When it comes to traditional Norwegian husmannskost, few things are as iconic as the pollock steak with caramelized onions; here is my gourmet take on this classic, dialed to eleven, with onions three ways, and a super crispy rye breading for the fish!
This recipe is part of our pollock feature!
We’ve put together a series of recipes highlighting pollock, from quick and easy weeknight dinners to real gourmet showstoppers. Make sure to check out the other recipes too!
- Traditional Norwegian Seibiff med løk – the quick and easy classic.
- Norwegian pollock burger – leftover-friendly, with caramelized onions.
- Pollock & cauliflower in creamy mustard sauce – everyday elegance.
What is Norwegian Seibiff med løk?
The traditional Norwegian Seibiff med løk is simply this: pan fried pollock and beautifully caramelized onions. It’s served with boiled potatoes with pan drippings, and Råkost – quick pickled, grated carrots:
When we catch (or purchase) pollock, I usually break it down into several purposes; back loin for fine dishes such as Seibiff, and use the belly and tail for fish cakes, fiskegrateng (fish pie), or pollock burgers.
Traditional vs. Gourmet Seibiff med løk?
Both contain the two main elements pan fried pollock and slowly caramelized onions. It always takes a minimum of 10 minutes to soften onions, so to get the deep, caramelized flavors, you need 40-50 minutes. But in short, if you can hold a spatula and stay patient, you’re good.
Neither are very technically challenging, but there is no doubt that the traditional version is the quickest and easiest to make, since the remaining components are simply boiled potatoes and Råkost, the quick pickled carrots that you’ll find in so many Norwegian fish dishes, like cod roe with mustard sauce, or Fiskegrateng fish pie. Expect it to take about 60 minutes, 20-30 minutes hands-on.
My gourmet version has dialed this dish to eleven, with a velvety potato cream as base, and onion three ways; caramelized, onion rings, and sherry deglazed onion cream. Goddamn tasty!
The gourmet version is not at all rocket surgery, but home cooks juggling these steps should be comfortable multitasking and keeping an eye on things.
You’d be taking quite a few liberties claiming the gourmet version is a healthy dish. The luscious potato cream is packed with butter, and the onion rings are, well, deep fried. Orgasmic as they are, they’re not exactly diet friendly. The last component, the onion cream, is a deeply caramelized cream with sherry vinegar in to cut through some of the fat with a bit of dark acidic zing. Expect this to take 2 hours in total, but 30-40 minutes hands-on.
Ingredients
The pollock
- 800-1000 g skinless, boneless pollock (ideally a thick back loin)
- 50 g fine & 50 g coarse rye flour
- Fine sea salt
Caramelized onions
- 1 kg onions
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- Fine sea salt to taste
Onion cream
- 500 g onions
- 2 springs thyme
- 2 tbsp butter
- Tiny splash sherry vinegar
- Fine sea salt to taste
- Water (when blending)
Onion rings
- 500 g onions, a bit on the small side
- 200-250 ml water (for the batter)
- 70 g corn starch
- 70 g wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 15 g fine sea salt
- 250 ml panko breading
- 50 g parmesan, finely grated
Potato cream
- 700 g potatoes (In Norway, use Asterix)
- 150 g butter (yeah, that much!)
- Whole milk – to adjust consistency
- Fine sea salt to taste
Method
- Caramelize the onions: Takes 40–50 minutes unless you’re cheating with a pressure cooker.
- Onion cream: Roast the 500 g onions in oven (160°C, ~60 minutes), then caramelize further in butter & thyme, deglaze with sherry vinegar, blend smooth.
- Prep potato cream: Boil potatoes, mash & sieve, add butter & milk, season to perfection.
- Onion rings: Slice into 1 cm rings, soak in ice water, batter them, coat in panko & parmesan mix, double-fry at 180°C (first light fry, second golden-brown).
- Fry the pollock: Season, dredge in rye flour, pan-fry.
- Assemble: Spoon potato cream on plate, top with caramelized onions, place fish on top, onion cream on the side, crispy onion rings on the side.
- Timing: About 2 hours total, 30-40 minutes active work.
Caramelized onions
Always start with the onions, cause that takes the most time. In fact, you can make both the onion cream and the caramelized onions a day ahead if that suits your schedule – just set aside in the fridge until ready to use, then reheat.
