Fry

WHETHER YOU FRY THEM, SAUTÉ THEM, OR EAT THEM RAW, fresh oysters are simply sublime. Our local favorites are the tiny Olympia oyster (the only oyster native to the Pacific Northwest), plump Pacific oysters, European Flat oysters, and petite Kumamotos. The large Pacific oysters are the best for frying. Coated in cornmeal, they make a savory sandwich, but fried oysters also make an impressive appetizer. One tip: Use two hands while battering the oysters—one hand to dip in the flour and one to dunk in the egg and cornmeal—so you don’t end up with two messy hands.

SECRET INGREDIENT Cracker crumbs help bind the fish mixture so it holds together when cooked; they also lend a crunchy coating to the cakes, which are dredged in the crumbs before baking. Put the crackers in a resealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin or small heavy skillet, or pulse in a food processor until coarsely ground.

Tangy and crunchy fresh vegetable pickles are a perfect foil to fried fish. They cut the richness of the buttery breadcrumbs and make a beautiful and colorful plate. This method of breading and cooking the fish is also excellent for chicken breasts.

Sausage is quite easy to make. This recipe is for sausage meat that won’t be stuffed into a casing. It is good for making patties and meatballs, and for stuffings and pasta sauces. In general, for sausage to have a good texture it should contain 25 to 30 percent fat. Much of this fat is rendered while the sausage cooks, but without it the meat will be dry and lack flavor. It follows that the best ground pork to use is ground from the shoulder, which has more fat than the leg or loin. When made with fresh meat, sausage will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

I like to make these meatballs about the size of Ping-Pong balls and toss them with tomato sauce and spaghetti. Sometimes I make them a bit smaller, roll them while still hot in grated Parmesan cheese, and serve them as an hors d’oeuvre.

When selecting live crabs from tanks at the market, choose lively ones that feel heavy. Keep them refrigerated and cook them as soon as possible; it’s important to cook them while they are still alive. Once out of water, they start to decline. The easiest way to cook crab is to boil it. Bring an abundant quantity of water to a boil, enough so that the crabs will be easily submerged. (You may only have a pot roomy enough for one or two large crabs, such as Dungeness; if you have more crabs, boil them one or two at a time.) Throw in a lot of salt; the water should taste salty. When it has reached a rolling boil, pick up the live crab between its back legs (to stay clear of its pinching front claws) and drop it in. Start timing the cooking from the moment the crab enters the boiling water. Keep the heat turned up all the way, but don’t worry if it never comes back to a boil. The amount of time the crab will take to cook will be anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes for a Dungeness crab, to just a few minutes for a small blue crab. Ask your fishmongers for their advice, or look online; there are many Web sites with information about cooking and cleaning the many different varieties. The cooked crabs can be cleaned and eaten right away, or cooled briefly in cold water and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Serve cracked crab with melted butter or homemade mayonnaise (see page 47), with a squeeze of lemon for a little zing. I like to serve a garlic mayonnaise (see page 47) flavored with the orange crab butter (or tomalley) that is found under the shell. Be sure to taste the crab butter first and use it only if it is not bitter. To clean a crab, turn it onto its back and pry up the triangular apron. Pull and twist it off the body. Turn the crab over and grasp it by the corner of the top shell or carapace. Pull it off with a twisting motion. Remove the lungs, the feathery fingers that run along the sides, and the mouth. Scoop out and save the tomalley or crab butter if you like, discarding the white intestine. Rinse the crab clean under cold running water. Split the crab in two (or not) and crack the claws with a mallet or crab cracker. Large crab can be reheated after they have been cooked, cleaned, and cracked; the meat can be picked out or the crab can be reheated later. (The delicate pointed tip at the end of a crab leg is the perfect tool for picking the crabmeat from the shells.) To reheat the crab, brush with melted butter or oil (flavored with herbs and spices if you want) and heat for 5 to 7 minutes in a 400°F or hotter oven, just long enough to heat the crab through. Much of the foregoing advice for cooking crab applies to lobster. Choose lively, heavy lobsters and cook them as soon as you can. Cook lobsters in abundant salted boiling water for 7 minutes. Put the lobster in head first and start timing from the moment it enters the water. Turn the heat down to a simmer if a boil is reached before the time is up (a rolling boil toughens the meat). Cooking lobsters too long also makes the meat tough, so keep an eye on the clock. If you are going to reheat the lobster or add it to a sauté or other dish, cook the lobster for only 5 minutes. Drain the cooked lobster and either serve it right away or cool it down under cold running water or in an ice bath for a few minutes. Lobster can be left whole or split down the middle, or it can be broken down into claws, knuckles, and tails. To do this, twist the tail away from the head and twist off the claws. Crack the claws with a mallet or crab cracker and remove the meat. With a pair of kitchen shears, make a cut down the soft , nearly transparent shell on the underside of the tail. Using a towel to protect your hands, grasp both sides of the tail and bend them back, splitting open the shell along the cut. Pull out the lobster meat. You can also cut the tail in two lengthwise to remove the meat. Some recipes call for cooking a raw lobster cut in pieces. To k...

