This is not a late night infomercial, we are not selling a device that sautes fish while steaming your carpet. This is your seafood taste tip, so put down the skepticism and pick up a note pad (a notepad isn’t one of the items). Here are four seafood kitchen essentials for under $20.
1. Micro plane
Pairing citrus with seafood is the ultimate match-up. Primarily used for zesting the outside of citrus, the microplane is a must-have tool for the kitchen. Unfortunately the lemon wheel-over-fish adornment is a bit cheap diner-like and often goes unused. Adding the zest of any citrus fruit, however, into or directly over a fish dish, can make a flavor jump from bland to memorable with a few swipes of the microplane.
A further list of the many uses of a Microplane
Kitchen Test:
On 1 piece of bread, drizzle a touch of olive oil and lemon juice and on another, a touch of olive oil and lemon zest from a microplane (the olive oil mimics the richness of the fish). Notice the depth of flavor in the lemon zest garnished piece.
2. Non-Stick Cooking Pan
There are hundreds of options for cookware. The list can get confusing, especially with each pan promising to bring out the Rachel Ray deep inside all of us. The one benefit of a solid non-stick cooking pan that outweighs ALL the rest is the fact that your fish won’t stick–easy, end of story. Some critics of non-stick pans will suggest that you will get a better sear in a more traditional stainless steel pan. However, our test kitchen has noticed that as long as the pan is hot enough (and the oil is barely smoking), the non-stick sear will rein supreme.
3. Coffee Grinder
Pre-ground packaged spices and herbs do not taste anything like their freshly ground counterparts. Since it is important to keep a fish dish as simple as possible, it is vital that the few ingredients used (in most cases spices and herbs) are of perfect quality. Like a bad mussel spoiling a batch, one stale ingredient can ruin a dish. Try grinding peppercorns, fennel seed, coriander seed, or chilis for maximum flavor.
Kitchen Test:
On a slice apple or bread, season one piece with freshly ground pepper and the other with pre-ground pepper. Taste the difference.
4. Hammer
A hammer doesn’t just round out a carpenter’s tool-belt, this trusty mallet plays a vital role in the kitchen as well. One of the essential ingredients to any fish dish is texture and crunch. In most cases this means crushing items with a discernible toast. Items could include croutons, pretzels, potato chips, whole spices (that you want to leave cracked and not finely ground), or ice for oyster dishes. In addition, a hammer can thin out an uneven fish filet, or even a chicken cutlet if you dare venture into terrestrial protein.
