Soy-Ginger Bacalao Loins
Speed - 96%
Simplicity - 98%
Tastiness - 99%
98%
Delicious!
As expected form sous vide cooking, the fish came out to perfection - moist and with the right flakiness. The fresh flavors of the simple poaching liquid flavored the dish really well without overpowering the delicate taste of fish.
Ingredients
- 500 Grams Bacalao Loins
- 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Chopped Leeks
- 1 thumb-sized piece Ginger cut into thin strips
- 4 Cloves garlic minced
- Red Chili optional
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Season the bacalao loins lightly with salt.
- Heat peanut oil in a pan. Sautee the garlic and ginger until slightly brown.
- Mix together the sauteed aromatics, soy sauce, sugar, chopped leeks, chili and sesame oil in a bowl.
- Put the bacalao loins together with the soy mixture in a sous vide bag.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes at 135F.
Found some fresh Bacalao loins on my recent trip to the market and ended up grabbing them into my basket without much thinking. I'm such a huge fan of white-fleshed fish – snapper, mahi-mahi, tilapia. . . I just love them for their flexibility in the kitchen. Yes, they do work well for almost any cooking method you could think of, from frying, grilling, to poaching.
Honestly, most of my favorite varieties of fish are white-fleshed, with salmon being the only exception.
Seeing how fresh those loins were, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. A popular Asian-inspired dish of steamed fish in soy-ginger glaze. The simple flavors of this recipe should allow the freshness of my Bacalao take all the attention it deserves. Well, that's how I believe we should work with delicate ingredients, like most seafood – always best to let their natural flavors, excellent as they already are, get into the limelight.
I've seasoned these fillets lightly with some salt just to round up those flavors further. Don't overdo it though, they'll be getting enough flavor from the soy sauce later.
Can't find Bacalao in the market? Go with any other white-fleshed fish you could find. This recipe would work equally excellent!
Heat some peanut oil in a pan and fry those ginger sticks and minced garlic until slightly brown. Do not use too much oil as we'll be putting all the contents of this pan, oil included, into our sauce. You don't want to make your dish too oily.
I've used peanut oil specifically for the added flavor that it'll give to this dish. You may substitute with any other vegetable oil for sure, but that would definitely cost this dish some significant flavor.
Mix these sauteed aromatics together with the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, and chopped leeks in a bowl. If you want to add some spice to this dish, now would be the time to add those chopped red chilis.
Note why I took the extra step of mixing these ingredients in a separate bowl rather than in the pan, or even directly into my sous vide bag? Mixing the other ingredients into those freshly sauteed aromatics would bring down the temperature of this sauce. I don't want to get my fish at a temperature above that of poaching.
Put everything(fish and soy mixture) in a sous vide bag and cook for 15-20 minutes at 135F. The length of required cooking time would depend on how thick your fish fillets are. See my immersion circulator reviews to get one to use in your own home!
This dish is good to serve out of the bag. For garnish, you may top your fish with additional scallions, chili, or even chopped cilantro. 
Ingredients
- 500 Grams Bacalao Loins
- 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Chopped Leeks
- 1 thumb-sized piece Ginger cut into thin strips
- 4 Cloves garlic minced
- Red Chili optional
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Season the bacalao loins lightly with salt.
- Heat peanut oil in a pan. Sautee the garlic and ginger until slightly brown.
- Mix together the sauteed aromatics, soy sauce, sugar, chopped leeks, chili and sesame oil in a bowl.
- Put the bacalao loins together with the soy mixture in a sous vide bag.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes at 135F.
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