How To Make Butter-Basted Fish Fillets With Garlic And Thyme

Cooking fish at home can be really tricky. The fish is fragile, it can overcook, not to mention the fact that it's really expensive. So I know why people go out to seafood restaurants, but it's actually a restaurant technique that we're going to use today that's going to make you look like a pro at home. And it's super easy. So let's talk about what I'm using here. I've got two beautiful cod fillets. They're about an inch thick and each of them weighs around six ounces. Now that's pretty important. You want to stick to this size and thickness of fish, but you can use halibut or snapper of a similar size. Now I'm going to set these aside for just a second because the method that we're using today is butter basting. Butter basting is going to help us cook the fish from the bottom up and the top down nice and gentle, but we're going to get some beautiful color and great flavor. So of course, we're going to need butter and I want to prep everything ahead of time because the cooking method goes really fast. So I need about three tablespoons of butter and I'm going to cut the butter into half inch pieces. That's just so that when I add them to our skillet, they're going to melt super fast. You don't have to be too precise about this. This really is just about breaking it down in size. So now I want to work on a couple of other flavorings that I'm going to add to the butter. It's going to make a sauce that tastes great. So I've got two garlic cloves here and we're going to smash these cloves. I'll smash them with the side of my knife. Just makes it easier to peel, but you don't want to mince the cloves or even cut them into smaller pieces and that's because they'll burn during this method. So keep them in pretty large pieces, as whole as possible is great. If they break apart, that's fine too. Next up, a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme. Fresh thyme is perfect. It's got this woody stem. It's going to add a really beautiful herbal note to our sauce. Now I've been making this recipe a lot and if you don't have thyme on hand, other woody herbs will work great, like marjoram or oregano. So now I've got basically everything ready. All I need to do is heat up my pan and I've got a 12-inch non-stick skillet here. You don't have to use a non-stick skillet. You can use a carbon steel skillet, but you want to make sure that it's really well seasoned because it's super important that the fish does not stick to the pan. I'm going to add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. We're going to heat this over medium-high heat until the oil just starts to smoke. So while this is heating, I'm going to go ahead and bring my fish back up here. Just a couple more things to do. I want to pat these fillets dry with paper towels, just to ensure that we get some really beautiful color and crust on the exterior of our fish. I'll do that to both sides here. And then I'm going to hit them with salt and pepper, but before I do, I want to show you, you see this coloring here? This is where the skin was attached to the fish. So I'm going to call this the skinned side. We're going to use this side to create a beautiful crust on our fish. This side is flatter. It's a little bit hardier than this interior side. So I'm just going to season the fish here. I've already pre-mixed my salt and pepper. I have a half a teaspoon of kosher salt mixed with an eighth of a teaspoon of ground black pepper. It's a good idea to mix them ahead so that you don't have to fiddle around with a salt box or a pepper mill after you've been handling fish. So I'll flip these over, and all I have to do now is wait on that pan and the oil. All right, the oil is just starting to smoke. I'm going to turn the heat down to medium. Let me give this a nice little swirl, and now I'm going to put the fish into the pan, skinned side down. All right, that is a good sizzle. Take a spatula and just press on the fish for about five seconds because I want it to be nice and flat underneath there where it touches the pan, and that ensures that we get a really pretty crust all the way across. All right, so five seconds. I'm going to start my timer because we're going to let this go over medium heat for between four and five minutes, and during that time, there's going to be some really lovely color on the underside there. Now, I also turned the heat down to medium. We wanted to give that initial blast of heat over high from a preheated pan and that preheated oil, but then we're turning it down to medium just so that the fish doesn't cook too quickly. All right, let's check and see what's going on underneath the fish. Now, I am using two spatulas here. I'm using a non-stick spatula to get under the fish. You can see that beautiful gold color there. This metal spatula is not touching the skillet, so I don't have to worry about using this metal one on non-stick. So, I'm going to let this cook for another minute on the second side just to let it firm up a little bit. So, it's been a minute. Now, I'm going to add the butter. Just scatter it around the pan. We're going to see that it's going to start to melt, and all the solids in the butter, the milk solids, are going to start to brown and form a beautiful sauce. So, as soon as that butter is melted, oh, this is where butter basting comes into play. I'm going to tilt the skillet down toward me, let this butter pool, and I'm going to take a spoon and just put it over the fish for about 15 seconds. Gorgeous. So, I'm going to put it flat on the surface now, right back on the burner, and cook it another 30 seconds. So, this is the method. 15 seconds tilted, 30 seconds on the fire, and that's so that we're moderating the heat and allowing the fish to stay in the pan and get butter basted as long as possible. All right, I'm going to tilt again. You can take your time doing this. Now, I'm not scratching the bottom of my skillet with my metal spoon. I am using a spoon that has a nice deep bowl. That's perfect. All right, another 30 seconds. I've got a timer going that's counting up too, so it makes it easy for me to know if it's been 15 seconds or 30 seconds. So, at this point, I want to start taking the temp. Temp is always more important than the cooking time, and I'm looking for a temperature at this point of 130 degrees in the thickest part, right there. So, now, I'm going to add the thyme sprigs and the garlic to the top of the pan. It's going to splatter a little bit. That's all right. Run some of that butter up there, and now I'm going to continue to butter baste. So, now, oh, the aroma that's coming through here. 15 seconds. Absolutely gorgeous. And then, as the butter races to the top of the pan, it starts to pick up the flavors of the thyme and the garlic. So, 30 seconds on the burner, 15 seconds of basting. Now, the total cooking time is right around 8 to 10 minutes. But again, always more important to look at the internal temperature than the cooking time. Speaking of, these are ready to take out of the pan here. You want to get these out of the pan really quick. So, I'm going to use my two spatulas. You can drizzle a little bit of that butter over the top if you like. I think it's really pretty to put sprigs onto the plate just like that. The fresh squeeze of lemon really is all that these need at the end. I do cook this a lot, so I know what I'm getting. But I wish you were here because the flavors are amazing. That fish is still so plump and juicy because it's not overcooked. And this gorgeous color on the top, not only from browning it in the skillet, but from that browned butter, gives it a real nutty flavor too. And I just pick up hints of the garlic and the thyme just enough. It really is a game changer. And it's a foolproof way to cook fish at home. And it looks spectacular. And I know that you're going to want to make it at home. So, just remember these keys. Start with a six ounce fillet that measures about an inch thick. Alternate between basting and cooking. And then always pay more attention to the internal temperature than the cooking time. So, from America's Test Kitchen at home, restaurant worthy, and you can do it, butter basted fish fillets with garlic and thyme. Thanks for watching America's Test Kitchen. What'd you think? Well, leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make. Or you can just say hello. You can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. See you later. I'll see you later.