Pan-frying is best for thinner fillets and steaks, or for whole fish that are no more than 1 inch thick. Season the fish with salt and pepper and other seasonings such as chopped fresh herbs or crushed spices as desired. For skinless fillets, heat a heavy sauté or frying pan until quite hot; add just enough oil, clarified butter, or a mix of oil and whole butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Carefully add the fish and cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes (4 to 5 minutes for whole fish) and then turn. Cook for another 3 minutes and test for doneness. Remove the fish from the pan when it is just slightly underdone, as it will continue cooking in the residual heat. When cooking fish with skin, add more fat to the pan, about 1/8 inch deep. Put the fish into the pan skin side down. The skin will shrink while it cooks, pulling the fish up from the bottom of the pan. To keep the skin next to the hot pan (which is necessary to crisp it), weigh the fillets down with a foil-wrapped skillet that is slightly smaller than the one used for the cooking. This will hold the fillets fl at and ensure even crisping of the skin. Cook the fillets on their skin for the majority of the time, about 5 to 7 minutes, depending on their thickness, then turn them and cook on the flesh side for just another minute or two, or until done. Remember that the pan must be quite hot before the fish is added; this will keep it from sticking. Also, don’t crowd the fish or it will sweat and give off liquid, ruining any chances of browning and crisping. Lastly, don’t overcook the fish. A quick pan sauce can be made aft er you have removed the fish and poured off the cooking fat. Add tomato sauce to the hot pan and stir in all the brown bits left on the pan for added flavor, or deglaze the hot pan with wine or lemon juice and finish with a swirl of butter or extra-virgin olive oil and a handful of herbs. Add a handful of toasted nuts for flavor and texture. The striped bass fishery, once endangered, has fully recovered and is now flourishing. This fish is especially delicious with its skin left on and sautéed until brown and crispy.

A frittata is a flat round omelet with its filling stirred into the eggs before cooking. I like my frittatas dense in vegetables, almost like pies without crusts. Many things can be stirred into frittatas: sautéed onions, wilted greens, roasted peppers, sliced potatoes, mushrooms, even pasta. Frittatas can be served warm or at room temperature, plain or with a sauce, as a first course or as dinner. And they are great for sandwiches and as picnic food. Any filling should be cooked before being added to the eggs. For more flavor, vegetables can be browned or seasoned with herbs and spices. Although some recipes say to pour beaten eggs into the pan over vegetables after they have been cooked, I have better luck turning the frittata later when I beat the eggs with a little oil and salt, stir in the vegetables and any other ingredients such as herbs or cheese, and cook the frittata in a clean preheated pan. Cook frittatas over medium to medium-high heat. Any higher and the eggs will burn on the bottom. As the edges set, lift them away from the side of the pan and tilt the pan to let uncooked egg flow underneath. When the frittata is mostly set, place an inverted plate the same size or a little larger over the pan, hold them firmly together, and turn the pan upside down on top of the plate. (Protect the hand holding the plate with a towel or potholder.) Add a bit more oil to the pan and slide the frittata back in. Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes and then slide onto a plate. The frittata should be cooked through but still moist inside. Another way to cook a frittata is in the oven, as long as the pan you use is ovenproof. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Start the frittata on top of the stove, as above. After a couple of minutes, put the pan in the oven and cook until the frittata is set on top, about 7 to 10 minutes.

