We all know that roasting, searing, and grilling fish brings out its distinctive flavors, but have you ever tried tea-smoking? How about roasting fish in an elegant salt crust or poaching it in olive oil? The recipes here change up your normal fish routine by going beyond the most commonly used cooking methods—with delicious results.

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Salt-Crusted Trout with Lemon-Dill Beurre Blanc

Salt-crusting keeps fish ultramoist during roasting, so it comes out silky, flaky, and perfectly cooked. Mild trout pairs well with a classic lemon-dill white wine sauce. 

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Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Fennel and Saffron

Submerging fish fillets or steaks in a warm bath of olive oil, then cooking it over low, slow heat gives the fish a velvety, unctuous texture. Fennel and saffron rub play up the Mediterranean flavors.

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Olive Oil Poached Tuna with Caper and Olive Vinaigrette

This dish is a showcase of assertive flavors: tuna, garlic, rosemary, olives. Yet, they balance one another beautifully, and the tuna stays moist and flavorful through the poaching process.

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Blackened Tilapia with Cilantro-Lime Slaw

A high-heat sear in butter gives these spice-crusted tilapia fillets a slightly charred exterior, brightened here by a tangy lime-cilantro slaw.

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Tea-Smoked Salmon with Citrus-Cucumber Relish

Salmon fillets are gently grilled with a smoking packet of tea, rice, and spices, which infuse it with a fragrant smokiness, complemented here by a sweet and tangy cucumber-citrus relish.

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Baconized Tuna with Lemon Butter

There’s some perverse pleasure in taking a low-in-fat, good-for-you protein like tuna and surrounding it with bacon fat and butter. You’re still going to get the health benefits of eating the tuna, but you’ll also experience the pure joy of having the fat.

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Basic Lemon & Herb Fish en Papillote

Foods cooked "en papillote"—in a paper bag—emerge succulent and saturated with flavor. As they bake, the steam causes them to puff up and when you cut into them, you are rewarded with a cloud of aromatic steam-the perfect way to bring a little drama to the dinner table.

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Salmon Fillets with Horseradish-Potato Crust

Here, the crispy potato crust not only adds flavor, it also dresses up the salmon in an unexpected way and makes for an elegant riff on traditional fish and chips.

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Miso-Glazed Cod

Coating fish fillets with a paste of miso and mirin, then broiling them quickly until browned creates a lovely sweet-salty-savory crust, just like at your favorite Japanese restaurant.

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Cedar-Planked Salmon with Red Pepper & Caper Sauce

Grilling fish on a soaked cedar plank imbues the fillets with a gentle, spicy smoke from the wood. Though this method hails from the Pacific Northwest, here it's paired with Spanish flavors in a caper-piquillo pepper sauce.

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Flounder Poached in Coconut, Ginger & Basil Broth

Delicate flounder fillets soak up the ginger, chile, and shallot infused into the hot coconut-milk bath for a haunting Thai-inspired dish.

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Grilled Salmon Bundles with Saffron, Tomatoes & Olives

Foil grilling takes the "en papillote" technique outside to the grill. Cooking the salmon in a foil packet together with a chunky saffron-olive tomato salsa really marries the flavors together.

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Salmon in Crisp Rice Paper with Sweet & Spicy Sake Essence

Wrapping fish fillets in a piece of moistened rice paper then quickly searing it creates an unusual crunchy coating. The sweet and spicy sake sauce paired with the salmon here plays up the Asian flavors.

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