Portuguese Fried Fish Fillets: Filé de Peixe Frito

It's not uncommon for the Portuguese to simply fry fish in hot oil: no flour, no egg, no batter, just fish with head on in oil. Others may dredge the fish in some seasoned flour (some use corn flour), and then there is this method, which at first glance, you may think old Randy has wrongly typed into the text. What do I mean? Well typically, fish or other food items that are breaded are dipped into beaten egg, THEN tossed or rolled in flour or breadcrumbs. The Portuguese reverse the process by putting the fish into flour, then dipping the floured fish into beaten egg. When I first saw this, I was positive the author had made a mistake, but then I saw other recipes with the same process. It's all quite easy, made easier if you have a deep fryer, which will make the frying much faster, but you can put enough oil into a skillet to cover the bottom with about 1/4 inch of oil (more is even better, of course) and fry the fish that way, turning them over a few times to be sure they cook evenly. The fried fish fillets are often, but not always, served with Portuguese Tomato Rice,* and it's my understanding that some Portuguese serve the fillets with fried potatoes, perhaps in imitation of British fish and chips. You can buy pre-cut fish fillets, or you can cut the fillets yourself, but try to keep the fillets at about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thickness. The time needed to cook thick fillets will likely result in the breading being too dark or even burned, and Portuguese fish fillets are a nice light golden color.

 

Ingredients (4 or 5 servings):

1 1/2 pounds fish fillets (cod, haddock, sea bass and halibut are all good for this)

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sweet Spanish paprika (naturally Portuguese, if you have it)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

3 eggs (might require another egg)

2 lemons, cut into wedges

oil for frying

 

Heat the oil over medium heat. While the oil is heating, the breading process is simple and you will only need two shallow dishes. Rinse the fish fillets and pat them dry with paper towels. In the first dish, add the flour, salt, sweet paprika, garlic powder and white pepper, then mix everything together well. In the second dish, add the eggs and whisk them briefly (we're not looking for frothy eggs!). Put a fillet into the seasoned flour and turn it to coat (don't forget the sides), shake lightly to remove excess flour and then dip the fillet into the beaten egg to completely coat it. Again, let the excess egg drip off. Put the fish fillet into the hot oil and quickly bread and add another fillet to the oil. Don't put too many fillets into the oil at any one time (I used a 10 inch cast iron skillet, and fried two fillets at a time). Turn the fillets a couple of times to be sure they are cooked through. The frying should take about 5 to 8 minutes for two fillets at a time, depending upon the thickness of the fillets and the temperature of the oil (if you use a deep fryer, it will likely take a couple minutes less time to cook them). Put the fried fillets on a platter lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Serve with tomato rice or fried potatoes and with a lemon wedge or two for each serving.    

 

* For the recipe for Portuguese Tomato Rice, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2021/09/portuguese-tomato-rice-arroz-de-tomate.html

 

  

WORD HISTORY:

Program-This word is most commonly spelled "programme" in Britain. The main body of the word is distantly related to "carve," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it is more closely related to the many words with the endings "gram" and "graph" ("gram" is not always a suffix), which are of Greek origin (examples: cardiogram, anagram, grammar, phonograph, photograph, pictograph). The "pro" part of the word goes back to Indo European "per," which meant "in front, in advance, before," and this gave transliterated Ancient Greek "per(i), which also meant "before." The "gram" (gramme) part of "program" goes back to Indo European "gerebh/gerbh," which meant "to scratch," which back a few thousand years ago had the further notion of "writing;" that is, "to scratch on stone or clay tablets with a sharp instrument." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "graphein," meaning "to scratch, to carve;" thus also, "to write." The two parts together gave transliterated Ancient Greek" "prographein," meaning "to set forth to the public." This gave Greek the noun "programma," meaning "a written notice to the public," which was borrowed by Latin as "programma," meaning "a proclamation," and French took it as "programme." English borrowed the word in the 1630s from French (especially in the spelling "programme"), but with heavy influence from Latin. Gradually, the meaning began to move much more toward "a written agenda or plan of events," frequently regarding music entertainment, which later came into use for a schedule of radio shows, then later still, for television. The use of the word for computers dates to the end of World War Two and the use of "(computer) programs" dedicated to carry out specific tasks. The verb form came from the noun in the 1890s meaning, "to arrange in some order to be followed," and the mid 1900s saw the verb applied to computers for "to cause a computer or computers to take some course of action in an automatic way."    

