New Cooking Method...to me anyway.

cortguitarman · January 23

Wife surprised me with a cooking class for my birthday. We learned how to cook in a style called en papilotte, which means in paper.

We cooked salmon with fresh herbs, lemon juice, and a pat of herb butter on top. Salmon was dusted with S&P. The technique steamship the fish inside of the parchment. It is really good. It is not necessarily egg specific, but it can be done. Truth be told, at 17 degrees outside, I wasn't feeling the egg today and used the...gasp...oven.

Tjcoley · January 23

Works well on the Egg. http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1141140/halibut-en-papillote#latest

Duganboy · January 23

Was in West Palm Beach this fall and some restaurant had grouper in a brown paper bag as the house speciality. It was great. I assume this is a similiar technique.

cortguitarman · January 23

Yes, same technique.

fishlessman · January 23

started cooking haddock that way last summer, makes for a nice light meal verse baking it. its a great method

AleBrewer · January 23

We have done cod and haddock a few times using this method....turns out well.

Bjorg · January 23

When I cook en papillotte, I use foil directly on the grill. Any benefit to using parchment paper?

fishlessman · January 23

Bjorg said:

When I cook en papillotte, I use foil directly on the grill. Any benefit to using parchment paper?

i use tomatoes in mine, not sure how much flavor from the aluminum would pick up in the dish but if you use foil on tomatoes it seems to fall apart after a while in the fridge

cortguitarman · January 24

Bjorg said:
When I cook en papillotte, I use foil directly on the grill. Any benefit to using parchment paper?

The chef that showed us actually said you could use foil or parchment. You have to cut your cook time back a few minutes because the foil conducts more heat. If using the grill over direct heat, foil is the only way to go.

Bjorg · January 24

Thanks Cort, that's what I thought.

I usually cook my side vegetables in it: french green beans with butter S/P and cheese. Onions and mushrooms with raising the steak and butter. Potatoes sliced thin with mandolina with butter, shallots and cheese. Anything goes. Direct over fire at around 400 usually, but can be indirect.

rustypotts · January 24

Back in the day when I was a Boy Scout we called that a "Hobo Pack". And we didn't do no stinkin "Franch" cookin in the Boy scouts!

nolaegghead · January 24

I've done en papillotte. It sounds sexier than it is. It's really just a fancy name for steaming. You can open the "steamer" on your plate, rather than put steamed food on a plate, which is part of the charm.

SmokeyPitt · January 24

That is cool. I would think that using parchment on the egg might allow a little bit of smoke flavor in the food since it is somewhat permeable.

cortguitarman · January 25

SmokeyPitt said:
That is cool. I would think that using parchment on the egg might allow a little bit of smoke flavor in the food since it is somewhat permeable.

I'm not sure. I don't think you'll get much smoke. To do the fold with parchment, get a large piece of parchment and fold in half. Cut it like you used to cut a paper heart in elementary school. (I teach elementary school, so I still do this every year).

Start at the top of the heart and make very small overlapping folds around the edge. Keep the folds small, or you won't make it around the corner. When you get to the bottom, tuck the tail under. Use lots of fresh herbs, citrus juice and butter or olive oil. Very tasty. It is very good if you put the fish on top of a bed of baby spinach or salad greens.

The coolest part, as Nola said, is to serve them wrapped up. When your diners open them, they get a waft of the steam with the smell of everything married together.

Botch · January 25

I think it was Alton Brown who demonstrated a foil [i]en papillotte[/i] wherein he placed an unbroken ramen noodle cake on the center of a square of foil, piled on some veggies, a few shrimp, and then pulled up/sealed the foil in a Hershey's Kiss shape, and poured in some chicken broth before sealing; bake in the oven.

It was kind've fun, but as Nola said above, its all about presentation; doing the above recipe in a small pot is just as good and much easier.

cortguitarman · January 25

Botch said:
I think it was Alton Brown who demonstrated a foil [i]en papillotte[/i] wherein he placed an unbroken ramen noodle cake on the center of a square of foil, piled on some veggies, a few shrimp, and then pulled up/sealed the foil in a Hershey's Kiss shape, and poured in some chicken broth before sealing; bake in the oven.
It was kind've fun, but as Nola said above, its all about presentation; doing the above recipe in a small pot is just as good and much easier.

It was pretty easy to do the fish en papillote. Not really sure that one method is easier than the other. I was just presenting a cooking technique that I learned.

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New Cooking Method...to me anyway.

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