This melt in your mouth, Black Cod Recipe is made with the most delicious miso marinade ever! Served up with pickled daikon, kale “nests” and miso aioli, a simple delicious recipe, perfect for entertaining!
This melt in your mouth, slightly caramelized Black Cod Recipe, is buttery and rich with a subtle sweetness and delicious umami flavor. It’s one of my all time favorites. The secret to this mouth watering recipe is the fish. Black cod, sometimes called Sable fish marries perfectly with the marinade of white miso paste, mirin and sake- and because of its high oil content, is difficult to overcook or dry out.
You can serve the black cod simply with a side of veggies and or rice, and be perfectly content and satisfied. Or if entertaining, fancy it up a bit, and plate it with pickled daikon and little “nests” of sake braised kale and a brushing of flavorful white miso aioli. Totally up to you.
Black Cod can be found locally at Trader Joe’s and sometimes at Huckleberry’s.
FYI- Do not substitute Cod or true cod, which are both very different from buttering Black Cod.
Sea bass would be an OK substitute.
Miso, sake, marin and sugar are brought to a simmer on the stove. This becomes the marinade.
Marinate the fish for 2 hours, or ideally for better flavor, 24-36 hours.
Shred kale, or bok choy.
Serve the fish simply with Sake braised Kale….
Or plate it elegantly, and serve with pickled daikon ( or ginger) and a quick Miso aioli. I also add sauteed mushrooms.
Plating doesn’t have to be intimidating. Have a plan. Do a practice plate.
For this presentation, simply brush the miso aioli across the plate, either in the middle or to one side. Place the daikon along the line. Then fill in with little nests of braised kale ( twirl it on a fork like you would pasta) staggered, then pieces of the black cod (it will naturally flake and fall apart). You could serve this with a little side of rice on the side, or saluted mushrooms.
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White Miso Black Cod
White Miso Black Cod – buttery black cod in a delicious miso marinade with with pickled daikon, kale nests and miso aioli.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: fish, main, seafood,
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Japanese
Scale
Ingredients
- 4 x 4 ounce pieces of Black Cod
Miso Marinade:
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 3 tablespoons sake
- 1/3 cup white miso paste
- 1/3 cup sugar
Optional Miso Aioli
- 2 Tablespoons marinade
- 2 Tablespoons mayo
- ¼ teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Optional Quick pickled daikon (or sub pickled ginger)
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Cup peeled sliced daikon radish
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Optional Sake Braised Kale
- ¼ C sliced onion
- 2–3 Cups shredded Kale (thinly sliced)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- splash Sake
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
In a small saucepan, bring the mirin and sake to a boil. Whisk in the miso until dissolved.
Add the sugar and cook over moderate heat, whisking, just until dissolved. Transfer the marinade to a large baking dish and let cool ( but reserve 2 T in a separate small bowl if wanting to make the miso aioli) . Add the fish to the marinade and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least for 1-2 hours, or overnight. The longer the better.
Preheat the oven to 400°. Heat a little oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium high heat. Wipe the marinade off the fish, but don’t rinse. Place the fish, skin side up, in the skillet and sear until golden and caramelized, about 2-3 minutes. Turn over, and crisp up the skin, 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven to finish roasting for 8-10 minutes, until flaky.
Make Aioli: Mix all in a small bowl. Add sriracha if you like spicy.
Make Pickled Diakon: Bring all ingredients to a simmer in a small pot, until sugar dissolves, remove from heat and chill.
Make Kale “Nests” – Heat a little oil in a heavy bottom skillet, over med high heat. Saute onion until just tender, about 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to med, add kale. Stir and let it wilt, 3-5 minutes. Splash with a little sake, let it burn off, season with salt and pepper.
To serve: Brush the aioli across 4 large plates. (see photo) Place the fish, pickled daikon and kale nests, over the aioli. Play around, and have fun with this. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
You could also simply serve this with rice and a veggie in a bowl, for a more rustic presentation.
Keywords: Black cod, black cod recipes, nobu, miso salmon, miso cod, plating fish, easy fish recipes, black cod marinade, miso marinade for fish,
Question, what could you use in place of the sugar in the marinade? Stevia? Or would that make it taste weird? I’m really trying not to feed my gut sugar.
★★★★
Hi Lisa, Stevia would make it taste weird. Could you use honey or maple? it needs the sweetness. 🙂
Nice!
Made this with Chilean sea bass and bok choy, tripling the recipe, for a dinner party with 9 guests last night. We did 8 courses, and this was definitely the crowd favorite! The marinade is absolutely incredible. We did 3-ounce filets with no skin, and decided not to heat the marinade to save some time (the alcohol cooked off later anyway). We used a little too much oil in the pan and had to pat off the filets before plating. Used a mix of baby and non-baby bok choy, to cut down the bitterness a bit, but that was probably unnecessary in hindsight. Basically copied the plating, but added a few dots of the aioli because it was so yummy. Thanks so much!
In one of the photos there is something drizzled across the dish, but not in the other photos. Is that just the miso aioli?
No, the Miso aioli is brushed on the plate. The drizzle was a soy “syrup” I was playing around with. 😉
Ah, thank you! The plating of this dish is STUNNING. I’ve never had black cod, but want to make it just for the pretty factor. 🙂
Sea bass would be an okay substitute (maybe?), but nothing close to black cod, which for me here in Toronto is a BIG splurge purchase once in awhile. Such an incredible dish! This looks amazing.
Sea bass would work too because it is an oiler fish. Yes, Black Cod is very expensive here too….definitely a special occasion type of dish. 🙂