A freezer and a band saw are chef Gavin Baker's secrets to perfect sturgeon chops
At Noble Cider’s restaurant, The Greenhouse, in Asheville, chef Gavin Baker sources whole sturgeon directly from Marshallberg Farm, breaking down these magnificent fish on site and creating dishes with this rarely-used species that became instant favorites with the restaurant’s diners.
Sturgeon is a difficult fish to cook and it took chef Baker months to develop the right recipe to highlight the delicately flavored, but dense and meaty flesh. It’s easy to cook surgeon in a way that toughens the meat, but that’s not the only challenge. Sturgeon is a cartilaginous fish, meaning that that they have no bones, only cartilage, and their body is covered with bony plates called scutes (read more about fish scales here, on the Fishionary blog). It’s really hard to cut through the scutes, so chef Baker developed a method that allowed for easy filleting that also helped to tenderize the meat.
In the restaurant’s prep kitchen, chef Baker breaks down the whole sturgeon, which are male, because after sexing, the females are left to develop their egg sacs. Once the head and guts are removed, chef Baker forms the body into a bullet shape, wraps it in plastic wrap and sticks in the freezer. During the freezing process, ice crystals form, which create microscopic shreds in the flesh, naturally tenderizing it. When chef Baker is ready to cook the fish, he removes it from the freezer and cuts it on a band saw, which allows for a clean cut, one that easily glides through those scutes.
So how does chef Baker prepare this unusual (at least in the States) fish? He offers diners cross-section chops with a smoked-fruit barbecue sauce, kabocha squash puree and fried shallots, a nod to Southern tradition that highlights the sturgeon’s delicate flavor.
Of course, The Greenhouse also offers caviar service featuring Marshallberg’s highest grade of osetra, presenting a full tin surrounded by a lacy, thin flax cracker, dolloped with creme fraiche and garnished with flat-leaf parsley.
The Greenhouse Restaurant
49 Rankin Ave., Asheville, NC 28806
828.505.4076