Baja-Style Mexican Fish Tacos

Presumably tacos have been around for a long time; almost certainly, well before the Spanish set foot in Mexico; after all, wrapping food in cooked ground corn batter is not a terribly difficult concept to figure out. I, myself, figured it out last week. hahaha! While the history of tacos is sketchy, at best, the use of the word "taco" for this famous food is more than a little unclear. Quite some time ago I had a neighbor who was originally from Mexico. He told me the word taco, which actually means "plug, stopper," came to be used for the food by Mexican miners, who wrapped gunpowder in paper for use to extract minerals from the mines. I believe these explosive "tacos" were used more to extract silver, but I don't know that to be a fact. Anyway, the idea of wrapping fillings in tortillas led to the use of the word for the food, or at least that was my neighbor's story. On the other hand, tacos are a great snack, and could the word have been used because they act as a quick "stopper" for one's hunger between meals; thus, "a light meal?" Of course, there could be a simpler explanation proposed by some, that a word from one of the native languages for this already existent food was close to the Spanish word "taco," and so that is the word the Spanish speaking people took as the name for the food.

In Baja, the western part of Mexico, access to the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California eventually brought about fish wrapped in tortillas; thus, the fish taco, a "somewhat standardized" form of which spread to the U.S. side of the border and to San Diego and vicinity, although the tasty dish is much more widespread now. Notice I used "somewhat standardized" form for fish tacos, as with any popular dish, there will be inevitable variations, and so it is with fish tacos. Some people use red cabbage, some people use lettuce, some people use vinegar, some use chili peppers, some use white cheese, and I'm sure there are other changes. I like fish tacos with "Mexican rice,"* often called "Spanish rice" in the United States. 

Ingredients (8 servings):

1 bag shredded cabbage/carrot cole slaw mix 
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil 
1 pound cod in 4 fillets, then halve each fillet (8 pieces total)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup beer, more if needed to thin batter (light color, a Mexican brand if you desire more authenticity)
oil for cooking
corn tortillas 
chipotle sauce **
lime wedges 

In a bowl, add the slaw mix, the onion, the cilantro. In a cup or small bowl, mix together well the olive oil, lime juice, salt and honey. Pour the dressing over the slaw and mix in well. Best if refrigerated for a minimum of a couple of hours. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, the ancho chili powder, the salt, the baking powder and the beer to form a batter. Add enough oil to a skillet to give you about 1/2 inch of oil. Heat the oil over medium heat. Drop a cube of bread into the oil. If the bread sizzles and starts to brown, you're ready to go. Dip the fish pieces into the batter, then let the excess batter drain off. I fry 4 pieces of fish at a time. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so. Put a piece of fish into each tortilla, add some of the slaw mixture, then drizzle on some chipotle sauce. Add a lime wedge to each serving.  

* The recipe for Mexican Red Rice (Arroz Rojo) is at the link:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/02/mexican-red-rice-arroz-rojo.html


** To make the creamy chipotle sauce, this is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/02/creamy-chipotle-sauce.html

Baja Fish Taco with Mexican rice...

WORD HISTORY:
Canon-This word has a number of meanings, the most common of which are: "church law issued by religious authorities," which broadened into, "law, principle, rule, guideline, standard accepted as proper;" "a list of people deemed worthy of sainthood;" "the collected validated works of a writer;" "a clergyman living under the principles of certain religious orders and often serving in a cathedral." "Canon" is related to "cannon," the gun, a word borrowed by English. It "seems" to go back to transliterated Sumerian "ginah,"^ which meant "reed," which seems to have been taken by transliterated Akkadian as "qanuh," with the same meaning. This gave Hebrew "qaneh" (same meaning). This was borrowed by Ancient Greek from Hebrew as transliterated "kánna," and also meant "reed," which were used for measurement and keeping things in a straight row; thus, "ruler (the implement);" thus, "a standard." Latin took the word as "canna," with the same meanings, but which then developed into "Church issued decree" ("rule to be followed"), as "canon." "Canon" was borrowed into Old English from Latin, but certainly reinforced by French, which had had the term passed to it from Latin. Latin had developed the adjective "canonicus," meaning, "by the rules of the Church, according to the rules of the Church," and this came to be used as a noun for the "clergyman" meaning ("a man who lives by the rules of the Church"). This passed into Old French as "canonie," and it was either taken to England by the Normans or developed among the Norman nobles in England as "canun/canoun." It was borrowed by English, at first as "canoun," in the late 1100s.