An omelet makes a light, quick, nutritious, and economical breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is a comforting dish, thanks to its tenderness and the simplicity of its flavors: fresh eggs, a touch of butter, and a little cheese or other filling to add flavor and nuance. For the omelet I make most often, I stir fresh herbs (parsley, chive, sorrel, tarragon, or chervil) into the eggs before they are cooked and fill the omelet with a bit of Gruyère or soft ricotta. There are countless other possible fillings for omelets: the leftover spoonful of last night’s sautéed greens or roasted peppers, for example, or a morsel of braised lamb or sautéed ham. It should go without saying that very fresh eggs from hens fed organic feed and allowed to forage freely outdoors make the tastiest omelets. Farmers’ markets often sell such eggs. At grocery stores, look for eggs that are local, free-range, and, if possible, certified organic. Count 2 to 3 eggs per person. I prefer omelets that are not too thick, are delicately puffed and folded, and are still moist on the inside. To achieve this, I use this rule of thumb for the size of pan: 2 eggs in a 6-inch pan, 3 eggs in an 8-inch pan, 6 in a 10-inch pan, and no more than 12 in a 12-inch pan. The beaten eggs should be no more than 1/4 inch deep. The pan itself should be heavy and smooth-surfaced or nonstick. Preheat the pan over medium-low heat for 3 to 5 minutes before adding the eggs. This is the most important step for quick, consistent, and nonstick cooking. Crack your eggs into a bowl and, right before they are to be cooked, add a pinch of salt per egg (they turn watery when salted ahead), and beat them lightly with a fork or a whisk. The omelet will be more fluffy and tender if the eggs are well combined, but not beaten into a completely homogenous mixture. Put a knob of butter in the hot pan; it will melt and foam up. Swirl it around and, as the foam subsides and the butter starts to give off its distinctive nut-like aroma, but before it starts to brown, pour in the eggs. If you are making a large omelet, turn the heat up at this time to medium (this is not necessary with a small omelet). There should be a satisfying sizzle as the eggs enter the pan. The edges of the omelet will begin to set almost immediately (if they don’t, turn up the heat). Pull the edges towards the center with a fork or spatula, allowing uncooked egg to flow over the exposed bottom of the hot pan. Do this until the bottom of the omelet is set, lifting the edges and tilting the pan to let liquid egg flow underneath. When the eggs are mostly set, sprinkle on the cheese or other fillings. Cook a moment longer, fold the omelet in half over itself, and slide it onto a plate. To make a rolled omelet, tilt the pan down and away from you, shaking the pan to scoot the omelet towards the far edge of the pan and folding the near edge of the omelet over onto itself. Continue to tilt the pan, rolling the omelet towards the downward side. Then fold the far edge over the top and roll the omelet out of the pan onto a warm plate, seam side down. The whole process will have taken less than a minute. Drag a piece of butter over the top to make the omelet shine.

As the name implies, shallow-frying requires more fat than pan-frying or sautéing but not as much as deep-frying. When they are to be shallow-fried, most foods are first coated with breadcrumbs or covered (or dredged) in flour. This coating turns golden brown and seals in juices resulting in such crisp, succulent dishes as fried chicken, breaded pork cutlets, fried zucchini, and sole in breadcrumbs. The goal is a light, even, unbroken coating. To dredge, first season the food with salt and pepper, and drag it or toss it in flour, shaking off any excess. Some foods, such as thin fillets of fish, are then fried directly. Other foods, particularly those that take longer to cook, such as pieces of chicken on the bone or a whole fish, benefit from resting an hour or so after dredging to allow the floured surface to dry and firm up. Don’t let the pieces touch one another or the coating will stick and tear when it is time to cook. (An easy way to flour chicken is to put the flour in a strong paper bag, add the chicken and shake.) Breadcrumbs burn more easily than flour and are best applied to meat and vegetables that have been cut thin enough that the interior will be cooked by the time the crumbs have browned. Season the meat or vegetables with salt, pepper, and any herbs or spices, as desired. For breadcrumbs to stick, the food needs to be evenly moist. First dredge it in flour, dip it in egg beaten with a little water, and then roll it (or pat it) in dry fresh breadcrumbs. (Coarse cornmeal can be substituted for breadcrumbs.) To keep your fingers from getting breaded along the way, use one hand to roll the food in the flour and crumbs and the other to dip it in the egg mixture. A breadcrumb coating will be crisper if allowed to rest an hour or so before cooking. Once again, be sure that the breaded pieces are not touching one another while they rest. For shallow-frying, choose oils with a high smoking temperature, such as pure olive oil or peanut oil, or clarified butter, which adds rich flavor. Or use a combination of oil and clarified butter. Lard, suet, duck fat, and schmaltz (chicken fat) are all distinctively flavorful frying fats. Potatoes, one of the few foods that don’t need to be floured or breaded before being shallow-fried, are especially tasty when cooked in a combination of clarified butter and duck fat. A heavy pan heats the fat evenly, and it should have low sides, for easy turning and to prevent steaming. The pan must be filled with enough fat to come halfway up the sides of what you are cooking. For most shallow-frying, that will be 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Otherwise the coating will get soggy and not cook along the edges where the oil didn’t reach. Heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking and gently add the food. Don’t crowd the pan; fry in batches if necessary. Cook until brown and crisp, then turn and cook until crisp on the other side. Monitor the heat, turning it down if the food is browning too quickly and turning it up if there is no browning after a minute or two. If fat is absorbed during the cooking, add more as necessary to maintain the proper level. Food that takes a while to cook, such as chicken, may need to be turned a few times. Remove from the pan when cooked and drain well on paper or an absorbent towel before serving.

