Hey family, it's Chef Rick, and welcome back to Flavor Lab Wednesday on Unseen Cuisine. And welcome back to Restaurant Week. Monday, we had our Mongolian trio. Today we're changing the restaurants and changing flavors. Have you ever eaten at a Japanese restaurant? You've probably seen some version of miso glazed black cod. Everybody has their version. Well, today we're making ours. Chef Bricks, Miso Glaze Black Cod with ginger scallion, jasmine rice, and sesame garlic bok choy. And because it's Flavor Lab Wednesday, we're looking for balance, richness, salt, sweetness, umami, warmth, freshness, and acidity. And we're going to find all of it using sound aroma, texture, and resistance. Now, let's get into this culinary cockpit. Here's what you're going to need because this recipe serves for. Now for the miso glazed black cod, four black cod or cebu filets, five to six ounces each, quarter cup of white miso, three tablespoons of marin, two tablespoons of sake, two tablespoons of light brown sugar, one tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, one teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, one teaspoon of rice vinegar, one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, one tablespoon of high heat neutral oil. For the ginger scallion jasmine rice, you're gonna use one and a half cups of jasmine rice, two and a quarter cups of water, one teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, a half a teaspoon of kosher salt, three scallions sliced thinly, one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, one teaspoon of rice vinegar, and for the sesame bok choy, we are going to need four baby bok choy cut in half, one tablespoon of neutral cooking oil, two cloves of garlic, one teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, one tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, two tablespoons of water, one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, and one teaspoon of rice vinegar, and a few lime wedges. Now, what we're gonna do now is we're going to set up our culinary cockpit. We have three zones today. We have fish, rice, and bok choy. Keep your raw fish separated from everything else. Know where your utensils and pan handles are. Establish a safe landing zone for your hot skillet. Everything has a home, and that is safety through systems. Now, let's check that fish out. Before we season anything, check your black cod. Start with the aroma. Fresh black cod should smell clean and mild, maybe slightly briny or ocean-like. It should not smell strongly fishy, sour, or ammonia-like. If it does, I want you to stop. We're not seasoning our way around this questionable fish. That is your aroma checkpoint. Now, touch with clean hands, feel the surface, moist, smooth, soft, and delicate. Press gently with one fingertip. It should yield but still have some resistance. Not mushy, not heavily slimy. I want you to remember that feeling because we're going to compare it with the cookfish later, and that is your texture checkpoint. Check for pin bones. Remove any you find, then wash and dry your hands. So, once you've done that, let's build the marinade. In a bowl, I want you to combine your miso, marin, sake, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. I want you to whisk until smooth. And then I want you to run your spoon through it. You should feel a little resistance, thicken up to coat the fish, but also loosen up the spread. Now smell. Smell the earthy miso, the sweetness, the ginger, the sesame. That's our flavor foundation. I want you to grab that fish and put it in a pan and spread the marinade evenly over your fish. Cover and refrigerate for at least six hours. Overnight, 12 to 24 hours is even better. Now, once you've done that, let's cook. When you're ready, I want you to take your fish out about 20 minutes before cooking and preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Start the rice. Rinse your jasmine rice under cool water for 30 to 60 seconds and drain well. Combine two and a quarter cups of water, one teaspoon of ginger, and a half a teaspoon of kosher salt. I want you to bring that to a boil. Listen for that steady bubbling. Cover and reduce to the low heat and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it rest. Covered for 10 minutes. Now fluff with a fork. The grains should feel tender and separate as the fork moves through them. Not hard, not one wet, and not one mass. Fold your scallions, your sesame oil, and rice vinegar into the rice. I want you to put that aside. After you do that, you're done. Now let's go back to the cod. Remove the heavy excess marinate from your fish, but don't wash it off. Heat an oven safe skillet over medium-high heat and add one tablespoon of the neutral oil. Touch the edges of one fillet to the pan. I want you to listen for that clean active scissor tell you the pan is ready. Place the fish skin side down, lowering it away from you. Cook for about two to three minutes without constantly moving it. Now bring your spatula gently to the edge. Feel the resistance through your retensos. If the fish is holding on to the skillet, leave it alone and try again in a few minutes. When the spatula begins sliding underneath with less resistance, there it is. That is your natural release cue. Now use your nose. Miso and sugar should smell warmer, sweeter, and slightly roasted as they caramelize. If the aroma becomes sharp and bitter, your glaze is getting too hot. Make an adjustment. Transfer the skillet into your 400-degree oven. Cook for approximately 6 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness. As you get close, gently press the thickest portion with your fork or thin utensuit. Remember how the raw fish felt? Soft, delicate, very yielding. Now you should feel more structure. The natural sections of this fish should begin separating under gentle pressure while the flesh remains tender and moist. That's the change we're looking for. We're going to confirm it's 145 and the thickest portion of your fish with your accessible instant read thermometer. Remove the skillet to your safe landing zone and let the fish rest. While that's resting, we're going to go on to the sesame garlic bokchoy. I want you to fill your bok choy before cooking. The stem is thick, firm, and rigid. The leaves are thin and flexible. I want you to heat one tablespoon of neutral oil over medium heat and place the bok choy cut side down. I want you to listen for the sizzle and cook for about two minutes. Press the stem with your tongues. When that rigid resistance begins to give, I want you to turn it. Add your garlic and ginger. Once you smell the garlic blooming fragrant, add one tablespoon of soy sauce and two tablespoons of water. I want you to cover for one or two minutes, check that stem again. It should yield under your tongues, but still have a little pushback. Crisp, tender, the leaves should be soft and wilted. I want you to turn off your heat and finish with your sesame oil and rice vinegar. Let's bring this all together and build our plate. Rice, black cod, and bok choy. Keep each one in its own area so you know where everything is. You can use the clock method, or you can create a mound of rice and place the fish on top and crisscross the bok choy off to the side, leaning on it. And then what you want to do, you want to finish with a squeeze of lime. Now taste what just happened. The black cod gives us richness, meso gives us salt and umami, marin and brown sugar brings sweetness, ginger brings warmth, sesame brings nuttiness, bok choy gives us freshness, slight bitterness, and texture, and that lime cuts through the richness. That's balance, and that's Flavor Lab Wednesday. Before we go, here's today's accessible hospitality tip. If you're serving someone who's blind or has low vision, tell them how their plate is arranged. Your black card is at 6, your rice is at 9, and your bok choys at 3. That's simple. And now I know where everything is. You don't need to grab my hand or move my plate. Give me the information and let me take it from there. Accessibility is hospitality. Today, we smelled our fish before cooking and established what fresh black cod should smell like. We followed the changes. We listened for the skillet. We felt the natural release cues through our spatula. We felt the fish change from soft and yielding to tender with more structure. We used temperature to confirm what our senses were telling us. That is Unseen Cuisine. We're not guessing, we're gathering information and making decisions. If you enjoyed today's Restaurant Week episode, head over to Unseen Cuisine for more sensory cooking resources, recipes, my books, and information about the Culinary Cockpit Foundations course. And share this episode with somebody who's ready to build more confidence in the kitchen. Now, come back on Friday because restaurant week is not finished. I'm Chef Brick, cooking for every confidence, cooking for every cook. Trust your senses, trust your systems, and become the pilot.