selecting and preparing swordfish in MA

aspinwall

Yesterday morning I found some swordfish on sale at Whole Foods for $11/lb and picked up a 1lb piece. This is a rare treat for this New Englander, having it only a few times in my life.

I told the fish monger I was grilling and wanted a piece 1-1.5" thick. In selecting a piece, I wanted something as white as possible. There is a dark flesh near the backbone of the fish that isn't edible, which is used when the fish is alive as part of the nervous system. Some pieces were covered in the dark flesh, while others were mostly white. Buyer beware!

For grilling, I want a super clean grill grate. I cook 2min per side at 400-500F vents open, then close down for another 2-3min. The fish also has a short resting period. Turn your steak with a giant spatula, no tongs!

For marinading, fish in general shouldn't be marinated for more than 30min. Swordfish can go up to 60min.

This is the Asian-inspired marinade I used:
*light (thin) soy sauce
*black (sweet) soy sauce
*fish sauce
*coconut palm sugar
*powdered ginger
*carribean red chili powder
*splash vinegar
*splash tequilla
*juice of 1/2 lime
*white pepper
*sea salt
*canola oil

You can use whatever you want with whatever you have on hand. Salt/spice/oil/acid is all you need. A much foolproof marinade would be salt, pepper, fresh rough-chop parsley, olive oil and lemon. Search "Spanish tapas wordfish" for other recipe ideas.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

marinade looks good. i tend to not marinate it though.

i'd think you might wanna go naked (no marinade) especially if you don't get to eat it very often and might just want to taste the swordfish itself. but of course you should ieat it the way you prefer.

not sure where you heard the "nervous system" thing... the dark meat is perfectly edible, it's just got myoglobin in it. should be red, not brown, when you buy it ideally, because that means it's fresher. but it isn't inedible. just some folks prefer the whiter meat.

i love swordfish, but my wife only likes it once or twice for dinner every year, so i don't get to have swordfish as often as i'd like either. :unsure:

Charlie tuna

Swordfish is a very,very "light" tasting fish, meaning be very careful not to overpower the taste of the fish with any strong type seasoning. "Light" means "not fishy tasting" or low in fish oil like snapper,grouper, or mahi(dolphin). It also cooks solid like tuna and is easily turned without falling apart. The secret to grilling correctly is to consider it a steak that you want to serve "RARE" ! I cook over extream high heat and coat the chilled swordfish steak with melted butter. The butter will stick to the cold flesh of the steak, and will flare up when it hits the 700 degree grill. I will bast it before turning each time--only to get grill marks in two directions on each side--while remembering "RARE". If overcooked the least bit, the taste will be gone!!! You can eat this fish raw like tuna, so don't worry about undercooking it as much as overcooking it. Any blood line needs to be removed before cooking.

[Deleted User]

I agree with everything St!ke said.

the only thing I might add is that not only is the dark meat edible, when I was a kid I preferred meat with dark areas. I also liked to eat the skin and often there was dark meat just inside the skin.

I like to grill it up with minimal seasoning. My younger daughter (the other fish-eater in our house) prefers all fish naked (nothing on it)

crghc98

I like the dark meat the best....

Charlie tuna

In 1976 we caught a world record swordfish --453 pounds on 50 pound test line -- that record is now beat -- but the flesh of the fish was bright pink almost like salmon . A fish biologist explained that this was a female fish in season and the Japs pay a lot more money for this product claiming it has more taste. You can eat the blood line, but it can be strong tasting at times. The steaks should be cut about an inch thick to grill correctly...

fishlessman

sounds good to me, your recipe is similar to how i like a tuna steak prepared.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

what do you know, fishless. :laugh:

that marinade you suggested once, with blueberries, was fantastic

fishlessman

aspinwall's recipe will give it a slight ceviche character to the exterior, it sounds good to me. the blueberry tuna is still one of the only ways i know how to serve overcooked tuna to those that dont want it served correctly :laugh: :laugh:

aspinwall

Interesting posts! I have always heard it is a light tasting fish. Those saying to use minimal seasonings, or naked would definitely make sense. Myself, I was feeling Asian last night and not particularly minimalist. With all the simple preparations of fish I can find at good local restaurants, I was looking for something different.

I did some research and found two things. First, the darker part of the fish is fattier and thus, has more flavor. The fish cannot regulate body heat in cold waters, so the darker flesh (full of myoglobin and mitochondria) is used to send blood back to the eyes and brain. http://adl.brs.gov.au/data/warehouse/brsShop/data/12908_02-swordfishreport.pdf

The other thing I found out is that swordfish is high in toxins:
http://www.cetonline.org/Home/Health/FishAdvisory.pdf

fishlessman

fish high in the food chain are typically bad but most dont eat enough anyways. i think your chart is a few years old, hatchery trout were not tested until a few years ago, since then they were moved to the dont list :ermm: im not a big fan of sword fish, especially near the skin area, i would marinate it in a heartbeat

Charlie tuna

The skin is usually still attached to the flesh when you cook it--swordfish have no scales--but the skin falls off the flesh when cooked. Some fish bloodlines have little tase while others are very strong! Swordfish bloodlines have little taste....

Smokin' not stirred

Hey Aspin, marinade looks good. I am not a huge fan of the swordfish steak, however if you can get your fish guy to cut you a chop (usually the first 4 ribs of the fish) the taste and texture is amazing. I get it on the Cape from my fish guy. Cook it to 140. Bloodline is good, love it in striper.