Tender cuts of meat—chicken breasts, steaks, and chops, for example—are prime candidates for pan-frying, and when properly cooked have a mouthwateringly crisp, browned exterior and a tender, juicy interior. Pan-frying makes dinner a breeze; there is practically no preparation involved and the meat is cooked quickly and sent straight to the table. The fundamentals for achieving good results are a heavy pan, high heat, and a fairly thin piece of meat. Why does a heavy pan matter? Have you ever cooked something in a thin pan and had it burn, with the burn exactly the same shape as the electrical element below? This shows how a thin pan transmits heat directly from the burner to what is cooking instead of diffusing the heat across the pan’s surface. A heavy pan can distribute heat—and a lot of it—from the burner to the bottom of the pan. This is key in pan-frying and sautéing, because the pan needs to be quite hot to sear and caramelize or brown, but not burn, the surface of what is being cooked. If I could have only one pan, it would be a cast-iron skillet. The heavy iron heats evenly, making it a wonderful vehicle for browning and frying. An added bonus is that a seasoned cast-iron pan is virtually nonstick. The next-best thing after a cast-iron skillet is a stainless-steel-lined heavy aluminum or aluminum-core frying pan. The aluminum is an excellent heat conductor, while the stainless steel offers a good nonreactive surface to cook on. Besides being heavy, the pan should have low sides so the meat won’t steam as it cooks. Because pan-frying requires high heat, the meat you choose should be fairly thin. Chops should be 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and steaks 1 inch thick or less. Over high heat, thicker cuts will get crusty and dry on the outside before the inside is done. (A good method for cooking thicker chops and steaks is to brown them, by cooking them briefly on both sides at high heat, and pop them, skillet and all, into a 375°F oven to finish cooking. Alternatively, after browning, finish cooking over lowered heat, with the pan covered.) For even cooking, the thickness should be uniform. Chicken breasts can be lightly pounded at the thicker end to even them out so they will cook consistently. It is wise to have all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking: the oil should be handy, the meat should be seasoned, and, if you are going to make a pan sauce, those ingredients should be on hand as well. Heat the pan first: a hot pan in combination with oil will sear the meat and keep it from sticking. Otherwise, the meat will sweat and its leaking juices will cause the meat to adhere to the bottom of the pan. Once the pan is hot, add a little bit of oil, or oil and butter (butter alone burns too quickly at high temperatures). Add the oil after the pan has heated so that it does not start to smoke and burn before you are ready to start cooking. For pan-frying only a little oil is needed, just enough to generously coat the bottom of the pan. After a few seconds, when the oil is shimmering, put the meat in the pan. The meat should fit in the pan in a single layer with a little space between each piece. If the pieces are crowded or overlapping, the liquid they release will keep the meat from browning; if there are large areas of the pan left exposed, the oil in these areas will burn and smoke. If necessary, fry in batches or in two pans simultaneously. Cook the meat on one side until it is nicely browned. Peek underneath after 2 or 3 minutes to monitor the browning; lower the heat if it is browning too quickly, or, if nothing is happening, turn it up. To brown the other side, turn the meat with tongs or a long, sharp-tined fork. In general, most cuts of meat need to cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Chicken breasts can cook for a longer time on the skin side, 8 minutes or so, leaving the tender meaty side to cook only a few minutes. I am an advocate for leaving the skin on...

The smell of fried tortillas and cinnamon engulfed our home during the Christmas season as my mom made dozens of these crunchy treats and wrapped them in cellophane to give to friends and family. I’ve now taken over the tradition, and my son loves to help me cut the tortillas into holiday shapes with cookie cutters or scissors before I fry them. Using authentic Mexican tortillas (lard and all) makes all the difference.

Every family has a recipe that is a well-kept secret. This one, created by my aunt Marcela, is ours. It took some major coaxing to convince her to let me in on the details. Chile-lovers, this is for you! Yellow chiles are left whole and are meant to be eaten in between bites of tacos or any grilled dish. If you want to get adventurous, try dipping sushi in the spicy lime-soy sauce.

Refried beans are frijoles de la olla that have been fried in a little fat. Because they are traditionally cooked in lard, they aren’t really known for their healthful qualities, but this version uses a fairly small amount of butter and olive oil instead. You still get a very rich and flavorful dish that is perfect for filling tacos or for serving alongside grilled steaks. Double or even quadruple this recipe as needed.

I have eaten more than my share of fish tacos while living in Baja. But the beach is a half-hour drive from my house, so I was on a mission to find a fish taco recipe that I could make at home—one that was as delicious and authentic as the taco they serve at my favorite Rosarito taco shack. This is what I came up with—and I’m happy to say it competes!

In Tijuana, as soon as the days get a little warmer, the street vendors start to appear with giant bunches of squash blossoms. I grew up eating squash blossoms sautéed and stuffed in quesadillas, served with fresh raspberries. The addition of mascarpone, an Italian triple-cream cheese, takes the dish to a whole new level.

Taquitos, also known as flautas where I grew up, are corn tortillas that are stuffed, rolled, and fried. Shredded chicken or beef is the traditional filling, but here I use mushrooms and pair them with a tart tomatillo salsa for a great vegetarian dish.