Seared hamachi!

[billie_morini]

Wow! Had the best seared hamachi (young yellow fin tuna) tonight! The fish was caught by the girlfriend of one of my buddies. This woman loves fishing and takes charter boats from San Diego south to off-shore Mexico. My buddy is not that crazy about fishing, so his girlfriend goes without him.

The secret to good seared hamachi, ahi ahi, or any tuna is to pop black peppercorns in the pan before cooking the fish. Here's my recipe that makes 2 servings.

Ingredients
two (5 ounce) ahi tuna steaks
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tablespoon butter (I always omit the butter because I'm allergic to dairy)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Directions
1. Season the tuna steaks with salt and cayenne pepper.
2. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the peppercorns in the mixture until they soften and pop, about 5 minutes.
3. Gently place the seasoned tuna in the skillet and cook to desired doneness, 1 1/2 minutes per side for rare.

Here's a photo of the great fisher-woman with the very yellow fin I ate tonight. The weight of the tuna is equal to the fisher-woman! I'll be rolling sushi later on.

[oldmansurfer]

I think hamachi is yellow tail (amberjack) and that is ahi or yellowfin tuna. Nice fish and the fisher ain't too bad either. I am going to have to try that recipe minus the butter since I don't keep butter in the fridge.

[billie_morini]

Ol' Man,
you are correct! I got my yellow fish mixed up. Indeed, my friend caught and I seared yellow fin tuna. Thank you very much for sorting this out.
billie

[Jester]

I would so spend the day drinking on a boat off the coast of Mexico while my babe of a girl caught me dinner, what is he THINKING?!

[Jester]

Also note the tiny finlet bumps on the way to the tail, would love to try that as a design to preempt the rear fins.

[billie_morini]

Ha, Jester. Sometimes some alone time is desireable. Signora Morini is a wonderful woman. However, with nearly 27 years of marriage, billie kind of likes it when he's bachen' it. Shhhh....

[billie_morini]

Jester
RE: yellow tail bumps
Roy in NZ is making fins that have "bumps" or serrations on the leading edge.
George Greenough has long made fins with a soft, thin rubber edge on the trailing edge of the fin.
What specifically are you thinking?

[Jester]

Haha absinth makes the heart grow founder eh Billo! no I didn't mean on the fin itself but actually leading up to the fin itself, you can see both top and bottom on the spine of that tuna there's a ridge of them that surely create turbulence and reduce drag to get the tail end through the water faster.

Thinking about it now, perhaps it would actually work better along the rails horizontally positioned to get the rear of the board through the water, they'd have to be flexible lill buggers though as they'd rip your legs to bits otherwise think that's why I'm always drawn to those winged rails, if you multiply a series of steps it would probably create the same effect I'm thinking.

Previously I was imagining them for'd of the fins but that would in all likelihood make the water passing by them too unstable wouldn't it, like turbulence adversely affecting a wing in F1, but the fish has it near the flexing rear tail where turbulence is needed and sucks water down and around the rear fin. There's probably a secondary benefit as the tail moves port and starboard..I'm proposing that the turbulence spills off to one side as the tail is flexed in the opposite direction, leading to low pressure on the side away from the tail and high (obviously) on the tail protected side. Then with movement of the tail back towards the opposite direction, it would already be moving under load into a low pressure area made lower by the small fins turbulence. Probably less effort needed.

Just my ramblings, don't know if it's accurate but I find it fascinating to ponder!

[oldmansurfer]

My thought is the fins along the edges may guide water to the tail adding slightly to the power by starting the water deflection before it gets to the tail so the tail requires less force to deflect it...........or not LOL

[benjl]

Should we add a new sub-group post section called 'Billie's Recipes?' or 'Fuelling the Stoke- food chat'

I made some beef schnitzels lastnight and came up with a wicked coating on them! Didn't look pretty but tasted amazing!

Makes 3 normal-sized schnitzels
Mix up all the below in a wide shallow bowl:
1x piece of grainy bread to a bread-crumb consistency.
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
2x tablespoon-ish of moroccan seasoning
2x teaspoons of roast vegetable seasoning (garlic, salt, herbs)
teaspoon pepper

Method:
Heat oil in pan to modrate heat
Scramble egg in 1 bowl
Thoroughly mix all ingrediants for coating in a seperate shallow bowl
Roll beef schnitzel in egg mixture and then place in the next bowl to coat appropiately with the bread-crumn mixture.
Place in pan and sear evenly on both sides.

Serve with roast potatos or roast potato chips, seasonal veges and some gravy or jus from the beef pan.
Enjoy!
Ohh, and a cold beer on the side

[billie_morini]

Brilliant, benji! Schnitzel for the masses!!




Ha, ha, billie's Recipes sub-forum! We need a proper poll to determine whether the masses want this as much as schnitzel. Where's Kitey? He'll know how to administer a proper poll!

Enticement for voters: if the masses vote to have billie's Recipies, the first recipe I will post will be billie's Santa Barbara Margaritas! . This highly coveted recipe required 2 painstaking years to develop, is featured at every one of my rock crab steaming events, and massively requested by all friends and family that visit billie from Germany. It doesn't get any better than this, folks. Please vote for me.

[oldmansurfer]

I haven't eaten much schnitzel but in Hawaii we often eat a Japanese version called tonkatsu which is served with plum sauce and rice and it's quite good.

[jaffa1949]

This one will work up Benjl .
set scene. East coast of south island of New Zealand. Mangamaunu surf break to be exact just north of Kaikoura, Google earth it please!
Got the visual. round right hand point, snowcapped mountains, ocean as deep as the mountains are immediately high, sperm whale and giant squid inhabit the offshore waters.
Black round basalt rocks line and shape the quality waves.
The point swings around with both the pacific rail line and the east coast highway sweeping around the point. ( photographic ambition to shoot a surfer a train and a semi all arcing around the point, possible but a long wait for it to come together).
Now about the food.!!!!
Warm freshly baked organic wholemeal crisp crusted bread, with that aroma ( that smell you know so well).
A slab of rich organic butter from the local dairy .
A bottle of Marlborough Sound organic Sauvignon Blanc wine a short drive to Nin's Bin a Maori, Lobster cooking caravan right on the beach. Purchase lobster, hand break lobster onto butter bread, consume with wine and butter dripping over hands .
Watch the antics of the seal colony just offshore ( one note of caution; ensure wind is offshore).
A simple wilderness romantic meal , wash hands and face in the bracing south Pacific ocean after.

[benjl]

I wasn't meaning to vote for either, I vote to vote for both!
That margarita recipe would be great!

Set up a sub- group for food recipes!

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah cooking subforum or thread and maybe a music thread also any music buffs out there?

[benjl]

I used to do a bit of dj-ing? Not sure if you guys would enjoy Dnb or electronica much though?

[oldmansurfer]

I have a wide variety of tastes in music as long as it all rocks LOL