Words by Bonnie Chung. Photograph by Yuki Suguira.
Often one of the fanciest miso dishes on the menu, this was made famous in the 1980s by the celebrated chef Nobu Matsuhisa. Thanks to its hefty price tag in restaurants, it is one of my most requested recipes for cooks looking to recreate the flavours at home. I get it. I remember the first time I tasted this: the creamy fish melted in my mouth. Just thinking about its butteriness makes my mouth water.
Confusingly, black cod is not a type of cod. It is actually from a different family of fish and its proper name is sablefish. Making this dish with cod fillets will not give you the same rich oily textures. Since sablefish is only available in the icy waters of the Pacific North West, I buy it online and it arrives frozen. If you donโt want to do the same, I recommend you choose a thick cod loin; the loin is from the middlethird section of the cod and is moist and flaky. Or choose a fish with a similar texture and richness, such as mackerel, trout or red snapper
If youโd like to dive deeper into cooking with miso, get your copy of Miso: From Japanese Classics to Everyday Umami by Bonnie Chung.
Miso Black Cod
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 200 g (7 oz) saikyo miso, or white miso
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
- 4 tbsp sake
- 4 tbsp mirin
- 3 tbsp caster, superfine sugar
- 4 skin-on fillets of black cod
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, miso and lemon zest and mix until smooth.
- In a small saucepan, heat the sake and mirin over a high heat for 30 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Then reduce the heat and whisk in the miso mixture until smooth. Increase the heat again and add the sugar, but be careful it doesnโt burn. Turn off the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.
- Put the fish in a bowl. Smother both sides of each fillet generously with the cold miso mixture, then cover the bowl and refrigerate. Leave to marinate for at least 3 hours, or overnight, or up to 3 days, if you have the time.
- When ready to cook, preheat the grill (broiler) to medium and preheat the oven to 150ยฐC fan/170ยฐC/340ยฐF/gas mark 3. Wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fish.
- Grill the fish, about 7.5 cm/3 in from the grill, skin side up first, for 3 minutes, until you see bubbles and a little charring.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 7โ10 minutes until the fish is opaque and flakes easily. It will be just cooked and tender on the inside. Serve immediately with rice and simple steamed or stir-fried greens.
Extracted from Miso: From Japanese Classics to Everyday Umami by Bonnie Chung (15 January, Pavilion Books, ยฃ22).