When you brew a giant batch of saké with a master Kombucha scientist, you end up with a lot of saké.
I’m not talking awesome saké, but table saké – the kind of saké that I’m happy to make friends taste, but won’t crave after a long day.
So what do I do with approximately 10 litres of what I think is so-so saké?
I cook with it. In fact, I go out of my way to make recipes that I’d otherwise never make, because why would I waste half a bottle of good drinking saké on a recipe?
One such recipe is for fish marinated in a whole lot of saké and a little soy and/or miso. If you don’t have miso, just use more soy, or vice versa. Don’t have pickled ginger? Use fresh. Or skip it.
It’s the easiest marinade in the world, and if you use so much saké that it can’t all evaporate during the cooking time, you’ll end up with a very good, very boozy dinner.
I used local Quebec turbot but you could use any white fish that isn’t too fishy (aka not mackerel), so halibut, Pacific cod, black cod, sea bream, sea bass, or anything else (preferably) wild and sustainable.
Booze-tacular Fish
1 1/2 lbs turbot, cut in four portions
1 1/2 cups saké (nigori if you like creamy, or Hakutsuru draft or whatever you can get a lot of for not too expensive)
2 tbsp miso (white is best but others are fine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup drained pickled sushi ginger or a one-inch piece fresh ginger peeled and sliced
Combine all the ingredients in a baking dish and stir to combine (press the miso so there are no chunks. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes or until ready, or put directly into a 350˚F oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with steamed rice, preferably a Japanese sticky or short grain kind, but no one’s watching. If you want something green, either throw some greens into the baking dish 5 minutes before the end, or put a scoop of rice on your plate, put some spinach on top, then put the fish on top of that and let the heat from the fish and its juices soften it and season it.
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