thetravelcook.com

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A blog dedicated to exploring stimulating ideas, discussing old and inventing new cooking methods, and sharing experiences and recipes. I am especially interested in learning about your experiences cooking as you travel, shopping for food in unfamiliar places, new foods you have tried.  I am neither scientist nor trained chef, and I will appreciate your help if you notice errors and let me know so that they may be corrected. Email me at Sharon@thetravelcook.com.

Today's topic:  Tilapiine Cichlid tribe -- Tilapia

American fish farmers are doing something right!  Many fish in the recommended section of the sea food watch list are either wild caught off US shores by US fishermen (or fisher persons, whichever your prefer).  All tilapia is farm raised and American farmed tilipia is the fish most highly rated for sustainability, taste, and economy.  As luck would have it, the price per pound has begun to rise, but not as steeply as other kinds of whitefish fillets, fresh and frozen. 

This easy-on-the budget bouillabaisse-style fish chowder is made for quick meals on the stove top or make it in the slow cooker, ready by the evening meal.

Substitutions

Substitutions are easy among various types of white fish (cod, flounder, grouper, haddock, hake, pollack, pompano, sole, tilapia, or whiting). When I have my herb garden in full flower, I like to use several sprigs of peppery marjoram tied in a bouquet garni with 8-10 sprigs of thyme; out of growing season, I use these herbs dried in leaf form (not ground).  Although leeks are traditionally used in this dish, I often choose other less pricey, mild, onions such as white Bermudas, Florida sweets (green onions on steroids), or green onions to make it an ideal economical travelcook selection. 
 

Science Behind the Scenes

Tilapia is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. These fish, endemic to the African and Middle Eastern regions, have been farmed there for hundreds of years. 

Tilapia were not popular when they first appeared on the European and US markets because of what critics called an "off" or muddy taste, the result of farming methods.  Now, however due to changes in farming  techniques, tilapia are the 2nd most cultivated fish in the world, after carp, and the 5th most popular fish in the USA.  The use of tilapia in the commercial food industry has led to the virtual extinction of genetically pure bloodlines. Most wild tilapia today are hybrids of several species.

Because of their adaptability to a variety of living conditions (thriving in either fresh or brackish water), various species of Oreochromis, Sarotherodon, and Tilapia (known colloquially as tilapias), are raised in Africa, Europe, throughout the Pacific, China, Israel, the USA and the Caribbean. Tilapia farms in the USA, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras raise tilapia for their large size, rapid growth, and mild sweet taste yet still meet all the current health standards. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium rated U.S.-raised tilapia as consumers' most eco-friendly choice, and fish farmed in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras running a close second as a good choice. 

Present-day farming techniques can almost guarantee sustainability, year round availability, and stable pricing. You may find tilapia marketed as Tilapia or St. Peter’s fish.

Trivia

The male builds and defends a nest (although he continues to mate with other females) and the female does most of the rest of the work, rearing her fry in her mouth until they can fend for themselves.  Hang on to your hats ladies, the tilapia female repeats this cycle nearly every four weeks (that's right I said 4 weeks!). 

How to choose, use, and store

Choose

Choosing fresh Tilapia is similar to choosing other fresh whole fish.

• Flesh springy to the touch 
• Grayish flesh is a sign of old fish
  
• Odor smells like the ocean
• Eyes on whole fish should be clear
  
• Commonly sold frozen
• flesh on fillets should be white
  

For those who care

• Supermarkets are required to label fresh and frozen fish with the country of origin and the method of production (wild or farmed), but this law doesn’t apply to fish markets and restaurants, so please ask more questions in those places and choose your purchases with care.

Use

• If you buy a whole fish and ask the fish monger to skin and fillet it you can expect to get about 30-35 % of the fish back as fillets.  Since you are paying for the whole fish, ask for the bones, head, tail, and skin to be wrapped separately.  These parts make a terrific broth that you can use for soup, in casseroles, and seafood dishes.
  

• Too delicate to gril, tilapia makes an excellent  taco filling, runs right up the YUM scale when breaded and pan-fried or flaked and shaped into fish cakes. 

