Blackened Redfish - what happened to it?

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that has been sprinkled with what looks like storebought blackened seasoning

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Is this something you can tell that easily?

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They say he invented the dish

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He did sometime in the late 70s or early 80s


Before that redfish were considered something you gave to the help at the dock. My dad still finds it funny how much "yuppies" pay for it in a restaurant

Yeh still think redfish is far subpar to other fish

But, its big and sturdy so it makes a pretty dish which is more than half the battle at a restaurant

It's stands up well in a courtbouillon, but other than that, I go with another fish.

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Problem I remember was the price was stratospheric.

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Yeh, redfish in restuaruant has jumped the shark

Peche charges $60 for the whole redfish. Its delicious, dont get me wrong, but $60 for a single redfish kills me on the inside

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Peche charges $60 for the whole redfish

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Yeah we ate there last fall. I laughed when I saw that.

Not a particularly large one either. It was good, but we could have eaten two of them.

I started using big red snapper or big black drum for a courtbouillon and it's better than a regular redfish.

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And yes, you can usually spot the ready made seasoning. It’s usually a lot finer grained looking and sometimes almost like a dust.

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What if they mixed their own from store bought seasonings?

Or this one on Google is store bought, but isn't finer grain.

The local folklore is that African American line cooks at Commander's used to make the dish for themselves: a piece of fish dipped in clarified butter, heavily seasoned, and cooked on a screaming hot cast iron flattop. Is this true? I dunno, I wasn't there. But chef Paul made it his own and sold plenty of seasoning mix as a result. I actually like the flavor of the original blend. I can't imagine anyone quibbling about whether his blend is used, or a restaurant mixes their own spices. Seriously? You think anyplace other than a Michelin 3-star is grinding whole spices and mixing spice blends in the kitchen?

If you're eating actually getting redfish on a plate, it's farmed from TX and Mexico, or caught in state waters in likely MS. No commercial redfish harvest in federal waters, no commercial harvest in Louisiana waters. Whether the fishery should be reopened to commercial harvest comes up every couple of years.

Whatever you think about the dish, Prudhomme & his imitators caused the population to crash due to overharvesting. It has rebounded significantly, but we're far more conservation minded today than in the early 80s.