Dining Chicago

Cobia. (Photo by Brian O'Hanlon/Snapperfarm.)

What it is: Rarely seen on Chicago restaurant menus until now, cobia (Rachycentron canadum) is a rich, buttery tasting, white-fleshed fish, mild, firm and flaky. Other names include black kingfish, black salmon, crabeater, cubby yew, kingfish, lemonfish, ling, prodigal son, runner and sergeant fish. Large fish, they grow up to 30 pounds and more. Cobia is a low-fat source of protein, high in riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, magnesium, and potassium.

Jonadab Silva

Where it comes from: Cobia are found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters around most of the world. The U.S. catch comes out of the Atlantic, from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico.

About 90 percent of wild-caught cobia are landed by recreational fishermen, who prize them as feisty sport fish. They tend to be most available from March through May. The commercial catch is not plentiful — the fish tend to move in small pods or alone instead of in the big schools that commercial fishermen like — but cobia sometimes turn up as bycatch of fishermen fishing for species such as mackerel.

You’ll be seeing more of cobia at Chicago restaurants, as it’s starting to be more readily available as a farmed fish, and researchers are working to make aquaculture of the species environmentally and economically sustainable. You probably won’t find cobia in supermarkets, but better local fishmongers can order it.

What to do with it: At Jacky’s on Prairie in Evanston, Chef Jonadab Silva recently marinated cobia with mango and served it grilled with a pineapple glaze. Some local sushi bars serve it raw as sashimi or nigiri.

Jacky’s cobia with mango marinade and pineapple glaze
Chef Jonadab Silva

Silva serves the fish over a warm new potato and wilted arugula salad, drizzled with a syrah reduction.

Mango marinade
2 ounces dried mango, chopped
1 cup boiling water
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 cup sake
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon powdered mustard powder

6 skinless cobia fillets

Pineapple glaze
1/2 pound pineapple, finely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 star anise

Marinate the fish: In a blender, combine the dried mango, boiling water, soy sauce, tumeric, ginger and sake. Blend until well mixed. With a whisk, beat in the olive and mustard.

Spread 3 tablespoons of the mango marinade on each fillet, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before grilling.

Make the pineapple glaze: Put all ingredients in a heavy bottom pan and cook until golden.

Cook the fish: On a preheated grill at medium heat, grill the cobia, making even diamond marks on all side of the fillet, until the fish just flakes. Place them in the oven if you want the fish cook to more than medium.

Put the glaze over each fillet and serve immediately. 6 servings.

 
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