Slice them a bit thick cause you want some rustic texture in there, not jam-like consistency from thinly cut onions. Dump into your pan along with the rest of the ingredients.
No matter what people say, you will not be able to caramelize onions in 10 minutes – it’s simply impossible. It will take 40-50 minutes, but you can speed it up a bit by adding a splash of water to the pan and simmer under lid the first 10 minutes – this will completely soften the onions. Remove the lid, then caramelize over the course of the next 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, while you fix the rest of the dish.
The absolute quickest way for properly caramelizing onions though, is to use a pressure cooker. Soften them just like above, then cook at full pressure for 10 minutes, with natural release. Finish caramelizing “manually” if it needs more colour (thus flavor!)
PS: remember to remove the star anise before serving!
Onion cream
If making the gourmet version, now is the time to get the onion cream started. Note that this is a different batch of onions from the caramelized onions – they will taste wildly different!
Simply bake the onions on a bit of parchment paper, unwrapped, skin and all, in an oven at 160C for 60 minutes until super tender. Set aside until cool to handle.
When the baked onions are cool to handle, use a sharp knife to slit them open, scoop out the onion “meat”, coarsely chop, then dump into a pot with the butter and thyme, and caramelize well and truly – this goes much faster since they’re already baked. You can use pretty high heat, just watch so they don’t burn!
When they are darkly browned, add a tiny splash sherry vinegar to deglaze, tip into a upright blender, and add water little by little until it starts to blends properly. Then run to a completely and utterly smooth cream. The cream should be super soft, but hold its own.
Prep the fish
Meanwhile, tidy up the fish with a sharp knife, and sprinkle over a bit of fine sea salt. This will firm up the fish, and make it way tastier and juicier. Set aside until ready to fry.
Potato cream
For the gourmet version, boil your peeled potatoes in unsalted water, then mash, then pass though a fine sieve, add the butter and a good splash milk and a good pinch of fine sea salt, stir gently and have a taste. Season to absolute perfection with fine sea salt, and adjust consistency with whole milk; you’re after a velvety soft, but not at all runny potato cream. Keep warm.
Prep the onion rings
Slice them into 1 cm thick rings, then transfer to an ice cold water bath to rest until ready to fry them up!
The finale!
Frying the fish
Dredge the fish (the side where the skin was down) in the rye flour. Drizzle a thin, yet fully covering layer of neutral oil into your medium hot frying pan, and place the fish onto your pan, breaded side down.
Gently flip the fish with a spatula once the breading is nice and golden brown. Turn off the pan when there’s just a tiny bit of translucent meat in the very center of the fish and let it rest until it’s just opaque. Transfer to a wooden cutting board to rest for a few minutes.
Master class: How to cook restaurant worthy fish
For this gourmet version, there’s a bit of timing to do, cause you want both the fish and the onion rings to be ready at about the same time.
The easiest way is to double fry the onions; mix the corn starch, wheat flour, baking powder and sea salt with some water to make a slightly runny batter. Throw all the onion into the batter, mix well, shake off excess batter, dredge in panko & parmesan mix, then deep fry them at 180C until juuuust starting to take on a bit of colour, then transfer to a wire rack.
Then fry the fish, and when the fish is perfect, set it aside to rest, as you fry the onions a second time in 180C, this time until they are perfectly golden brown.
Plate with a few spoonful potato cream slightly off-center. Use your spoon to make a dip in the potato cream where you add a few spoonful caramelized onions, then place the fish on top of that. Use a (rocher) spoon to place a dollop onion cream to the side of the fish. Serve the onion rings in a bowl on the side.
Wine pairing
If you just want something simple, go for a crisp, dry white. However – The gourmet version is fucking glorious with a well aged Chablis; If you can find an older Premier Cru or Grand Cru Chablis that has developed those slightly nutty, saline, and oxidative sherry-like characteristics, it’ll tie into every element of this dish.
Alternatively, a white Burgundy, for example Meursault or Pouilly-Fuissé, or a dry or off-dry Riesling Spätlese from Mosel or Riesling Grand Cru from Alsace.
what’s your pick? Traditional Seibiff or full-blown gourmet upgrade?
Drop a comment below, and if you know someone who needs to up their fish game, share this with them. Let’s spread the love for proper Norwegian husmannskost!
