Tested Black Bean Sauce on Fish. So What Happened?
My last post was for a meat dish using black bean sauce. Subsequently, I found a recipe calling for the same condiment, but for steaming fish, which I’ll be referencing again!
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
My husband suggested that I make catfish, but I never bought them from the supermarket because they were all farm-raised. Recently, I saw some wild catfish steaks on sale, so I had to buy some.
Inspiring Recipe
Of course, with a new fish to cook, I had to locate some instructions. What I found was the recipe, Chinese Steamed Fish w/ Black Bean Sauce, from the food blog, The Hong Kong Cookery. The owner of that site also runs a sister website, Hong Kong View of the Day, which has some interesting photos of the city.
First Try
Since this recipe has ingredients normally stocked at home, I was already prepared to cook after purchasing the fish.
Ingredients to Use
With 3.53 pounds of catfish*, I increased the remaining ingredients to the following amounts:
- 15 slices of ginger
- 10 stalks of spring onion, white half only
- 7 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of Chinese black bean sauce
- 7 tablespoons + ~3/4 teaspoon of spring onions**
- 4 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of oil
- 4 1/2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of soy sauce
*Even though the recipe listed whole or fillets of catfish, I substituted them with catfish steaks only because those were the ones on sale.
**I julienned the spring onions and even though I had ~1/4 teaspoon more than needed for the recipe, I included it anyway.
Steps to Prepare
Regarding the directions, I skipped a couple of steps at the beginning; modified the process in the middle, similar to what I did before using different recipes; and followed the last step as written. In summary, the changes I made were as follows:
- Used store-bought instead of homemade black bean sauce
- Skipped the scraping step for the fish because the steaks didn’t have any scales
- Placed the fish in a foiled packet to steam inside an oven preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
- Poked a chopstick in a piece of fish after 25 minutes, another 10 minutes, and the last 5 minutes to check for doneness, resulting in 40 minutes of steaming
- Removed the roasting pan from the oven and poured the juices out of the foiled packet
Time to Eat
With the last step completed, dinner was ready!
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰 | 🙂 |
The meat was soft, but bland if eaten without the black bean sauce. Even so, the sauce could’ve been stronger.
Second Try
For the second batch, my goal was to steam the fish in one attempt, without having to check for doneness on separate occasions.
Ingredients to Use
Since I had slightly heavier catfish steaks this time, i.e., 3.58 pounds, I increased most of the remaining ingredients to the following amounts:
- 15 slices of ginger
- 10 stalks of spring onion, white half only
- 7 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of Chinese black bean sauce
- 7 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon of spring onions*
- 4 1/2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of oil
- 4 1/2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
*Instead of julienning the spring onions, I just chopped them up to save some time.
Steps to Prepare
For the process, the only thing I changed was set the time to 40 minutes for steaming.
Time to Eat
With the spring onions chopped instead of julienned, I could see more of the fish!
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰 | 🙂 |
The fish was soft, but would’ve been more tender if it was steamed for a shorter duration. Also, this batch had more flavor when the sauce was poured onto the fish.
Knowing that I will be making this dish again in the future, I have already planned the following tweak for next time:
Continuous Improvement
- For every pound of fish I make, I will steam it for 10 minutes.
Because I was curious about other fish without scales, I did some research. Through the process, I learned the following:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Though catfish doesn’t have scales, it does have a protective layer of slime on its skin.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the recipe, Chinese Steamed Fish w/ Black Bean Sauce, from the food blog, The Hong Kong Cookery?
- Learn more about catfish? (One article that I found helpful was, Do Catfish Have Scales? And What Makes Them So Unique?, from an outdoorsman’s website, The Thrifty Whale.)
- Ask a question or leave a note in the Comment box below about this post?