A good catch: chefs go fishing for alternative species as supplies of popular seafood dwindle

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 5, 2007  by Bret Thorn

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Farm-raised Cobia, from the Caribbean, is also making a splash.

Guy Reuge, executive chef of Mirabelle restaurant in St. James, N.Y., gets his from Puerto Rico. The texture is like sturgeon, he says, "except sturgeon is a tougher meat, while the cobia just melts in your mouth ... But if you cook it too much, you end up with a fish that is a little bit dry."

He serves Cobia with a brown butter flavored with banana instead of the more traditional capers, explaining that he wants the dish to reflect the fish's tropical origins.

Randy Zweiban sees a future in farmed striped bass, which is a hybrid of striped bass and ocean bass, raised in fresh-water ponds. He gets his from Texas and serves it as a ceviche with a mixture of orange, lemon and lime juices along with pickled Serrano chiles.

Tunks also notes that pampano, being farm-raised in the Bahamas, is being slush-killed to order. That means the fish is plunged into very cold water, killing it instantly and also preserving the flesh.

bthorn@nrn.com

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