Marinating fish is a useful and versatile technique for enhancing a delicate raw material, perfect for being delicately flavored and scented. But that's not all: whether you're preparing fish to be served raw, grilled, or oven roasted, marinating becomes a precious ally for adding flavor, tenderness, and juiciness to various dishes. How is it achieved? By combining three fundamental components:
- An acid: lemon, lime, or orange juice, vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or dry white wine. It serves to denature proteins, breaking down fibers and making meats more tender.
- A fatty part: extra virgin olive oil, which balances the acidity and helps convey the aromas.
- Flavors and spices: fresh herbs, citrus peel, garlic, onion, chili pepper, ginger, peppercorns, or other berries, such as juniper. They provide the characteristic flavor.
How is it done? The fish, whether whole or in fillets, is basted or immersed in this emulsion in proportions and for varying lengths of time depending on the species, size, and preparation. Generally, marinades for raw fish are characterized by their freshness and lightness, while those for cooked fish can be more robust, to prevent it from drying out when exposed to heat. In this short guide, we'll see how to move from theory to practice.
Is It Better to Marinate Raw or Cooked Fish?
Marinating is a process that usually involves raw fish, whether it's cooked or not. It makes the final product more appetizing by acting directly on the tissues, improving texture and flavor. The same emulsion, not only before cooking, but also during cooking, for example, by brushing it on grilled fish.
When added after the fish has been cooked, however, it would be more correct to speak of a condiment, as in the case of seafood salad, which features shellfish and cephalopod mollusks: due to their structure, it is best not to marinate mussels, clams, octopus, and squid, as they risk losing their firmness and becoming rubbery or stringy. So proceed as follows: once cooked separately, transfer all the ingredients to a salad bowl and drizzle with oil, lemon juice, a few chopped parsley leaves, a pinch of salt and pepper, mix well, and then let rest for two hours in the refrigerator. An ancient preservation technique, later transformed into succulent preparations, is to fry the fish and then marinate it, to make it last longer: a classic example is sardines in saor, with their sweet and sour accompaniment of vinegar, onions, raisins, and pine nuts.
How to Marinate Grilled Fish
Grilling fish is one of the simplest ways to enhance the raw material without overworking it, which can lead to ruining it. However, this cooking method has its pitfalls, as high temperatures can quickly dry out the meat. When grilling fish fillets, such as red mullet, swordfish, tuna, salmon, or mackerel, opt for a pre-marinade using extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar or white wine, and pepper: 30 minutes in the refrigerator is enough. If you have whole fish, first clean it thoroughly, carefully gutting it, and then marinate it in the same solution for at least a couple of hours. Save the emulsion: once the fish is placed on the heat, you can brush it during cooking to add more flavor and aroma, as well as season it just before serving.
How to Marinate Oven Roasted Fish
Marinating baked fish enhances its flavor and keeps it tender, as it tends to dry out. Prepare a mixture with extra virgin olive oil, aromatic herbs like parsley, oregano, or fennel (it's best to leave them whole so you can remove them when roasting to prevent them from burning), a crushed garlic clove, lemon or orange zest, a small piece of ginger (if using high-quality meats like sea bream or amberjack), and add dry white wine. Add the fish, whole or in pieces, to the marinade, then cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to a couple of hours. Before oven roasting, let it rest at room temperature for ten minutes to prevent thermal shock. Don't throw away the marinade: it will help keep the fish moist during cooking.
How to Marinate Carpaccio and Tartare
Let's start with a premise: whatever raw fish you choose, it's important that it's extremely fresh and frozen, for food safety reasons. Only then can you safely begin preparing carpaccio and tartare, with marinades that enhance their freshness: for this, make room for a good, gentle extra virgin olive oil, not too fruity or spicy, and citrus fruits, real all-rounders. Let's look at some interesting combinations to inspire you.
Carpaccio
It takes inspiration from the classic beef dish, except that here the protagonists are thin slices of raw fish, to be seasoned once arranged side by side on the plate and left to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. The slightly salty tuna pairs perfectly with a mix of extra virgin olive oil, lemon or orange juice (you can also use the zest), thyme, chives and pink peppercorns, while the fattier salmon is softened with lime and dill. The swordfish, which has tough flesh, can be tenderized with an emulsion of extra virgin olive oil, milk, pink peppercorns and green peppercorns, placing the whole thing in the refrigerator for 4 hours. The sea bream, on the other hand, is delicate: it focuses on grapefruit juice and basil, aromatic but not at all overpowering: 15 minutes of rest before serving will suffice.
Tartare
Whether served as an appetizer or a main course, tartare is always a success. The fish is cut into regular-sized cubes, chopped with a knife, transferred to a bowl, and seasoned to taste. Typically, this dish doesn't require a proper marinade, but rather a final emulsion to flavor and perfume the fish, otherwise the texture and color could alter. For a tuna tartare, try orange juice, extra virgin olive oil, and pepper, garnished with capers and olives. A refined version is shrimp tartare: we suggest flavoring it with orange juice, chopped mint leaves, a few pink peppercorns, and a pinch of salt, then letting it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in a pastry cutter to firm it up.
A delicious salmon variation, however, involves dry-marinating the steak: this means no liquid solution, but a coating of salt and sugar (or both) along with optional herbs or spices. Specifically, here, the two ingredients absorb the water, toning down the fishy flavor that may not be to everyone's taste, and adding sweetness and flavor. After rinsing for 10 minutes, cut it into cubes and finish with salt, oil, chopped chives, and grated lemon zest.
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