Tim Doolittle, executive chef at Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 restaurant at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, takes a different view of bycatch: he purposefully selected Louisiana Gulf flounder – a common bycatch on shrimp boats – to diversify his menu. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News

by Louisiana Seafood News Staff 

The most obvious advantage of using bycatch is that it’s less expensive than premium fish, but it also gives overfished and commercially fished populations a break. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News

“Bycatch” – a term for the secondary fish caught on lines and nets set for big, commercial catch like snapper, grouper and shrimp – can be a dirty word in the seafood industry. Often, volumes of fish goes to waste, discarded by commercial fishermen because they can’t find buyers or they are not licensed to sell it.

Tim Doolittle, executive chef at Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 restaurant at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, takes a different view of bycatch: he purposefully selected Louisiana Gulf flounder – a common bycatch on many shrimp boats – to diversify his menu.

Bycatch Often Discarded

“There are restaurants up and down the Strip in Vegas, and they all serve the same fish. I got tired of salmon and sea bass,” said Doolittle, whose search for new fish lead to conversations about skate wing, fluke and other fish rarely seen on menus today.

“I got tired of salmon and sea bass,” said Chef Tim Doolittle pictured with Emeril Lagasse at the entrance to Table 10. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News

“All of these fish are good and still available, but we found that they’re often discarded because they’re unmarketable,” said Doolittle, whose career started in in the kitchens of such renowned restaurants as EBT and Hallmark’s The American Restaurant in his hometown of Kansas City. The year-round, consistent supply and high-end quality of Gulf flounder (“second to none”, said Doolittle) made it a perfect choice for the restaurant.

The most obvious advantage of using bycatch is that it’s less expensive than premium fish, but it also gives overfished and commercially fished populations a break. And, just as the small-batch, nose-to-tail, farm-to-table trend taught diners to covet the odd and rare bits, bycatch might be a trend with similar cache: it is caught in limited quantities and the variety of fish available is far more diverse and interesting.

“After everyone picks off the typical commercial fish, you still have this incredible selection of other great fish leftover,” Doolittle said.

Fresh From Louisiana To Vegas, Baby

The flounder on Table 10’s menu is flown in directly from Louisiana shrimp boats by Jimmy Galle, owner of the seafood company Gulfish, which supplies an A-list group of fine dining restaurants across the country with wild-caught Louisiana seafood. Galle is happy to see more chefs embracing bycatch.

Tim Doolittle, executive chef at Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 restaurant at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, takes a different view of bycatch: he purposefully selected Louisiana Gulf flounder – a common bycatch on shrimp boats – to diversify his menu. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News

“I think there’s a greater awareness that we need to use the full bounty of the sea, and not be as wasteful as we were for generations,” said Galle

According to Dooliltte there is a lingering misperception that bycatch is “trash fish’”, but today many those “trash fish” are highly prized by top chefs.

“I started serving Flounder Meuniere last summer, and it’s flying off the menu,” said Doolittle, noting that he goes through as much as 120 pounds of the fish every week.

There are minor roadblocks to serving bycatch – namely, laws limiting the type of fish commercial fishermen can sell. But it also takes convincing fishermen to bring these lesser-known fish to the dock, said Galle.

For Louisiana commercial fin fisherman the current limits set by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for southern flounder is ten fish for each consecutive day on the water.  Commercial shrimping vessels and any commercial fisherman, however, may retain and sell all flounder caught as bycatch.

Bycatch can bring extra profits for shrimpers, as well as a source for chefs around the country.

“We need to encourage fishermen to keep everything they catch, and let them know that if they bring it back to shore, we can find a market for it and they will get paid for it,”  said Galle.

Bycatch is Marketable

The flounder on Table 10’s menu is flown in directly to the Palazzo in Las Vegas from Louisiana shrimp boats by Jimmy Galle. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News

In the grand scheme of things, Gulf flounder is a marketable fish that doesn’t go to waste like the vast majority of truly unusual bycatch species. Fish with strange names (think: scorpion, Almaco jack) or bone structures that make them difficult to process, and very small fish are often the discarded bycatch that goes to waste. Chefs and consumers can curb the waste by broadening their scope of consumption to include these fish, says Doolittle.

“I would love to see a more diverse vocabulary of fish on menus,” said Doolittle. “I think it would challenge chefs, intrigue diners and help the fishing industry, as well as the environment, if we used more of what’s available.”

Table 10’s Flounder Meuniere

“Meuniere” is the French word for miller’s style, and refers to the dusting of flour the fish receives before being cooked. This not only adds texture and color to the fish itself, but helps to give the sauce a nice texture.

• Four 6- to 8-ounce skinless flounder fillets
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon Emeril’s Original Essence
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lemons, very thinly sliced, seeds removed
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
• ½ cup fish or chicken stock, plus more if needed

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

Inspect the fish fillets for any remaining bones and then season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour and Essence and stir to blend. Lightly dredge the fillets in the seasoned flour, shaking to remove any excess.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and when the oil is hot, add the fish fillets and cook until lightly browned and crisp along the edges, 1 minute per ½ inch of thickness. Turn and repeat on the second side. Transfer the fillets to an ovenproof plate and keep warm in the oven while you make the sauce.

Discard the cooking oil from the hot skillet and return it to the heat. Add the lemons and cook for 20 seconds, until lightly golden. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter along with the minced shallot to the pan and cook until the butter just begins to brown. Add the stock and bring to a rapid boil. Season with salt and pepper and add the parsley. Add the remaining butter, a little at a time and swirling the pan to incorporate. Do not allow the sauce to boil or it will break. The sauce should thicken and become glossy. If necessary, add a bit more stock if the sauce begins to separate. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then spoon the sauce and lemons over the fish and serve immediately.

4 servings

The post Vegas Chef Uses “Bycatch” Louisiana Gulf Flounder at Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 appeared first on Louisiana Seafood News.