthy bite by bite, not in one meal, but it’s a series of small changes, that together lead to a bigger result.

• The Spanish Omelette covers all the nutritional bases. It’s got high quality protein (eggs), carbs (potatoes) and healthy fats (extra virgin olive oil).

• Depending on how thick you make the tortilla there’s about 300 healthy calories in each quarter. As much as it’s tempting to eat the whole tortilla (and sometimes I must admit I do!) a nutritious lunch could be a couple of slices, served alongside a tomato salad.

• An easy post-gym lunch - great for recovery and muscle repair. Tortillas will hold a few hours, so you can get them ready before training. What’s more the potatoes can be done well in advance, (up to 5 days before and stored in the fridge covered completely in olive oil) and then just quickly refried when needed.

Next the ingredients… there’s only four (and one of those is optional) but they still throw up some questions…

Potato. Egg. Onion. Oil.

Which type of potato? Kennebec, Yukon Gold, Maris Piper, Agria, Mona Lisa are all good choices. Their high starch content means they are good at soaking up cooking liquids and this is why they become so tasty and tender when cooked in the olive oil.

Which eggs? Go for: Free-range / Organic / Pasture-Raised. The eggs from hens that have been fed naturally on cereals and corn have a deeper yellowy hue to their yolk - which gives the tortilla a golden colour as well as add to taste.

Which oil? Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is my choice, and that of many chefs in Spain. For me it’s the healthier option compared to other oils - but also it adds flavour. Choose an Arbequina for a delicate, buttery taste, or a Picual for a punchier, grassier taste. Don’t use your best extra virgin olive oil for this, just a normal one will do.

Which onions? Ordinary Spanish white onions will do just fine, and, if you don’t like them, this is the ingredient that you can leave out altogether. There are many who prefer their Tortilla de Patatas without onion.

Now onto the cooking. Only two things to get right here - the potatoes and the eggs. :-)

BECOMING A BETTER COOK

The secret of being a good cook is to enjoy the process of cooking as much or if not more than the meal itself. By understanding the how’s and why’s we gain more confidence in the kitchen.

I do enjoy watching ingredients transform as they cook. It captivates me seeing the science happen right there in the pan, before your eyes. Here’s what is happening as we apply temperature to eggs.

Temperature control is the key to great tortilla. When your put your egg mix into the pan, you’ll first hear a sizzle, as the egg mixture makes contact with the hot pan, then as the proteins reach 70°C/160°F, the protein molecules will start to denature, unwinding and clumping together, and soon begin to coagulate and solidify. This will happen quickly - within 60 seconds you will see the egg at the bottom of the pan becoming solid forming a base.

Which is when you want to turn the heat down. Why? If we continue to apply rapid, high heat the proteins continue to pack together, eventually squeezing out the water in the egg making the end result hard and rubbery. To avoid overcooking an egg, heat gently over low heat.

Ok let’s crack on… (oh, I know)

Spanish Omelette (Tortilla de Patata)

Serves 2-4

3-4 medium large potatoes
1 onion
6 large free range eggs - room temp
Extra virgin olive oil

For a tortilla about 5cm deep, cook in a 20cm non-stick pan.

Step 1: Cook the potato slow and low

Here’s how

1. Slice the potato and onions.

2. Add olive oil to a pan and heat until gently simmering (around 120°C/250°F)

3. Add the potatoes and keep a gentle simmer going. It will take around 35 to 45 minutes until the potatoes are soft, tender and ready.

4. In a separate pan caramelise the finely sliced onion until a deep golden brown.

Keep in Mind

• The potato in a Tortilla de Patata is cooked slowly in lots of olive oil. Crucially the temperature must not be too high, or the potatoes will fry and harden.

• If you do want the crispy, crunchy edges (and why wouldn’t you?) - allow the potatoes to cook slowly until they are soft, then turn the heat up to get the crispy edges.

Step 2: Mix the cooked potatoes with beaten eggs

Here’s how

1. Beat the eggs in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.

2. Once you have confit the potatoes into some sort of deliciousness, drain them, and while still hot and dripping with oil put them along with the onions into the beaten egg.

3. Allow the mix to sit for 5-10 minutes.

Keep in Mind

• Important to mix with the eggs while the potatoes and onion hot. Why? Because the hot mixture begins to partially cook the egg, the potato absorbs some of the egg and with it flavour and the egg takes on the sweetness from the onion. Cold - none of this magic happens.

Step 3: Cook and Flip

Here’s how

1. Heat non stick pan (20cm), with a small drizzle of olive oil. Add the mix. As the outside coagulates and forms, run a spatular around the edge. When the tortilla loosens and you can swirl it, turn the heat down to medium. This will all happen in about a minute. Then allow the tortilla to cook slowly for about 3-5 mins.

2. To flip the tortilla place a plate on top of pan and place your hand on top of plate. With your other hand grab the handle of the pan. Lift both hands up in unison in a smooth curve, turning the pan and plate at the top of the arc. The tortilla should now be now on the plate with runny side down. Wiggle it back into the pan. Then, using a spatula, push and prod it back into shape.

3. Give it roughly the same time as you did on the first side. Then, flip again and move to a serving plate. Let it sit for 10 mins+ before you slice into it.

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   I love how who writes puts it in this piece about the Alchemy of Tortilla Española: “It is an opportunity to practice your bravery and brazenness in the kitchen. The goal is not perfection; the goal is keeping your dinner off the floor. Ideally you will try it once, and then again, and then you will feel yourself getting better at it, and understanding its alchemy, and you will have learned something new.”

Here’s how you might serve your perfectly flipped tortilla de patata

1. With a slice of Pan con Tomate (Tomato Toast). Rub a peeled garlic clove over a slice of toasted crystal bread, next cut a tomato in half and rub that over, letting the bread soak up the tomato seeds, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

2. With a healthy salad. Balance the meal by adding in a side salad of mixed tomatoes, red onion, torn up herbs, and a simple balsamic dressing.

3. With a glass of Gazpacho: This cold soup gives contrast, cool and tangy and works well with the heartiness of the potatoes and eggs of the tortilla.

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Also on Olympian Kitchen:

Olympian Kitchen is written by Nicola Fairbrother MBE, 8th Dan, Olympic silver medallist.

More about my work and me. I’m Nicola Fairbrother. I’m a double Olympian (Barcelona 1992 Silver and Atlanta 1996 5th), light-weight World Champion (1993), triple European Champion, voted by Sunday Times as Sportswoman of the Year and awarded a MBE by HM The Queen. I publish a range of children’s judo books (Koka Kids) and run another substack delivering judo coaching resources. I’m a trained chef (Leiths Professional Diploma) and have completed a 100 day chef-stage in Spanish Michelin kitchens.