The Bear is consistently the most true to life representation of the service industry on TV. They nail the fast paced nature of it so well, even if things are slightly dramatized. To me, it’s obvious that the team behind the show knew what they were doing. To support this, the food they show off is not only amazing looking, it’s also pretty well thought out and involves a lot of onscreen talent knowing how to cook. How does it taste though? Here's how to make the fish and confit we see in the show. Sydney and Marcuse leave The Beef after the massive meltdown at the end of season 1 and we see her making him this dish. The truth is, she uses sea bass, but I was able to find a really nice halibut instead.
Halibut filet
1 pint tomatoes
Enough olive oil to halfway cover tomatoes
Lemon peel
2 garlic cloves
Tarragon, parsley, thyme
Minced shallot
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper
For the tomato confit, start with a pint of washed delicious tomatoes. From there, grab a bunch of herbs, parsley, tarragon, and basil are all delicious with tomato. Peel off a large piece of lemon zest and grab a few cloves of garlic. Put all this in an oven safe container, for me I used a cast iron pan, and add enough oil to come about halfway up the tomatoes. The oil is going to gently poach the tomatoes until they’re the beautiful soft gems ready to burst. Season this with salt and pepper then place in a 200f oven for 1 hour. After the one hour is up, turn off the heat and let it cool for 30 minutes. Remove the whole thing from the oven and let it all cool off while you work on the fish.
Portion your filet into even pieces and season both sides with salt. For a nice fish like this, you don’t want to move it much. Heat a skillet over medium until it's nice and hot. Start by placing the top side into the hot pan, and then press on them to ensure each part of the fish is making contact with the hot pan. You're going to cook these about 60% of the way on this first side. You should see the skin turn opaque up the sides. Flip these and add a little bit of the tomato oil to baste the top side. This second side only needs a little time so the fish is just barely cooked and flakey. Remove this from the pan and rest it on a rack while you finish the tomato mix.
Grab a large bowl and add a few of the tomatoes for each portion. Add in a spoonful of minced shallot, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix this together to break some of the tomatoes, but try to leave some of them almost whole. Plate the tomato mix first and then add the fish on top. Add a few herbs to the fish along with some salt, more olive oil, and lemon juice. The nice thing about this dish is that it works at both hot and room temp. It’s delicious either way. The tomatoes burst into a light refreshing sweet sauce with the light subtly of the fish itself. This is really nice, and in my opinion, the most impressive dish of the first season.
Cheers!
