Steamed Red Snapper

I've been wanting to play around with fish lately... (probably due to all the Eric Ripert this Eric Ripert that in the food scene)
And Red Snappers are a beautiful fish to start with. It's not too oily, not too flaky, and has great color when cooked so it's kind of like the very first omelette you ever made. It comes out an omelette, but like all things simple, it's the hardest thing to perfect.


I picked up a 20oz Red Snapper at my local fish monger and asked them to gut, gill and scale the fish.
I later chopped off the head and left the rest in tact.

I had some Dashi reserved in my fridge, so decided that would be my steaming liquid.
I julienned about 1 oz of fresh ginger root (skin removed). Chopped up 2 scallions into 2 inch segments and laid half of it creating somewhat of a bed for the fish to lay on top.
I seasoned the fish lightly with salt and cut slits through the body.


Laid the fish down and layered the rest of the ginger and scallions on top.
Drizzled some peanut oil and 1t of soy sauce on the fish and added 1 cup of scolding dashi.
[It's critical you add heated dashi because if it's cold, you are not steaming but lightly poaching and you really don't achieve the same texture in the fish as you would steaming]
I then covered and cranked the burner on high to make sure I created a steaming pot immediately.
Once the steam started to shoot out the top, I lowered the flame to medium and left it steaming for 7 to 8 minutes.

I then cut off the heat, opened the lid and examined the fish's tenderness. I didn't have a thermometer on me, but you would have wanted something like 135 to 140 through the thickest portion of the fish.
I may have left the fish in 1 minute too long... but like I said earlier with the omelette. It's an omelette, but just not the best omelette out there.


Transfer to a plate, spoon excess jus and enjoy warm.

Steaming fish at home is incredibly easy, amazingly delicious and totally guilt-free / healthy.