Back to recipe

Chef critique

Grilled Steelhead with Blackberry Relish

This recipe offers a clear, well-structured guide for a seasonal grilled fish dish with excellent temperature targets. However, the total salt amount falls significantly short of standard seasoning ratios for the weight of the proteins and vegetables, which will leave the main components underseasoned.

Score: 7/10

Suggested fixes

  • Increase the total kosher salt in the ingredient list to 2 teaspoons.
  • In step 3, increase the salt on the corn and zucchini to 1/2 or 3/4 teaspoon.
  • In step 4, increase the salt rubbed on the steelhead to 3/4 or 1 teaspoon.

Issues

  • medium / flavor: The 1 teaspoon of total kosher salt is insufficient to properly season over 2 pounds of food. The 1-pound steelhead fillet requires about 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of salt to reach a 1.25% salinity, and the 1 pound of vegetables needs about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon to reach a 1% salinity.

Strengths

  • Perfectly targets 125°F for the steelhead, ensuring a tender, moist result.
  • Efficient workflow allows the vegetables to rest and cool slightly for chopping while the fish cooks.
  • Excellent use of a blank-line-separated bullet list to cleanly handle the 8-ingredient relish mixture.