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New England Crumb Topping for Fish
Many chefs know not to overdo the cooking of really fresh food. Simply cooked cod or haddock is a New England tradition, but what is simply cooked? Is cooking a piece of fish, drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil too simple?
Go back in time, way back...you will find bread crumbs in all sorts of recipes. Bread goes stale and not to be wasteful, it was dried and crushed, becoming bread crumbs. In cooking,, the crumbs found their way into recipes such as meatballs. In cooking of old, bread was used as a thickener, binder and filler. In some instances it still is.
In New England; fish, especially haddock and cod is topped with bread crumbs, butter and parsley, then baked at a high temperature. It's on just about every seafood restaurant's menu as a simple dish, which is quite tasty. In Boston and beyond it's traditionally known as "Baked Scrod".
At the original Boston Ritz-Carlton, Locke Ober, the Parker House their Cod was dipped in dried breadcrumbs, topped with butter and baked with lemon and parsley. On the other hand the Toll House (1930), of chocolate chip cookie fame relied on Saltine Crackers crushed with melted butter, lemon juice, and paprika for their topping. There were other variations that included Ritz Crackers. The Ritz Cracker version became a standard filling for baked stuffed lobster in New England. There were combinations that used all three with the basic, butter, lemon juice, paprika and parsley.
In the 70's and perhaps before, chefs started creating versions with garlic and onion powder, Japanese tenpura crumbs (Panko) and cornbread crumbs. Search the Internet today and you will see hundreds of variations, some to me are creations that hide the flavor of the fish, not enhance it....overseasoned versions are for people who really don't like fish!
The recipe below isn't the traditional bread crumb version. It's a combination Saltines and Ritz Crackers with lemon, butter, olive oil, ground white pepper, paprika, parsley and a hint of fresh thyme. This recipe is a proven winner!
Follow the recipe and cooking instructions for this baked fish and you will experience complementary flavors. Add a boiled potato, a green vegetable and fresh lemon and you'll think you are dining on CapeCod!
Amount/Measure/Ingredient
1 sleeve Saltine crackers, crushed
2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed
1 tbsp. Spanish paprika
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
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1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp. fresh thyme, leaves chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil, (Philip Berio) is recommented---not exrta virgin
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parsley, chopped---added when you coat the fish
Restaurant chefs always put about 1-2 tablesoons of water on the broiling pan to keep the fish moist during high heat cooking. Hint---remove the skin, then dip both sides in butter, then place the fish, what was skin side down on the baking pan. Pat on the crumbs (enough to cover), drizzel with more butter to moisten the crumbs add a sqeeze of lemon (a small wedge) and bake in a 500 F degree oven for about 8 minutes, then broil briefly to brown the crumbs if needed. and baste the fish with pan juices once before placing under the broiler. Just before serving sprinkle with additional chopped parsley
The crumb toping should resemble this---