Store

• Fresh fillets should last up to seven days if held at 32-34ºF with ice glaze.  Fillets should be well glazed with ice to maximize shelf life.
• Refrigerate fish tightly wrapped for up to 2 days.
  
• Frozen tilapia will keep well up to 3 months.
  

Nutrition

The nutritional information for tilapia is what Cooksforone calls a "yeah-boo".  

The Yeah Part

• Low cost protein source
  
• Low n saturated fat, calories, carbohydrates, and sodium
• A one-ounce serving of tilapia (before you cook it) has a mere 27 calories, 6 g protein, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber,  and 0 g sugars. 
  
• The fast-growing, short-lived, primarily herbivorous fish has very low levels of mercury
  
• Good source of phosphorus, protein, niacin, vitamin B12, selenium, and potassium.

The Boo Part

•  High in Cholesterol (14 mg cholesterol in 1-ounce serving)
• Farm raised tilapia (the least expensive and most popular) has a high fat content (though low in saturated fats).
  

Cautions

A discussion among researchers, nutritionists, and medical personnel criticizes tilapia for excessive amounts of Omega 6s and low amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which some consider a potential problem. The Wake Forest University study led by Floyd H. “Ski” Chilton senior author, finds that this fish might be dangerous to people with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and similar conditions because it seems to cause inflammation and may cause heart disease.

Some feel that perhaps the Omega 3s are a sufficient balance against the Omega 6s.  It might be wise to mix your consumption of fish between tilapia and other varieties of less-contested fish. Other types of farm-raised fish contain more healthy omega-3 fatty acids than tilipia. For example, a 100 g serving of trout contains 4 g or Omega 3 and salmon contains 3 g, compared to the less than half a gram in tilapia. MayoClinic.com nutritionists note that mackerel and tuna are additional healthy choices that contain healthy fats.

Fish Chowder

Below are three ways to cook this chowder. Scrolling down the page will take you to procedures for a

1.  heavy pot on top of the stove
2.  slow cooker,
3.  fondue pot.

Equipment:  3-quart (or larger) slow cooker or heavy cooking pot with 3 quart capacity, knife, cutting board, food grade piece of string or twisty tie

Timing: If you know your slow cooker's cooking speed, (slow, medium, fast, or super fast), timing is easier to gauge.  (see Meals in Motion for ways to gague your cooker's speed.) My large cooker is a slow speeder, so the times I have given you are for the slow slow cooker.  You may have to adjust the timing for your own appliance.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

4 slices low-fat turkey bacon (1/4 pound or 4 ounces), cut int small pieces
1 1/2 cups chopped leeks, white and pale green parts only, about 2 leeks
3 (8 ounce) bottles of clam juice, or half chicken broth and half clam juice
1 pound small potatoes, like Baby Dutch, or larger ones cut in quarters
1/2 cup water or more as needed
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (1/4 teaspoon dried thyme)
3-4 springs marjoram (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads or 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup 2 % milk, or half and half
6 (5-ounce) whitefish fillets (tilapia or cod), if frozen thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours or in a cold water bath for 2-3 hours

Procedure for a heavy pot on stove top
Cook the bacon in a heavy pot or skillet until crispy.  Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel; reserve 1 Tablespoon of bacon drippings for sauteing the onions. 

Add leeks (or other onions) to the drippings in the heavy pot and cook on high until onions are softened, about 10 minutes. If you have used the panini or skillet for browning, transfer the onions to a deeper contain with a lid to accommodate the soup.

Add clam juice (and chicken broth if using), saffron, and potatoes to the heavy pot; tie fresh thyme and majoram into a bundle and push under the potatoes and onions. 

Stir in milk (or cream) add bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Season cod fillets and lay on top of chowder, cover and cook until cod is opaque in the center, between 20-60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. 


Procedure for slow cooker
Cook the bacon on the browning cycle in the slow cooker (or on the panini grill) until crispy.  Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel; reserve 1 Tablespoon of bacon drippings for sauteing the onions. 

Add leeks (or other onions) to the drippings in the slow cooker (or skillet or panini grill) and cook on high until onions are softened, about 10 minutes. If you have used the panini or skillet for browning, transfer the onions to a deeper contain with a lid to accommodate the soup.

