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Old sous gave me bad advice about marinating fish overnight
Honestly, that guy told me to soak halibut in citrus for 12 hours to 'tenderize' it. I served 40 plates of ceviche-style mush at Friday dinner service and got chewed out by the exec chef. Anyone else get burned by outdated line cook wisdom?
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annaw7319d ago
Kenji Lopez-Alt's Food Lab book says fish basically poaches in citrus after 30 minutes.
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the_tessa19d ago
That citrus soak ruined your fish. 20 minutes max for any marinade with acid.
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robinf5119d ago
Kenji's Food Lab book is solid but even he would tell you that 20 minutes is the outer edge for something like thin white fish. I've had good luck with tilapia in a lime marinade at 15 minutes but when I tried it with mahi mahi at 25 minutes it turned into that weird mushy texture you described. What about the mix of fat and acid though - do you think if you added some oil to the citrus it buys you more time, or does the acid still break down the fish the same way regardless?
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