The 33 Best Fish And Shellfish, Local And Exotic
Every year on the thirty-three weekdays of Lent, we present a ranking of the best seafood around town. Some years we rank seafood restaurants. On others, we rank specific dishes. Three years ago, it was the thirty-three best local seafood species for the table. This year, the subject is all the seafood that we find in our restaurants, seafood markets, and our dinner tables at home. The list is dominated by local seafood--we live in one of the great fisheries of the world, after all. But it also includes favorites from other places. Salmon and scallops. Lobster. Mussels. Halibut. Our chefs prepare spectacular dishes with those fine guests from other waters.
The list is not a countdown, beginning with the thirty-third best and working up to Number One. We started at the top. It's a measure of how superb our seafood selection is that even #33 is involved in many excellent local dishes.
#3: Red Snapper
Red snapper is a favorite not only around New Orleans but all across America. That makes it more expensive and less often available, even though fishermen catch a lot of it in nearby waters. That all of it is caught with rod and reel adds to the scarcity. In restaurants where they really know their fish (Brigtsen's, Commander's, GW Fins, and Andrea's, to name a few), red snapper is frequently and prominently featured on the menu. Snapper is distinctly better in taste and texture than redfish, with which it is often confused (on menus, not in markets). Red snapper has a tender texture that still holds together well even though I'd call it a flaky fish. The taste is so pure and good that I consider it the standard fish flavor. The oil content is relatively low, but despite that there is no lack of savor.
Some people grill red snapper, but I don't think that really brings out the flavor of the fish best. My favorite cooking method is pan-sauteeing, particularly using that method wherein you sear the fish in some butter or olive oil, remove the fish momentarily, add the wine and lemon juice and onions or bell peppers or mushrooms or whatever, bring that to a boil till its tender, then put the fish back in and finish it in the oven. The fish comes out tender and perfect, the sauce picks up a lot of flavor from the fish, and the dish is terrific. Red snapper also lends itself to being cooked whole, particularly if it's a smaller snapper. The technique of covering the fish with a pile of kosher salt and baking it (at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes for a five-pound fish) gives startlingly good results.
We only wish there were more red snapper around. However, the species has been overfished and is now heavily managed both at the state and federal levels (as it should be). So red snapper comes and goes. Anytime it's available fresh, you should grab it.
