Chrono Cross recipe: Guldove-style catfish
An old, simple recipe handed down through the generations - and with so many variants - the Guldove method of cooking fish has become distinct through the specific use of spices and capers. Although it can be hot or mild, certain ones are always present. Skate is one of the most common bases used in Guldove, but since her departure to the mainland to travel with Serge, Steena quickly adapted the recipe to work just as well with river-dwelling fish.
Guldove-style catfish
- 1 freshly-caught catfish, cleaned and cut into two fillets * - butter (~1/4C, or 4T) - 1/2 handful of flour (~1/4C) - 1/2 handful of capers (~1/4C) - 1 handful of croûtons, or cubed hardened bread from several days before (~1/2C) - 1 lemon - 1 sprig of freshly-cut parsley, finely chopped - white pepper, freshly ground - salt, traditionally ground sea salt - additional spices to flavor ** - served with sliced fresh bread (baguette-style is perfect) - 1 large skillet - 1 small flat bowl
* While the traditional fishes are skate, shark, or tuna, any reasonably mild fish can be substituted in the recipe, like catfish, striper, rockfish, or even trout. Salmon is not recommended.
First, prepare the fish to be fried. Toss the flour into the bowl along with some salt and white pepper (~1t of each), mix, then dredge the fillets in the mixture to cover both sides. Once removed, add a bit more salt and white pepper to each side of the fillets for added flavor.
** Additional spices can be used at this point to rub into the fillets, too, though the white pepper is a must for an authentic Guldove flavor. Ground allspice, thyme, or red pepper are often added for spicier variants.
Next, make sure that all ingredients are set aside for the sauce. In the case of the lemon, cut it in half, and then thinly slice one of the halves, further quartering all pieces into wedges. Set aside the other half, leaving it unsliced.
Heat the skillet over a medium-hot fire and toss in a quarter of the butter (~1T), letting it coat the bottom of the skillet. Once it starts to foam, add both of the fillets and bring the heat up to high. Let the fillets cook halfway through (~2-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish), then add another bit of butter (~1T) and turn them over. Let them cook through completely (another ~2-5 minutes). If using a great many spices, searing or blackening the fish helps to lock the flavors in further, though this method requires a very high heat on the skillet.
Once the fillets have been cooked through, remove the skillet from the heat and transfer both fillets to either a serving platter or plates. Reduce the heat to medium-high and put the skillet back on, adding the rest of the butter (~2T) to the cleanest portion of the skillet. The butter should quickly foam; now add the rest of the sauce ingredients (capers, croûtons, and lemon wedges), and use the other half of the lemon to squeeze its juice over the mixture. Cook for half a minute or so - but no longer than one minute - and then remove the skillet from the heat.
Spoon the sauce over each fillets, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot with a few slices of bread (to catch up any of the remaining sauce and juices).
Serves 2, or 1 hungry pirate.
And, of course, with such a large traveling party, it's very easy to increase the servings exponentially. Fortunately, this is a fast and easy way to make food for the lot of them.