Test drive

A few days ago it was a fish day, but not a day that the fish stall appeared in the market place, so a visit to the Waitrose fish counter was indicated. Where there were kippers (not wanted on this occasion), a lot of salmon, some regular cod and some cod loin - which seems to mean that the thin bits from around the stomach etc have been cut off. Plus it has been skinned. With this cod loin being marked down to something like £12 a kilo which seemed very reasonable. I took 850g or so for a tenner.

It being a Wednesday, I was fending for myself at lunch time, so given that we had not had this particular cut of cod for a while, I thought that a test drive was in order. To which end, given that 850g was more than the two of us needed for our meal, I lopped a chunk off for my lunch. From where I associate to the splendid bit in Orley Farm (of reference 1) where an unpleasant and usually mean man wants to make a splash at Christmas and buys a fine bit of beef. Only to find that, on the big day, his even meaner wife had not been able to resist taking a good slice off of it. Far too good to waste on guests. But there was enough left, even if a touch mutilated, to make a decent show.

Fried an onion in a little butter until soft and then added the cod. About five minutes on each side with the lid of our fine sauté pan (from Aga) on. Served with some reasonably fresh brown bread it did very well.

BH went on to cook the balance in much the same way later in the day, serving it with boiled potatoes and greens. It did very well - although I wonder now whether, given the larger pieces involved,whether  a slightly higher temperature, say 4 rather than 3, the lid off and a slightly shorter time might have worked even better, given a slightly drier product. Perhaps patted with kitchen paper and dried off for a bit in a low oven? What they call pan fried in the better class of restaurants? Practise makes perfect.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/02/orley-farm.html.