How do you want your grilled fish cooked?
Hey, do you like fish? Do you ever order fish at restaurants? Have you ever been asked this question when ordering? We had a server today who asked me, “How do you want your [grilled] fish cooked? Rare?”
No, I don’t want raw fish. Fish, depending on what it is, needs to be cooked differently, and I expect the chef to know that. The first time I was asked this question I sort of stared at my waiter and said, “I don’t understand. Just however the chef would ordinarily prepare it. That’s what I want to shove into my mouth.”
Sadly, I forgot this response and answered automatically the way I would if I were ordering a burger, which I haven’t done in years. “Medium.”
I didn’t even realize my mistake until I was served a repugnant fillet of tuna, grilled to an unappetizing shade of grayish beige, and stinking to high heaven like someone’s overcooked canned tuna. This is not what I ordered. Except, technically, it was. This was a situation where I couldn’t blame the chef, and I couldn’t fairly blame the waitress. Had I not ordered my grilled tuna done medium? I had. But why?
Because the question, “How do you want your fish cooked?” is a trick question, as anyone who actually likes eating fish knows. A grilled tuna steak can be cooked well, but not done well. You can eat a rare steak of tuna that isn’t sushi, and tastes great. Most people suggest ordering “Medium rare,” and perhaps that’s the magic answer, but when I go out to eat, especially at finer restaurants, I’d like to be able to put some faith into the chef that he or she will know by now how to cook tuna.
But then, our waitress served me a soda with someone else’s lipstick on the glass. Her simple questions tended to be worded in convoluted ways. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in this case, it was a situation of an inexperienced waitress coupled with someone who forgot the right answer to a trick question.
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Wait till you try fish in France, it will make your eyes pop out.