Add clam juice (and chicken broth if using), saffron, and potatoes to the slow cooker; tie fresh thyme and majoram into a bundle and push under the potatoes and onions.  Set the slow cooker on HIGH for 1 hour then reduce to LOW for 4 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in milk (or cream) add bacon, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Season cod fillets and lay on top of chowder, cover and cook until cod is opaque in the center, between 20-60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. 

To serve
Place one fillet on each bowl, ladle soup over fillets. 


Nutrition per serving including 1 fillet: Calories 293, Total Fat 6g (Sat Fat 1g), Chol 115mg, Sodium 861mg, Potassium 748mg, Total Carbs 12g, Fiber 1g, Sugars 3g, Protein 46g
Nutritional values determined on SparkPeople.

The Travel Cook Suggests

Whitefish are easy to find frozen in most stores; some carry fresh whitefish.  If you have a choice, choose the fresh and buy just the amount you need for your family. That makes this dish easy for the traveling cook to prepare.  Cod is my preferred fish for this dish, but tilapia works equally well. 

Equipment: slow cooker (as above) or 3 quart fondue pot (stainless steel is best), knife, cutting board, (clean) string

Quick Shop List:

Frozen foods:

6 (5-ounce) whitefish fillets (cod, flounder, grouper, haddock, hake, pollack, pompano, sole, tilapia, or whiting),

OR

Fresh Seafood Counter:

6 (5-ounce) whitefish fillets (cod, flounder, grouper, haddock, hake, pollack, pompano, sole, tilapia, or whiting)

Grocery Aisle:

3 (unce) bottles clam juice, or any combination of clam juice and chicken broth to equal 24 ounces
dried thyme and marjoram (or use fresh sprigs)
saffron threads or turmeric
1-2 large cans whole cooked potatoes, rinsed and drained (use fresh if not hurried)
Bacon Bits (pre-cooked bacon-flavored crumbles) (or use real bacon)

Produce:

1 pound small potatoes (or see note on canned), washed (leave skins on)
2 large leeks (or 1 very large white onion or 2 bunches green or spring onions)
marjoram and thyme sprigs (or use dried)

Dairy

1 (4-ounce) container milk or half and half
1 (4-ounce) package bacon (see note above on Bacon Bits)

Procedure for using Fondue Pot
Heat the fondue pot to 350ºF.  Add the bacon (if using real bacon) and cook until crispy.  Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel.  When cool enough to handle, crumble the bacon into small bits. If you are not using real bacon or something with fat, then add a blended olive oil to the fondue pot to heat.

When the oil is hot, add leeks (or other onions) and cook, stirring frequently, on 325-350ºF until onions are softened, about 8 minutes.

Add clam juice (and chicken broth if using), saffron, and potatoes to the fondue pot; if potatoes are large, cut them in pieces but leave the skins on and add as directed.

If using fresh thyme and marjoram, tie into a bundle and push under the potatoes and onions.  If using dried herbs wait until near the end of cooking to add them.

Cover the fondue pot with a heavy plate or make-shift lid and cook about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in milk (or cream), dried herbs if using, and crumbled bacon; season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Season cod fillets with salt and pepper or any other seasoning you choose.  I use a salt free spice blend that is heavily dependent on pepper.  Lay on top of chowder, cover and cook until cod is opaque in the center, between 20-60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. 

NOTE: Since the fondue pot lid does not usually fit tightly be sure to have extra chicken broth, clam juice, or water ready to add in the event the fondue pot looses too much liquid through steam evaporation.  You want to finish with enough broth to earn the title "chowder" (or soup), and you will want to keep the liquid levels high enough so that the onions, potatoes and fish do not burn on the bottom of the pot.


If you enjoyed this recipe leave a message in the comments area.  If you have a recipe of your own you'd like to share, specially (but not limited to) one using fish that you could make on the road when you are traveling or vacationing,  please share with us. 

For even more soup (or salad or sandwich recipes) check out Souper Sundays at the Kahakai Kitchen.

Check out The Travel Cook for more recipes for travelers or look for the Kindle version of Meals in Motion containing over 200 travel-tested recipes and tips.