Honey Soy Ginger Black Cod Recipe

Black cod is probably my most favorite fish because it is so luscious. It’s also really easy to cook. It doesn’t need the kid glove treatment that halibut requires. It’s so moist it’s hard to overcook. I usually cook it with miso, but recently I was looking for another idea and came across a recipe from chef Laurent Tourondel for Black Cod Marinated with Honey. Of course, I changed it up quite a bit. His recipe has grapeseed oil in it and I find black cod so rich I didn’t think it was necessary at all. I decreased the honey, increased the soy sauce, used rice wine vinegar instead of white vinegar and added one other flavorful ingredient, ginger juice. 

I learned about ginger juice from Amy Kaneko, author of Let’s Cook Japanese Food! (more about that book soon). In it she describes finely grating ginger and then squeezing the pulp to get the juice out. It’s a brilliant technique because you get the flavor of fresh ginger without the pulp. For some preparations grated ginger is fine, but sometimes it's too fibrous.

The fish I used in this recipe was black cod is from Carmel Canyon, a submarine valley in the Monterey Bay that I received from Real Good Fish. Each week I get a different delivery of fish or shellfish. It’s always local, and either responsibly farmed or from a sustainable fishery. It’s super fresh, and subscribers also receive a weekly newsletter with details about the catch.

Honey Soy Ginger Black Cod

Serves 4 

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons mild honey, such as sage
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons ginger juice, squeezed from finely grated ginger
1 pound black cod cut into fillets

Instructions 

Combine the honey, soy sauce, vinegar an ginger juice in a zip top bag. Add the fish and squeeze out the air. Seal and let marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours and as long as 24 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Remove the fish from the marinade and pat dry. Put the fillets on a greased foil-lined roasting pan and roast in the oven until it turns golden brown and is cooked through, about 7 or 8 minutes.

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Real Good Fish for supplying me with the black cod. If you live in the Bay Area, visit their website to learn more about their subscription program. This post also includes an affiliate link.